Research
Major Areas of Research
Translational, Clinical and Basic research is conducted in the Division in the following areas:
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
- Respiratory Infections (including Exacerbations of COPD, Community acquired pneumonia, Health care associated pneumonia and Ventilator associated pneumonia)
- Sleep apnea
- Respiratory Muscle Function
- Pulmonary Hypertension
Interdisciplinary Research
Strong research collaborations exist between our division and the University at Buffalo Divisions of Infectious Diseases and Allergy/Immunology, Departments of Anesthesia and Exercise Physiology, the Department of Immunology at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, and the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences. In addition, collaborative research is conducted with a wide variety of national and International Collaborators including UCSF, John Hopkins and the University of Iowa.
Faculty Laboratories and Facilities
Drs. Sethi, El-Solh, Provost and Mador have research laboratories at the VA Medical Center. These are housed both within the Divisional wing in the main hospital as well as in the dedicated Research Building adjacent to the hospital building. State of the art laboratory equipment is housed in these laboratories, including Flow Cytometry, Luminex, real time PCR thermocycler etc. Animal facilities are housed in the basement of The VA research building. In addition, Core facilities available within the University at either the South Campus across the street from the VA or at the Center of Excellence adjacent to BGH include an Anatomic Core, a Bioinformatics Core etc.
Within the Divisional Wing at the VA, several rooms are dedicated to Clinical COPD, Sleep and Respiratory Muscle Research. Besides equipment for clinical evaluation; spirometry, sputum induction and cardiopulmonary exercise testing equipment is available in this Clinical Research area. Research Bronchoscopies are conducted in the Bronchoscopy suite in the VA. Research Sleep studies are conducted in the 4 bed sleep center housed in the Divisional Wing at the VA.
Clinical sleep research is also conducted at the Sleep and Wellness Clinic (Dr. Aquilina, Ten Brock).
UB 2020’s Strategic Strengths
To advance UB 2020 and become a model 21st-century public research university, UB is investing in eight areas identified as Strategic Strengths. Research in our division is in line with several of these including Health and Wellness Across the Lifespan, Integrated Nanostructured Systems and Molecular Recognition in Biological Systems and Bioinformatics. Clinical and translational emphasis of our research has already led to discoveries that greatly impact human health, and we believe will continue to do so in the future. We are exploring the application of nanoparticles to the treatment of airway disease. Ongoing exploration of the airway proteome, microbiome and transcriptome in COPD advances our strength in bioinformatics.
Research Funding
Research by members of our division is supported by funding from a variety of sources, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), New York State and Pharmaceutical Companies. Pharmaceutical funding support is for investigator initiated single-center studies as well as for participation in multi-center clinical trials. Newly hired faculty members also receive intramural research support from UB.
Drs. Sethi and Mador research is supported by funding from NIH. Drs. El-Solh and Sethi have VA funding support. Dr Sethi has New York State support. Drs. Provost, El-Solh and Sethi have current investigator initiated projects sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. Drs. Mador, El-Solh and Sethi participate in multi-center clinical trials. Drs. Mammen and Provost have intramural UB support for their research efforts.
Post-Doctoral Opportunities
We welcome US and International post-doctoral candidates to our laboratories for further training and experience. Please contact the Divisional Administrative assistant or individual faculty members to explore available opportunities.