The broad interest of the Kim Lab is to characterize the biology of stem cells in normal lung and lung cancer. Numerous lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease involve injured or depleted bronchiolar or alveolar epithelium. Bronchiolar and alveolar cells are also affected in adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer. It is likely that lung stem cells are critically affected in patients with these devastating diseases.
Our long-term goal is to elucidate the role of stem cells in lung homeostasis as a prerequisite to the development of therapeutic strategies that can be used to prevent or attenuate lung disease.
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Future directions and ongoing projects
Our current and future work will build on these discoveries to lead the field toward a better understanding of stem cell biology in the lung, development of innovative approaches for examining the cellular and molecular basis of lung disease and cancer, and identification of new avenues of therapy for pulmonary diseases.
Affiliations
- Boston Children’s Hospital Division of Hematology/Oncology Research
- Boston Children's Hospital Stem Cell Program
- Dana Farber/Harvard Cancer Center
- Harvard Medical School Biological and Biomedical Sciences
- Harvard Medical School Department of Genetics
- Harvard Catalyst
- Harvard Stem Cell Institute
- American Cancer Society
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; National Institutes of Health
- Ellison Foundation
- Dutch Lung Foundation
- Bristol Myers Squibb
- Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
- Charles H. Hood Foundation