Nicholas Goplen, PhD
Mayo Clinic
Research Project:
Abnormal Immune Regulation in Post-Viral Pulmonary Fibrosis
Grant Awarded:
- Emerging Respiratory Pathogen Award
Research Topics:
- immunology immunotherapy
- pathology
Research Diseases:
- ARDS
- COVID-19
- influenza
- interstitial lung disease
- pulmonary fibrosis
Remarkably, different respiratory viruses that cause severe lung damage and pandemics, can lead to scarring and dysfunction of the lung lasting months or even years. Understanding why early hospitalization and age are the best predictors of patients that need oxygen supplementation or lung transplant, could lead to more effective therapeutics with broad applicability to emerging respiratory pathogens. Our and our collaborators’ work suggest CD8+ T cells that traffic to the lung to help eliminate viral infections, can remain resident and subtly active, especially in older hosts. We will determine how the same T cell functions required to sterilize the lung, interfere with specialized cells involved in its proper regeneration. As many “long COVID” symptoms are associated with accumulation of T cells, we anticipate our low-risk approach has high potential for reward.
Supported by the Mary Fuller Russell Fund
Page last updated: November 20, 2024
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