Division of Allergy Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine

February 6, 2020

Team tracks integrin’s role in lung function

Beta-1 integrin, a critical component of epithelial extracellular matrix receptors, is essential for normal lung function in adulthood, researchers at VUMC have discovered.

By Bill Snyder
3d rendering white blood cells with red blood cells
October 8, 2019

A new regulator of B cell development

New findings establish a role for the pro-inflammatory molecule IL-33 in the early development of antibody-producing B cells.

By Leigh MacMillan
February 18, 2019

VUMC study finds helping patients breathe during intubation prevents life-threatening complications

Thousands of Americans die each year during a dangerous two-minute procedure to insert a breathing tube. Now a Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) study in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is showing that using bag-mask ventilation, squeezing air from a bag into the mouth for 60 seconds to help patients’ breathing, improves outcomes and could potentially save lives.

By Craig Boerner
March 27, 2018

Alzheimer’s proteins in ICU survivors

The cognitive impairment that affects patients who survive a stay in the ICU does not appear to have a similar mechanism to Alzheimer’s disease, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.

By Meredith Jackson
February 12, 2018

Protecting transplanted lungs

Acetaminophen may offer a simple treatment to prevent tissue injury following lung transplant, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.

By Leigh MacMillan
February 1, 2018

Study tracks therapy to slow idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Investigators in the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care have launched a pilot study to see if patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) can tolerate the addition of a commonly used antiviral drug to standard IPF treatments. The research team believes the drug may ultimately help slow progression of the chronic and progressive disease or reverse its course.

By Nancy Humphrey
May 15, 2017

RSV-HRV viral interference

RSV infection reduces the risk of infection with human rhinovirus, which could have implications for vaccine development and prevention strategies for viral respiratory tract infections in infants.
By Leigh MacMillan
March 9, 2017

American Thoracic Society lauds Young’s contributions

Lisa Young, M.D., associate professor of Pediatrics and Medicine in the Divisions of Pulmonary Medicine and Allergy, Pulmonary, and Critical Care Medicine, has been selected to receive this year's American Thoracic Society (ATS) Public Advisory Roundtable Excellence Award.
By Christina Echegaray
July 21, 2016

Team to study RSV’s role in asthma formation

Investigators in the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine recently received a $4.5 million Asthma and Allergic Diseases Cooperative Research Center (AADCRC) grant from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
By VUMC News and Communications
December 21, 2015

VUMC mourns loss of critical care leader Wheeler

Arthur P. “Art” Wheeler, M.D., professor of Medicine and the longtime director of Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Adult Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU), died Thursday, Dec. 17, from cancer. He was 58.
By John Howser
October 15, 2015

Risk of death in the ICU

The irregular heart rhythm atrial fibrillation increases the risk of death in patients in the intensive care unit.
By Bill Snyder
November 24, 2014

Gene influences allergies in asthma

A particular gene is associated with a specific type of inflammatory response in people with asthma – a finding that could suggest new therapeutic targets for treating asthma.
By VUMC News and Communications
October 10, 2014

Aspirin and allergies

Drugs such as aspirin and indomethacin may increase sensitivity to airborne allergens by suppressing production of the signaling molecule PGI2, which in turn may offer a new treatment for allergies.
By VUMC News and Communications