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The Molecular Biology Core was established to provide expertise, equipment, training, and reagents to serve the molecular biology needs for Cystic Fibrosis Research.
The Histology Core facility was established in 1989 to provide histology services to the investigators associated with the Marsico Lung Institute. The objective of the Core is to provide high quality light and electron microscopy services in support of the research goals of our investigators.
The MLI Tissue Procurement and Cell Culture Core (TPC) was established to provide standardized cell cultures for CF research. The TPC serves as a central source of normal, CF and disease control cells, tissues and fluids for a wide array of uses. The TPC has prepared cells from approximately 6,900 human tissue specimens over the past 26 years, providing an average of 13 x 109 viable primary human airway epithelial cells per year over the past five years.
The Marsico Lung Institute/UNC Cystic Fibrosis Center Animal Models Core is dedicated to providing access for collaborating scientists to animal models critical for in vivo studies that provide insights into pulmonary disease pathophysiology and treatment. The Animal Models Core has been involved in the generation and/or study of over 25 lines of transgenic or knockout mice for a variety of collaborators over the years.
Multiple research strategies for treating patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) are currently being explored. The Cystic Fibrosis Molecular/Functional Measurement Core provides services to analyze the efficacy of treatments that target different stages in the pathogenic sequelae of CF disease development. Pre-clinical drug candidates are assessed by conducting tests using the following models: 1) culture models generated from patients’ cells (in vitro), 2) patient tissues (ex vivo), and 3) relevant animal models of CF and other lung diseases (in vivo).
To translate CF therapeutic strategies from basic research to clinical studies, the assessment of drug candidates in physiologically relevant assays is required. To support translational CF research, the CFTR Functional Analysis Core evaluates effectiveness of candidate therapies on CFTR expression and processing by biochemical analyses and on CFTR activity by functional measurements.

Visualization of amplified DNA by gel electrophoresis

Microscopic image of a tissue sample

Excised lung tissue

Two mice displayed on a white sheet

At left, a confocal fluorescent microscopy image of living nasospheroids developed from a cystic fibrosis patient's nasal tissue. At right, a magnified image of epithelial tissue

Ussing Chamber Systems for measuring electrophysiological characteristics of tissue samples and cell cultures

Marsico Lung Institute/UNC Cystic Fibrosis Center

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Magnified image showing the inside of a mucus-producing gland in the airway of a person with cystic fibrosis

A mucus-producing gland in an airway with cystic fibrosis.

Above is a highly magnified image showing the inside of a mucus-producing gland in the airway of a person with cystic fibrosis taken with a scanning electron microscope. The gland opening is occupied by thick mucus. The airway tissue was collected from a donated lung during transplant surgery and then treated with a compound that stimulates gland secretion before the image was taken. The picture was later colored on a computer to help show the different parts: mucus is yellow, ciliated cells – the tiny hair-like structures that normally help move mucus – are pink, the gland opening is blue, mucus-producing cells are purple, and a red blood cell that fell in the gland opening is shown in red.

This image was provided by the Ehre Lab: Camille Ehre, PhD | Marsico Lung Institute

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Headshots of Kenneth Olivier and Richard Boucher

Cover image of Nucleic Acids Research, Volume 54, Issue D1, 2026