This is a revised renewal application for the Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Molecular Medicine Training Program at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The application proposes continued support of six postdoctoral research trainees in Respiratory Medicine, emphasizing a joint training program for Medicine and Pediatric Trainees. The Program provides multidisciplinary training in the Pulmonary Divisions of the Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics. The breadth of training provided by the Program is supplemented by faculty from Departments of Physiology, Pharmacology, Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Genetics, the Program in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, and the School of Public Health. The trainees will generally have an M.D. degree and will enter a 3-5 year clinical and research training experience designed to provide them with skills required for a career in academic pulmonary medicine. Some post-Ph.D. trainees are also supported and integrated into this program. The areas of research offered by the Program include the genetic basis of airways diseases, cell and molecular biology of respiratory epithelia, basic and translational proteomics, gene therapy, animal models of lung disease (natural, transgenic, and gene targeted), purinoceptor structure/function in the lung, lung macrophages and lymphocytes, development and maturation of the pulmonary epithelium, the responses of the lung to injury by physical, chemical, and microbial agents, clinical and basic studies in asthma, the control of airway inflammation, and studies of the early pathogenesis and therapy of CF. Clinical studies will be integrated with basic observations using translational physiologic, biochemical, and genetic techniques. The program emphasizes studies of specific genetic lung diseases in both pediatric and adult patient populations and the development of novel pharmacologic and gene therapy strategies for treatment of human lung diseases.
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