Mariani Lab
View profile for Thomas J. Mariani
Research Overview
The broad objectives of Dr. Mariani's laboratory are to identify the genetic mechanisms of susceptibility to chronic lung diseases, particularly focusing upon their developmental antecedents and the influence of environmental factors. Dr. Mariani's research program focuses upon defining key regulatory networks involved in lung development and maturation, and which may be perturbed in diseased states such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Work focuses predominantly upon defining pathways contributing to regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal interactions and expression of extracellular matrix molecules. His laboratory utilizes genetic modeling in animals, exposure-related models of chronic lung disease and studies of human samples. He is a leader in the application of genome-wide expression array methods to pulmonary biology and lung disease gene/biomarker discovery. This work is currently supported by research grants from NIH and FAMRI.
Projects
- Transciptomics of Lung Development
- Regulation of Alveolar Formation
- The Role of Airway Epithelial Cell PPARg in Lung Maturation and Maintenance
- SERPINE2 as a genetic determinant of lung function
