Growing lung cells in the laboratory is an important tool for studying lung disease. It allows scientists to find out quickly how lung cells react to drugs and to better understand their biology. The epithelial cells that line the lung are first responders and when defective, such as in cystic fibrosis, result in serious disease.

But lung cells are finicky, and they're not easy to cultivate in the lab. However, Steven Brody, M.D., associate professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, has developed an effective and reliable system for culturing lung epithelial cells, especially from mice, and now he is heading a core facility for lung cell culture that will help lung disease investigators at the Children's Discovery Institute and the School of Medicine.

"The grant from the Children's Discovery Institute will enable us to establish a core facility that will be important for our researchers studying children's lung problems such as asthma, allergies, cystic fibrosis or severe infections," Brody says. "Having the facility may also help attract researchers doing related work to consider studying respiratory problems in children."

Brody says lung cell culture is expensive, time consuming and tricky. So it makes sense to consolidate equipment, supplies and expertise into the core facility. The facility can maintain cultures of lung cells from normal and genetically defined strains of mice as well as cultures of lung cells from healthy and diseased human lungs.

"Our lab developed a culture system for mouse based somewhat on what we knew about growing human airway epithelial cells," Brody says. "Our mouse cell culture system is like a trusted chocolate cake recipe — it's a little complex but reproducible and attractive. Using our experience and skills, our goal is to help investigators overcome barriers and expand their capacity for studying lung disease using these cells."

Grown on plastic membranes and bathed in nutrients and other carefully selected components, the lung cells in Brody's cultures differentiate into specialized cells like those found in the lung, instead of remaining undifferentiated as cells do in most culture systems. This makes them better models of lung tissue in living organisms.

The cell cultures enable investigators to study patterns of gene expression to understand the genetic foundation of lung disorders. Researchers also use them as a model for bacterial and viral infection and to test drugs or biological agents.

"We can also use these cells to look at immune responses in lung transplant models," Brody says. "We mix lung cells with immune cells and study mechanisms that occur during organ rejection."

The core facility not only provides respiratory epithelial cell cultures for research, it trains researchers who want to be able to grow their own cultures, assists with analysis of gene expression in the cells and plans to develop stocks of lung epithelial cell lines. "We've taught people from all over the world how to culture these cells," Brody says.