Recruitment of New Faculty to Enhance Research in Lung Biology

描述（由申请人提供）：美国慢性肺部疾病患者的死亡率持续上升。了解肺对损伤的反应机制及其导致肺异常愈合的机制是开发治疗肺纤维化疾病的新治疗策略的关键。我们在西北大学肺与重症医学部的项目目标是促进年轻研究人员的职业发展，专注于肺生物学，促进对肺部疾病的理解和治疗。这种跨学科的重点反映在我们的教师进行的肺病研究的广度。我们的项目旨在鼓励年轻的教师将分子医学的快速发展转化为肺病患者的床边。为了实现这一目标，我们提出了这个项目，为聘用新的终身教职员工提供支持，并承诺推进他们的学术生涯；提供资深调查人员的指导，他们是该领域的专家；提供实验室设施，促进合作关系，并为独立调查员的进步所需的熟练监督；并创建一个行政结构，以促进新教员获得独立的校外资金。为进一步推动肺生物学的研究，现诚聘林博士加入本科。Lam博士是一名新研究员，他与西北大学肺与重症医学部的几名研究人员合作，为理解典型的Wnt/p-catenin通路在成人肺损伤和修复反应中的作用提供了一些开创性的研究。西北大学肺与重症医学部是肺损伤机制的创新研究中心，林博士的加入和她对p-catenin信号在异常伤口修复中的作用的研究不仅补充了西北大学肺与重症医学部的科学能力，而且提高了该学部的科学能力。了解p-catenin信号传导对肺部纤维增殖性疾病的作用机制不仅对了解基本的肺生物学，而且对治疗和预防这些毁灭性疾病的策略都有重大影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Mortality of patients with chronic lung diseases continues to ncrease in the United States. Understanding the mechanisms of how the lung responds to injury and how this leads to abnormal lung healing is key to the development of novel therapeutic strategies to treat fibrotic diseases in the lung. The goal of our program at the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine is to Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine of Northwestern University is to foster the career development of young investigators to focus on lung biology and to advance the understanding and treatment of pulmonary disorders. This interdisciplinary focus is reflected in the breadth of the lung disease research performed by our faculty members. Our program seeks to encourage young faculty to translate the rapid advances in molecular medicine to the bedside of patients with lung disease. To this goal, we are proposing this program to provide support for the hiring of new tenure-track faculty with a commitment to advancing their academic career; provide mentorship by senior investigators who are experts in their field; provide the laboratory facilities, foster collaborative relationships, and skilled supervision required for the advancement of independent investigators; and create an administrative structure that facilitates the new faculty's acquisition of independent extramural funding. To further the research in lung biology, we propose the recruitment of Dr. Lam to our Division. Dr. Lam is a new investigator who is collaborating with several investigators in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine of Northwestern University and providing some ofthe seminal research in understanding the role of the canonical Wnt/p-catenin pathway in adult lung response to injury and repair. The Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine of Northwestern University is a center for innovative research into the mechanisms of lung injury, the addition of Dr. Lam and her research on the role p-catenin signaling in abnormal wound repair will not only complement but also elevate the scientific capacity of the Division. Understanding the mechanisms by which p-catenin signaling effects fibroproliferative diseases in the lung will have significant impact not only upon the understanding of fundamentals lung biology but also upon strategies for treatment and prevention of these devastating diseases. Lung diseases are on the rise in the United States and around the world. Understanding how the lung responds to injury and how aberrant healing leads to lung scarring is vital in order to develop preventive and treatment measures. To this goal, new investigators need to be recruited to develop collaborative, multidisciplinary research that will facitlitate rapid advances in molecular medicine to the bedside.