Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of small airways in the human lung

The Achillesheel of the lung driving chronic lung disease)dealing with the role of smallairway disappearance as initial step driving lung disease onset. The projectfocuses on 2 chronic lung diseases namely chronic obstructive pulmonarydisease (COPD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) which are characterizedby impaired ability to properly protect, regenerate and repair the (small) airwayepithelium and loss of small airways. The overall goal of the AIRFLOW projectis to improve the view of lung alterations in these 2 diseases by understandingthe organization of the small airways, the cells lining their epithelium, theirback-up systems of progenitor cells (with a specific focus on basal cells), andhow all these elements impact on the small airway physiology within the lung.This project includes several methodological expertise such as cellularwork with immunostaining and “in vitro work”, morphological work includingimaging and histology, molecular work including RNA profiling and protein workand clinical and epidemiological work.