Epithelial stem and progenitor cells in the postnatal mouse lung

我们的身体不断地进行维护工作，以维持正常的器官功能。在肺中，这种维持是由祖细胞进行的，这些祖细胞能够分裂来取代陈旧或受损的细胞。这些祖细胞的行为必须受到严格控制，这样我们的肺才能始终拥有正确数量和类型的不同细胞。在许多人类肺部疾病中，肺的结构会发生改变，这很可能是导致各种肺部疾病的一个因素。因此，了解正常成人肺和人类肺部疾病模型中的祖细胞系统是很重要的。我已经开发了一组转基因小鼠，使我能够操纵肺上皮祖细胞的基因表达。我建议使用这些小鼠来：1。区分被认为在正常肺维持中具有不同作用的祖细胞亚群。确定在正常成人肺中调节祖细胞行为的遗传机制。这些知识将极大地提高我们对正常肺功能以及与各种疾病相关的变化的了解。最终，它可能导致开发出预防或治愈这些疾病的方法。

Our bodies are constantly undergoing maintenance work in order to sustain normal organ function. In the lung this maintenance is carried out by progenitor cells which are able to divide to replace old or damaged cells. The behaviour of these progenitor cells must be tightly controlled so that our lungs always have the correct numbers and types of different cells. The structure of the lung is altered in many human lung conditions and this is likely to be a contributing factor to various lung diseases. It is therefore important to understand the progenitor cell system both in normal adult lungs and models of human lung conditions. I have developed a panel of genetically modified mice which allow me to manipulate gene expression in lung epithelial progenitors. I propose to use these mice to:1. Distinguish between sub-sets of progenitor cells which are thought to have different roles in normal lung maintenance.2. Identify the genetic mechanisms which regulate the behaviour of progenitor cells in the normal adult lung. This knowledge will greatly enhance our understanding of normal lung function, and changes associated with various diseases. Ultimately it could lead to the development of methods to prevent or cure these diseases.