USA Center for Lung Biology announces Murray Bander Faculty Development Award recipients

The USA Center for Lung Biology at the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine recently announced the recipients of the 2022 Murray Bander Faculty Development Awards. The $5,000 awards, which provide support for one year, are intended to foster innovative discoveries in pulmonary research.

Natalie Bauer, Ph.D.

Natalie Bauer, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacology, will use the funds to further her lab’s research on extracellular vesicle signaling in the pulmonary circulation. “Our lab studies tiny circulating packets of information called extracellular vesicles (EVs),” Bauer explained. “The ones we are currently studying come from pulmonary endothelial cells, which are the cells that line blood vessels in the lung.”  

These EVs contain a molecule called cAMP that can be beneficial to treating a variety of vascular inflammatory diseases, including pulmonary hypertension, she said.  

“We recently found that our EVs containing cAMP can improve outcomes in an animal model of pulmonary hypertension, but we do not fully understand how the EVs work,” Bauer said. “The funding from the Murray Bander Faculty Development Award allows us to study, in a more in-depth way, how the EVs interact with vessels to improve their health.”  

Amy R. Nelson, Ph.D.

Amy R. Nelson, Ph.D. assistant professor of physiology and cell biology, and her lab are examining how pneumonia impacts blood vessels in the brain. Specifically, her team will be investigating a protein known as tau, which is released from the lung in response to pneumonia. “Interestingly, this same protein has been implicated in brain diseases including Alzheimer's disease,” she said. “There is growing appreciation that microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses may impact cognitive function.” 

Scientific research from faculty in the USA Center for Lung Biology, including Mike Lin, Ph.D., Ron Balczon, Ph.D., and Troy Stevens, Ph.D., has shown that a bacteria known to cause pneumonia causes the lung to produce amyloids, previously implicated in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer's disease. 

“Receiving this award will help my lab initiate this new project to understand how pneumonia-elicited tau crosses the blood-brain barrier and impacts blood vessels in the brain," Nelson said.

Sarah Sayner, Ph.D.

Sarah Sayner, Ph.D., associate professor of physiology and cell biology, and her lab team are studying how P. aeruginosa, a common lung pathogen, causes life-threatening pneumonia. The bacteria uses an injection-like needle to transfer toxins into cells, causing direct injury but also promoting the release of amyloids from toxin-infected cells.  

“The studies funded through this proposal will help us understand how these toxic amyloids further cell injury and hinder repair independent of the bacteria,” Sayner said. Data from these studies will generate critical preliminary data for upcoming extramural grant applications.

“My lab is very excited to receive this award and grateful to the Bander Endowment and the Center for Lung Biology for providing this opportunity to conduct this research,” she added.

The USA Center for Lung Biology comprises more than 40 faculty members and 25 postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows, and graduate students representing both basic and clinical science departments, all interested in aspects of lung biology.

Murray Bander, a World War II veteran who moved from New York to Mobile to operate a clothing shop, died from complications of pneumonia in 2001. He left his estate to the Whiddon College of Medicine in 2003, and the Murray Bander Endowment for the Center for Lung Biology was established to support scholarly activities in lung biology.