Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Dr. Lawrence W. Rasmussen received his PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and is currently a Postdoctoral Scholar Trainee in the School of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine at UAB.
Under Dr. Vamsee Raju mentorship, his ongoing research involves understanding how different environmental insults causes 1) acquired CFTR dysfunction, 2) diminished mucosal lung defenses, and 3) disrupts cholinergic regulation of pulmonary immunological inflammation.
Using a variety of laboratory models, he is actively evaluating non-neuronal alpha-7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors’ agonists and anti-inflammatory PDE4 inhibitor compounds as novel activators of CFTR-mediated ion transport. His studies may support the use of add-on therapeutics to existing treatments targeting the symptoms of airway disease in patients with cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.