University of Iowa
Lynda S. Ostedgaard, Research Associate Professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Occupational Medicine in Carver College of Medicine at University of Iowa in Iowa City IA
Education and Training
B.A. Department of Zoology, University of Iowa
M.S. Department of Zoology, University of Iowa
Ph.D. Department of Human Nutrition, Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa
I started as a Postdoctoral Associate under Michael Welsh, Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. I became a Research Scientist in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Occupational Medicine at Iowa and then accepted a position as a Research Associate Professor.
My long-term goals have been to better understand lung biology and disease pathogenesis, and to develop effective new treatments for people with airway disease. My early research centered on CFTR with contributions to understanding the structure and function of the CFTR protein, with a focus on the R-domain. I used this knowledge of CFTR structure to design shortened CFTR transgenes and viruses for gene therapy. I am part of an interdisciplinary group that developed CF pigs to understand how the loss of CFTR causes airway disease. As I and my colleagues studied those animals, the importance of submucosal glands and mucus in the origins of respiratory disease became increasingly apparent. I used immunocytochemistry to show that gel forming mucins of the airway form distinct morphologies. Strands of mucus formed by the gel-forming mucin, MUC5B, accumulated in submucosal gland ducts in CF tracheas and failed to be released, a failure directly related to absence of CFTR function. This work and the questions I had made me appreciate the limitations of current knowledge about the role of submucosal glands in health and disease. Therefore, to understand how submucosal gland secretions contribute to host defense and respiratory diseases such as CF, asthma, and COPD, I designed a pig to eliminate submucosal glands. These pigs lacked airway submucosal glands and showed clear defects in host defense. My future studies will focus on using these knock-out pigs to strengthen our understanding of the basic mechanisms underlying mucus secretion, host defense, and respiratory disease pathogenesis.
Thursday, November 3, 2022
9:45 AM – 11:45 AM ET