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，祖细胞能够分裂以取代旧的或受损的细胞。这些祖细胞的行为必须被严格控制，这样我们的肺部才会有正确数量和类型的不同细胞。在许多人类肺部疾病中，肺的结构发生了改变，这可能是导致各种肺部疾病的一个因素。因此，了解正常成人肺部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。我建议用这些老鼠来：区分被认为在正常肺维持中有不同作用的祖细胞亚群。确定调节正常成人肺祖细胞行为的遗传机制。这些知识将大大提高我们对正常肺功能的理解，以及与各种疾病相关的变化。最终，它可能会导致预防或治疗这些疾病的方法的发展。

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.