Vickram Tejwani, fellow in the Division of Pulmonary, was recently selected as the recipient of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Bauernschmidt Fellowship Award. Co-mentored by Nadia Hansel, professor in the Division of Pulmonary, and Franco D'Alessio, assistant professor in Pulmonary, Vick will use the award to support his study focusing on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
"Our project is focused on assessing a TGF beta 1/CD80 pathway in airway macrophages from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It has two main components: first, assessing the pathway's relationship to COPD severity and second, utilizing recombinant TGF beta 1 and TGF beta 1 antibodies in vitro to evaluate effect on macrophage CD80 expression. We are measuring these immune markers via a laboratory technique called flow cytometry. The ultimate objective of the project is to identify a previously unidentified immunologic pathway that is responsible for worse COPD severity and could serve as a novel therapeutic target in future studies."
