American Thoracic Society 2024 Hosted Session
SCIREQ hosted a free in-person session on May 21st, 2024 from 4-5 PM PST. The event was held at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront (adjacent to the ATS Conference Center) in Room Aqua 300.
Session Title: Precision Cut Lung Slices (PCLS) as Translational Models of Airway Reactivity
Session Summary: In this session, speakers discussed the principles of lung slice preparation and its role as a translational model for studying airway reactivity. They assessed the advantages and limitations of lung slices compared to traditional in vitro and in vivo models. Through analysis of case studies and experimental data, speakers also explored how lung slices contribute to understanding the mechanisms behind airway hyperreactivity in conditions such as asthma and COPD.
Speakers:
- Dr. Y.S. Prakash – Mayo Clinic
- Dr. Ynuk Bosse – Université Laval
Please register below to receive our event summary !
Speaker Spotlight
Dr. Y.S. Prakash
Dr. Y.S. Prakash studies human lung diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension. Using state-of-the-art tools applied to human and animal models, his team is working toward developing novel therapies and approaches to treat such diseases in babies, children and adults.
Dr. Prakash has a unique training background as an anesthesiologist, physiologist, and electrical and biomedical engineer, which allows him to bring unique perspectives to research on the “how and why” of these clinically relevant diseases.
Dr. Prakash works with an outstanding interdisciplinary team of young clinician-scientists, researchers, graduate students and technicians in his Pulmonary Cell Biology Laboratory, with the motto “you are only as good as the people you work with.”
Dr. Ynuk Bossé
Since 2002, Dr. Bossé’s main research interest is on airway smooth muscle. He currently studies airway smooth muscle across the entire spectrum of biological scales, encompassing work undertaken at the molecular level up to the level of the whole-organism in healthy and diseased animals and humans. His goals are to decipher the physiological function of airway smooth muscle and to understand why asthmatic patients experience an excessive decline of lung function in response to airway smooth muscle activation.
New Research Platform for Precision Cut Lung Slices
Precision-Cut Lung Slices (PCLS) help researchers understand pathophysiological mechanisms associated with various respiratory diseases. The physioLens is a scientific platform that provides accurate physiological and image-based outcomes in a reproducible fashion. It includes an automated microscope and fluid handling system.
The physioLens features:
- Automation: The physioLens is capable of capturing images anywhere on slices in a 6 well plate and apply doses without user intervention. Images are analyzed in real-time to provide bronchoconstriction data.
- Dosing: Agonists are provided to the slice without user intervention by a dosing nozzle, that can provide a 95% media exchange in less than 20 seconds. In addition, eight dosing bottles are provided to complete a detailed dose response automatically.
- Image analysis: Images of airways are automatically processed to capture the lumen contours and then calculate bronchoconstriction.
- Slice Scanning: Navigating a slice is not necessary with our airway configuration wizard complete with full slice mapping. Fine tune the positions of interest with our click-and-drag XY navigation.
In Vivo and In Vitro Smoke Exposure
We are proud to introduce our new expoCube, adding robust in vitro exposure to the automated inExpose system.
The expoCube provides a novel ALI (air liquid interface) culture exposure system, integrating with the inExpose’s existing exposure generators such as the integrated cigarette smoking robot and industry leading e-cigarette extensions.
The expoCube features:
- Reproducibility: Efficient, uniform, and precise exposure of particulates onto target cells and tissues.
- Precision: Optimized flow paths using advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling.
- Deposition: Patented thermophoresis, increasing the deposition efficiency of small particles without imparting unnatural electrostatic charges onto the aerosols.