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RESEARCH GROUPS
Group 1
Programme: Host-Pathogen Interactions/ Acute Lung Injury (ALI)
Lead Researcher: Casals Carro, Cristina Group members
STAFF MEMBERS: Cañadas Benito, Olga | García-Fojeda García-Valdecasas, María Belén ASSOCIATED MEMBERS: Coya Raboso, Juan Manuel | Egido Martín, Virginia | Monsalve Hernando, Car-
men | Muñoz Minutti, Carlos Arturo | Saenz Martínez, Alejandra |
Main lines of research
The respiratory epithelium has evolved to produce a complicated network of extracellular membranes, called lung surfactant, that are essential for breathing and, ultimately, survival . Lung surfactant not only protects the lung against alveolar collapse during the breathing cycle but is involved in host defense . The manner in which surfactant components might participate in successful elimination of microorganisms without triggering excessive inflammatory response in the alveolus is still poorly understood . How biophysical surfactant properties and host defense mechanisms can be interdependent is also unknown .
The focus of our group is to understand how surfactant lipids and proteins exert their action . We study: • The molecular mechanisms by which surfactant components control unnecessary tissue inflammation,
using cell culture models of inflammation and infection (CRP on Host-Pathogen Interactions) .
• The potential molecular interactions between surfactant protein A (SP-A) and antimicrobial peptides present in the alveolar fluid (SP-BN, LL37, and beta-defensins) that might facilitate (or block) antimi- crobial actions (CRP on Host-Pathogen Interactions) .
• Surfactant membranes’ mechanisms of resistance to inactivation by factors which increase in the al- veolar fluid during infection and inflammation (CRP on Host-Pathogen Interactions) .
• Molecular interactions between alveolar protein SP-A and nanoparticles (CRP on New Therapies to Treat Respiratory Diseases) .
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CIBERES » Annual report 2014