Yun Shim
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, NY·Medicine & Clinical Research
Smoking and vaping damage the lungs, but standard tests often miss early harm, and some people, such as male smokers, seem more vulnerable. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major lung disease that limits airflow.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Microbiology & Immunology
Biomedical Engineering
- Topics
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
emphysema
sex differences
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Apr 2029
What they work on
- Determine how male and female gonadal function changes the types and roles of monocyte-lineage immune cells, using the Green gene module, and how these cells affect lung lining and blood vessel cells in mice exposed to cigarette smoke.
- Relate monocyte-lineage cell makeup from lung single-cell RNA sequencing to emphysema severity on chest CT in 60 people balanced by sex and COPD status.
- Test whether the Green gene module helps explain sex differences in how emphysema progresses between two longitudinal Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) exams.
- Measure gas exchange in lung tissue and capillaries with hyperpolarized xenon-129 MRI in 40 young e-cigarette users versus 40 controls over 12 months, checking results against a cardiopulmonary exercise test.
- Determine the immediate effects of a dose of e-cigarette vapor on lung gas exchange by scanning users with hyperpolarized xenon-129 MRI before and after vaping.
More about the research
Emphysema, one form of COPD, permanently destroys the lung's air sacs and resists nearly all treatments. Two projects ask who is susceptible to lung damage and how to detect it early. One project studies why males and females differ in emphysema. The other tests a sensitive imaging method in young e-cigarette users.
Why it matters
Emphysema has few treatments beyond lung volume reduction and transplant. Knowing why males and females differ could help assess risk and develop treatments tailored by sex and monocyte biology. For young e-cigarette users, HXeMRI could become a diagnostic tool that detects lung harm before standard tests do. This could inform medical care and policy on vaping.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Francesca Polverino
Baylor College of Medicine, TX·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether B cells, lymphoid follicles and antibody products are more abundant in emphysematous lung than in lung with less emphysema, using immunostaining and imaging mass cytometry correlated with CT-defined lobar emphysema.
Sanda Predescu
Rush University, IL·Medicine & Clinical Research
Validate that Xist, a long non-coding RNA that silences one X chromosome in females, is more highly expressed and active in female pulmonary arterial hypertension lung tissue and pulmonary artery endothelial cells.
Ronald G Crystal
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, NY·Medicine & Clinical Research
Secure Investigational New Drug approval and manufacture clinical-grade AAV8hAAT(AVL), a virus vector carrying an oxidation-resistant form of alpha 1-antitrypsin, the protein that blocks lung-digesting enzymes.
The school
Weill Medical College of Cornell University: 35 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 59 research doctorates a year.
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