lung development

In this 3D projected still image from a precision cut lung slice, alveolar epithelial cells are labeled green. All other cells are seen in purple.

Vanderbilt researchers envision the potential to grow new lungs

Using a four-dimensional microscope that allows them to watch a tissue putting itself together, researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have achieved a rare feat in science — they have shattered a long-standing dogma about how the lung develops.

From left, Nicholas Negretti, PhD, Jonathan Kropski, MD, John Benjamin, MD, MPH, Jennifer Sucre, MD, and Erin Plosa, MD, led the research team that created a single-cell “atlas” of lung development. (photo by Erin O. Smith)

“Atlas” of lung development may aid efforts to heal premature lungs

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have constructed a single-cell “atlas” of lung development that tracks multiple cell types over time.