Jordan Lee, a Ph.D. candidate in the JGPT, has been awarded the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (F31) from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The F31 award is given to predoctoral students so they can receive individualized, mentored research training while conducting biomedical research. The awarded funds go toward stipends, tuition and fees, and expenses such as research supplies and travel to scientific meetings.
Jordan is researching mechanisms that regulate the responsiveness of airway smooth muscle to β-agonists (common drugs used to treat asthma). β-agonists work by increasing intracellular cAMP levels, leading to airway smooth muscle relaxation and bronchodilation. It was recently discovered that the ABCC1 transporter moves cAMP from the intracellular to the extracellular space in response to β-agonists (1). Under the mentorship of Dr. Steven S. An, Jordan is investigating the signaling pathway that leads β-agonists to activate ABCC1. This work could find new targets for more effective asthma drugs, since current therapies are not sufficient to control symptoms for many patients.
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Cao G, Lam H, Jude JA, Karmacharya N, Kan M, Jester W, Koziol-White C, Himes BE, Chupp GL, An SS, Panettieri RA Jr. Inhibition of ABCC1 Decreases cAMP Egress and Promotes Human Airway Smooth Muscle Cell Relaxation. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2022 Jan;66(1):96-106. doi: 10.1165/rcmb.2021-0345OC. PMID: 34648729; PMCID: PMC8803359. https://doi.org/10.1165/rcmb.2021-0345oc