Jasmine Dowell, MD

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is a lung disease that affects premature infants who receive extra oxygen after they are born. As they grow up, children with BPD experience restricted airflow through their lungs, a condition called airway resistance. Airway resistance makes children with BPD vulnerable to significant illnesses, frequent hospitalizations and death. Development of effective BPD treatment has been difficult because scientists do not understand how oxygen causes airway resistance in BPD. Our lab has developed a rat model of BPD to study this question. We will investigate how oxygen disrupts proteins in the lung that control airway resistance, called ß2 and Renin Angiotensin System receptors. This study will determine if these proteins are promising targets for future BPD research and treatments. 

Update:

Data from the first year of experiments suggest airway resistance in bronchopulmonary dysplasia may not be related to the B2 receptor—the receptor current treatments target. This could explain why B2 receptor focused treatments are ineffective in some patients affected by the disease. In the coming year, we will continue analyzing our preliminary data and conducting confirmatory experiments.