Project Details
Description
Dr. Robert Schleimer is the Roy and Elaine Patterson Professor and Chief of the Allergy-Immunology Divisoin at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He is interested in cellular and molecular mechanisms of airways disease in the nose, sinuses and lungs. He has several roles in this project. As Co-Investigator, he leads the efforts at Northwestern to provide human epithelial cells for profiling of the glycans that serve was receptors for influenza hemagglutinins. Dr. Schleimer and his associates, especially Dr. Assel Biyasheva, have been acquiring primary human epithelial cells from the lungs and bronchi of transplant and cadaver tissues. These cells are used to study the glycans in the airways to assist in identification of specific human influenza receptor binding elements. Dr. Schleimer and his group have also been providing fresh primary epithelial cells from freshly obtained surgical tissues obtained from the OR in Otolaryngology. Comparisons of upper airway, sinus and bronchial epithelial cell glycan patterns can be useful in understanding the tissue specificity of influenza infections. Dr. Schleimer’s group has also been involved in the preparation and processing of tissue sections and cultured epithelial cells from the human airways to assist Dr. Paulson’s laboratory. Dr. Schleimer’s extensive track record of research in immunopathogenesis of chronic rhinosinusitis allows him to bring a pathological perspective to the project to supplement the outstanding glycomics and biochemistry. Dr. Schleimer is the PI of a large sinus repository and his laboratory receives hundreds of nasal and sinus mucosal samples freshly collected by ENT collaborators during surgery every year. The access to these samples has been and will continue to be exploited for the benefit of this project. Dr. Schleimer’s laboratory has the equipment and expertise for efficient processing of upper and lower airway samples for histology, immunohistochemistry and optical and confocal microscopy, and is also experienced in culturing epithelial cells at an air liquid interface. All of these resources and expertise have been made available for this project. Dr. Schleimer also has an extensive archive of sinus and nasal tissue samples from patients and controls, including many from patients with influenza infections, which we anticipate may be employed in the later stages of the project as specific hypotheses about flu receptors and their localization emerge.
Status | Finished |
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Effective start/end date | 8/1/20 → 7/31/24 |
Funding
- Scripps Research Institute (5-54319 Amnd 2 // 5R01AI114730-08)
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (5-54319 Amnd 2 // 5R01AI114730-08)
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