Research

Located in the Pulmonary Center and in conjunction with the Center  for Regenerative Medicine (CReM), the Kotton and Wilson laboratories focus on understanding alpha-1 associated lung and liver disease, with the goal of helping to develop cures for this disease in the future.  We model AAT deficiency lung and liver disease using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) that we have created from PiZZ alphas here at Boston Medical Center.  In hopes of contributing to a future cure, our work has also focused on gene therapy and the development of a transplantable, bioartificial lung.

100-3 undiff airway slice recell with AAW mods pic

Elastase images for website

Selected Publications:

  1. Somers A, Jean JC, Sommer CA, Omari A, Ford CC, Mills JA, Ying L, Sommer AG, Jean JM, Smith BW, Lafyatis R, Demierre MF, Weiss DJ, French DL, Gadue P, Murphy GJ, Mostoslavsky G, Kotton DN: “Generation of transgene-free lung disease-specific human induced pluripotent stem cells using a single excisable lentiviral stem cell cassette.” Stem Cells. 2010 Oct;28(10):1728-40. PMID:20715179
  2. Ott HC, Clippinger B, Conrad C, Schuetz C, Pomerantseva I, Ikonomou L, Kotton D, Vacanti JP: “Regeneration and orthotopic transplantation of a bioartificial lung.” Nat Med. 2010 Aug;16(8):927-33. PMID: 20628374
  3. Wilson AA, Murphy GJ, Hamakawa H, Kwok LW, Srinivasan S, Hovav AH, Mulligan RC, Amar S, Suki B, and Kotton DN: “Amelioration of emphysema in mice via lentiviral transduction of long-lived pulmonary alveolar macrophages.” J Clin Invest. 120:379-89, 2010. PMID: 20038801
  4. Wilson AA, Kwok LW, Hovav AH, Ohle SJ, Little FF, Fine A, and Kotton DN: “Sustained expression of α 1-antitrypsin after transplantation of manipulated hematopoietic stem cells.” Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 39:133-41, 2008. PMID: 18323534