Risk for chronic lung diseases, including asthma and COPD, is determined by a combination of both genetic and environmental factors. The early life environment plays an important role in determining optimal lung health and therefore risk for future lung disease. The Pascoe lab focuses on understanding how environmental exposures during pregnancy and childhood alter lung development and increase risk for chronic lung disease. These exposures include cigarette smoke, e-cigarettes, cannabis, air pollution, and maternal diabetes.
Oxylipins are a diverse group of lipid mediators that play a role in coordinating many cellular functions. The Pascoe lab uses cell culture models of airway structural cells to understand how these lipid mediators affect growth, differentiation, and function. Currently they are focusing on understanding the role of 19-HETE in regulating airway smooth muscle relaxation.
The emergence of multiple omics technologies (transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, epigenomics, etc) has allowed scientists to decipher cellular mechanisms of health and disease at an unprecedented level. The Pascoe lab uses these big data techniques to understand the developmental origins of lung disease, chronic lung disease pathophysiology, and identify novel molecular processes for therapeutic intervention.