PhD defence
Decoding the Immune and Structural Landscapes of the Prenatal and Emphysematous Lung at the Single-Cell Level
- L. Jia
- Date
- Wednesday 8 January 2025
- Time
- Location
-
Academy Building
Rapenburg 73
2311 GJ Leiden
Supervisor(s)
- Prof.dr. F. Koning
- dr. J. Stolk
- dr. P. P. S.J. Khedoe
Summary
The lungs enable respiration, but factors such as congenital lung malformations, cigarette smoking, air pollution, and recurrent infections can lead to chronic respiratory diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD is the third leading cause of mortality worldwide. In the majority of COPD patients, progressive inflammation causes irreversible alveolar tissue damage (emphysema), leading to impaired gas exchange and loss of lung function, which severely impacts patients’ quality of life. Using advanced single-cell mass cytometry and imaging mass cytometry, we performed in depth characterization of the developing embryonic immune and epithelial cells in the human fetal lung, and provided comprehensive information into immune profiles related to the pathophysiology of emphysema, as well as the consequence of lung volume reduction surgery and bone marrow derived mesenchymal stromal cell treatment. These findings will facilitate further mechanistic studies of immune and structural cells in emphysema. We anticipate these previously unrecognized immune cell populations and damaged lung structural cells could offer insights for developing potential treatment strategies for COPD.
PhD dissertations
Approximately one week after the defence, PhD dissertations by Leiden PhD students are available digitally through the Leiden Repository, that offers free access to these PhD dissertations. Please note that in some cases a dissertation may be under embargo temporarily and access to its full-text version will only be granted later.
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