Biochemistry of tropoelastin and elastin: the molecular architecture of elastic fibre assembly

弹性蛋白破坏驱动肺气肿的进展，肺气肿是慢性阻塞性肺疾病的主要组成部分，是死亡的主要原因。弹性蛋白的丧失会导致动脉严重堵塞。如果我们要治疗这些问题，我们需要知道如何制造和修复弹性蛋白。这项研究将使我们能够发现弹性蛋白是如何构建的，并定义其相互作用的伙伴。我们将学习如何在身体的某些部位，如动脉、肺和皮肤中制造组织成分，这些组织成分会扩张和收缩。我们将了解弹性蛋白组装和细胞相互作用的分子机制，这为我们提供了修复弹性蛋白组织的核心分子工具包。

Elastin destruction drives the progression of emphysema, a major component of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease which is a major cause of death. Loss of elastin leads to profound blockage of arteries. If we are to treat these problems we need to know how to make and repair elastin. This research will enable us to discover how elastin is constructed and define its interacting partners. We will learn how to make tissue components found in parts of the body that expand and contract such as the arteries, lung and skin. We will learn about the molecular mechanisms of elastin assembly and cell interactions, which gives us the core molecular toolkit to repair elastin tissue.