Researchers examine how mechanical signals influence virus infections in the lungs

Researchers of the Rochester Institute of Technology examine how mechanical forces – such as stretching and changes in fabric stiffness – have understood the virus infection rates in the lungs in the fluence in the fluence to understand how the progression of the disease can be reduced.

The process combines virology and mechanobiology, two different areas of study that were not examined at the same time, but could prove to be a way to better understand illness progress in order to intervene earlier and improve the patient results.

The RIT professors Karin Wuertz-Kozak, a bioengineer, and Maureen Ferran, a virologist, examine the relationship between mechanical forces such as changes in stiffness or stretching and viral pathogenesis in lung tissue through a recently preserved National Science Foundation Grant.

Understanding how cells react to mechanical signals could help to understand the progression of the disease and finally be a way to develop new therapies and interventions, including the repair and regeneration of damaged tissues, said Wuertz-Kozak.

“The concept of mechano biology is to understand how mechanical signals change the behavior of a cell,” she said. “Typically, someone who studies mechanical forces such as stretching or stiffness is not the same person who examines the progression of the virus and vice versa. This project enables us to bring both perspectives together. “

The team will examine how viruses infect lung fibroblasts under various mechanical stress conditions and how differences in the mechanical environment can change the cell paths that influence the virus performance. In the lungs, the predominant mechanical clues to breathable stretching and stiffness changes that are connected to diseases such as lung fibrosis include. An indicator of this state is an abnormal tissue stiffness.

Ferran, professor in Rits Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences, is an expert in genetics and immune response. It leads the laboratory of viral genetics, in which research focuses on using viruses as instruments for cancer therapy, examining the immune response and examining age -related diseases.

“Ultimately, our results can help to guide doctors when advising patients during a viral infection,” said Ferran. “Movement leads to an increased respiratory rate and increased mechanical forces on lung tissue. By understanding how these forces affect the progress of the infection of lung cells, we can recommend strategies that minimize complications and possibly improve recovery. “

Wuertz-Kozak, expert for mellular micro environments and tissue engineering, heads the tissue regeneration and the mechanobiology laboratory in the Kate Gleason College of Engineering from RIT. Your team develops treatment options for regeneration of tissue and pain reduction through the laboratory.