Research Description

Building a Multidimensional Map of Developing Human Lung – Jeffrey A. Whitsett, M.D. PI

Our LungMAP2 project seeks to work in a collaborative consortium to develop operational pipelines to study human lung development from the saccular, alveolar stages of morphogenesis at single cell level of resolution. The project will integrate single cell transcriptomic, chromatin accessibility, 2D and 3D high-resolution confocal microscopy, immunofluorescence, multiprobe RNA in situ hybridization studies to create a detailed molecular map of the cells, cell-cell and cell scaffold interactions in their precise anatomic positions in the developing human lung. Our LungMAP2 Center will work in close concert with the Data Coordinating Center (DCC), other LungMAP2 Centers and the Human Tissue Procurement Core (HTPC) to obtain, annotate, preserve and store human tissues using optimal conditions for imaging and omics analyses. Our LungMAP2 project will produce a detailed structural expression atlas of multiple regions, niches in the human lung. We will develop and validate new technologies for tissue clearing, 3D reconstructions of high-resolution images, multi-probe RNA and IF analysis. We will develop new tissue digestion single cell and single nuclear RNA analyses for precise regional niches of the normal developing human lung, tissue from and in infants with rare congenital lung disorders. We will work in a Consortium to develop useful bioinformatic programs, modeling cell-cell, cell matrix interactions to define the signaling and transcriptional programs building and maintaining organ structure and function. Working with the DCC and other LungMAP2 Centers, our bioinformatics pipelines will enable data visualization, interrogation in user friendly web portals for sharing with members of the LungMAP2 Consortium, the DCC and for the research community in general.