Examining how stress-response pathways regulate epithelial adaptation and survival

The airway epithelium is continuously exposed to environmental stressors that can disrupt cellular homeostasis, trigger inflammation, and impair lung function. Understanding how epithelial cells respond and adapt to these stresses is therefore central to understanding both normal lung function and injury repair.

Our laboratory has identified a role for the Fragile X Mental Retardation Protein (FMRP) in protecting airway epithelial cells from environmental injury. We have shown that FMRP is required for activation of the Integrated Stress Response (ISR), a conserved pathway that helps cells adapt to stress. In the absence of FMRP, epithelial cells exhibit defective stress responses, increased cellular damage, and enhanced cell death.

Ongoing projects investigate how FMRP regulates stress signaling in the airway epithelium and how these pathways influence epithelial adaptation, survival, and tissue repair following injury.