Rebuilding lungs, one cell at a time

Working to understand lung injury in order to enhance lung regeneration.

The Vaughan lab’s research is focused on defining and understanding the relevant cell types and molecular mechanisms by which the mammalian lung is able to regenerate after severe injury. We are especially interested in elucidating the means by which epithelial and endothelial progenitor cells contribute to the restoration of airway and alveolar units after viral pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Our lab utilizes cutting edge molecular and cellular biology techniques to better understand how pulmonary epithelial and endothelial compartments respond to lung injury. We are especially interested in how alternative, “emergency” cell lineages are recruited in severe injury settings (H1N1 influenza, SARS-CoV-2) and how the fate of these cells can be manipulated toward more functionally beneficial endpoints. Additionally, compared to the epithelium, surprisingly little is known as to the most relevant progenitor cell types involved in repair of the pulmonary vascular endothelium, so several projects in the lab are focused on lung vascular (especially alveolar capillary) repair after viral pneumonia.

We have become increasingly interested in epithelial – immune cell crosstalk, as evidenced by our recent discovery of tuft cell (AKA solitary chemosensory cell) expansion into the distal lung after influenza infection.  These cells are responsible for orchestrating Type 2 immune responses and likely play a key role in lung inflammatory diseases, especially asthma.  Moreover, paracrine signals derived from tuft cells may impact the behavior of adjacent epithelial progenitor cells.  Our ongoing studies are aimed at describing the dynamics and heterogeneity within chemosensory cell populations in response to various pathogens and demonstrating how tuft cells orchestrate inflammation and potentially promote chronic inflammatory lung disease. 

Dr. Vaughan is part of the Cell and Molecular Biology / Developmental, Stem Cell, and Regenerative Biology (CAMB/DSRB) graduate group and is a member of the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IRM), the Penn / CHOP Lung Biology Institute (LBI), and the Penn Institute for Immunology (IFI).

Dr. Vaughan is currently seeking new graduate students and research specialists to join his laboratory team. He welcomes inquiries for potential rotations from incoming students. Contact Dr. Vaughan directly at andrewva@vet.upenn.edu.

The policies of the University of Pennsylvania protect academic freedom, as defined in the AAUP’s 1940 Statement of Principles.  This statement has been endorsed by over 250 scholarly and educational organizations in the United States, and its principles are written into faculty handbooks nationwide, including Penn’s. The principles of academic freedom were established to protect the integrity of research and teaching from interference by donors, trustees, politicians, and others who might seek to make universities serve private and political interests.  They are founded on the idea that a university’s purpose is to generate new knowledge that can serve the common good in a democratic society, and that generating new knowledge requires free and open inquiry.  To safeguard the university’s public mission, academic freedom entails the following rights for all faculty members—whether tenure-track or non-tenure track, and including graduate research and teaching assistants—and for students:  

The right of faculty members to full freedom in research, teaching, extramural speech (public speech on issues of general concern) and intramural speech (speech about the university itself, including criticism of it).

The right of students to freedom in learning, which includes freedom of association and expression and freedom of inquiry in the classroom.

Academic freedom is only as strong as the institutions, procedures, and professional norms that faculty members established over the last century to protect it: institutions of faculty governance such as Faculty Senates and unions; the institution of tenure; and due process procedures that protect both tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty against unjust discipline or dismissal.  For further information about academic freedom, see the AAUP-Penn website.