Postdoctoral Trainee Dr. Samantha Faber, PhD has been awarded the Society of Toxicology 2019 Colgate-Palmolive Postdoc Fellowship Award in In-Vitro Toxicology. Her project title is “Beyond the Barrier; A Readily Adoptable In Vitro Model for Exploring the Effects of Inhaled Toxicants beyond the Epithelium”. Please see below for a short summary of the grant proposal. Congratulations to Dr. Faber!!!!
Short Summary of grant proposal:
The vast majority of mechanistic studies in inhalation toxicology have relied upon airway epithelial cell monoculture models. While epithelial cells play a well-defined role in the effects of inhaled chemical exposures, exploring the effects of these exposures on cell types that reside beneath the epithelium (i.e., stromal cells) and play critical roles in lung structure/function has typically required the use of in vivo animal models. To address these challenges, we designed a novel in vitro approach to study ‘trans-epithelial’ exposures, that incorporates an in vivo-like airway epithelial barrier and physiologically-relevant exposure parameters. Using gene expression techniques, live-cell imaging, and inhibitor studies we will identify molecules governing key cellular signaling pathways and define dynamics of oxidative stress/proinflammatory response. Ultimately, this trans-epithelial model will enable examination of inhaled toxicant exposures within the stroma, providing accurate in vitro to in vivo extrapolation for inhalation toxicity testing.