Imaging and Biomaterials Characterization

纤维化可以发生在肺、肝脏、心脏和大脑等组织中，是包括某些类型的癌症、动脉粥样硬化和哮喘在内的几种疾病的标志。当伤口愈合机制（有益的组织重塑过程）出错，导致各种组织过度生长、硬化和/或瘢痕形成时，纤维化过程就会发生。在其他疾病中，特征性的胶原蛋白积累和重塑是导致哮喘的因素。哮喘是加拿大乃至全世界的公共卫生问题。这是加拿大最常见的慢性呼吸系统疾病之一，每12个加拿大人中就有1人患有此病，占全国人口的8%左右。在加拿大，哮喘的直接费用估计为每年410亿美元（约占加拿大卫生保健资金的13%），使其成为治疗费用第二高的疾病。目前的治疗方法只能缓解患者的症状，无法逆转疾病的进程。当我们呼吸时，健康的肺部由于胶原蛋白和弹性纤维的网而膨胀和收缩，这是一个称为细胞外基质（ECM）的复杂网络的一部分，它为细胞运动和功能提供了结构。哮喘患者呼吸困难是因为输送空气进出肺部的管道（气道）由于持续的损伤而结疤和阻塞。由于非弹性纤维（如胶原蛋白）改变了ECM结构并改变了细胞行为，这种持续的损伤导致了疤痕的积累。然而，与纤维化和组织变化相关的关键基本过程仍然知之甚少。mostao - guidolin博士雄心勃勃的研究将组织工程与高分辨率成像相结合，设计人工组织来模拟气道损伤和修复。损伤恢复需要多种不同途径的协调激活，包括细胞和某些ECM改变。利用显微镜成像技术，mostao - guidolin博士将以前所未有的详细程度观察ECM内发生的变化。从长远来看，这项研究将指导确定新的靶点，不仅用于哮喘，而且用于一系列影响许多加拿大人生活的广泛的、致命的和其他无法治愈的纤维化疾病。

Finding Cures for the Incurable: Combining Tissue Engineering & Imaging to Understand Fibrosis Fibrosis, which can occur in such tissues as the lungs, liver, heart, and brain, is a hallmark of several diseases including certain types of cancer, atherosclerosis, and asthma. The fibrosis process occurs when wound healing mechanisms - the beneficial tissue remodelling processes - go awry, leading to overgrowth, hardening, and/or scarring of various tissues. Characteristic accumulation of excess collagen and remodelling are contributing factors to asthma, among other diseases. Asthma is a Canadian and worldwide public health problem. One of the most common chronic respiratory diseases in Canada, it affects 1 in 12 Canadians or ~8% of the national population. In Canada, the direct costs of asthma are estimated to be $41 billion per year (~13% of Canadian health care funding), making it the second most expensive disease to treat. Current treatments, which only relieve patient symptoms, are unable to reverse the disease process. Healthy lungs inflate and deflate as we breathe due to a net of collagen and elastic fibers, part of an intricate network called the extracellular matrix (ECM), which provides a structure for cell movement and function. Asthma patients have difficulty breathing because the tubes (airways) that carry air in and out of the lungs become scarred and obstructed by continuous injuries. This constant injury results in a build-up of scarring due to non-elastic fibres, such as collagen, that change the ECM structure and modify cell behaviour. However, key fundamental processes associated with fibrosis and changes in tissues are still very poorly understood. Dr. Mostaço-Guidolin's ambitious research combines tissue engineering with high-resolution imaging to design artificial tissues to mimic airway injury and repair. Recovery from injury requires the coordinated activation of a variety of different pathways, including cells and certain ECM alterations. Using microscopy imaging technologies, Dr. Mostaço-Guidolin will look at changes happening within the ECM with an unprecedented level of detail.In the long term, this research will guide the identification of new targets for the development of new medications not only for asthma, but for a range of widespread, deadly, and otherwise incurable fibrotic diseases that affect the lives of many Canadians.