Research
Our research laboratory, headed by Dr. Ronald G. Crystal, has been at the forefront of pioneering research in gene transfer strategies to treat the lung manifestations of various genetic and infectious lung diseases.
Ongoing clinical studies focus on elucidating the genetic mechanisms responsible for the development and progression asthma, and smoking related lung diseases such as lung cancer and COPD (emphysema and chronic bronchitis). An important area of current investigation in our division is the accelerated development of emphysema in individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
The Pulmonary and Critical Care Division is one of eleven centers in the US (and the only one in the Northeast/New England/mid-Atlantic regions) participating in the NIH-funded Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Clinical Research Network (IPFnet), led by Dr. Robert J. Kaner, to evaluate new therapies in individuals with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; this is part of a multicenter clinical study started in June 2005. In the in-hospital setting, we have ongoing studies assessing new therapies for nosocomial pneumonia, and assessment of the relationship between vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and pulmonary edema.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
More Information
If you have specific questions about research within the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, please e-mail your questions to: dpccm@med.cornell.edu