# Interstitial macrophage recruitment during direct versus indirect acute lung inflammation

> **NIH NIH F32** · UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER · 2021 · $77,386

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
This proposal describes a 2-year research fellowship program, which will allow the principal investigator to
develop an academic career in Pulmonary Medicine. The principal investigator has completed residency
training in Internal Medicine and is currently training as a fellow in Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care
Medicine.
The proposed research will investigate the origin, location, and signal receptors responsible for interstitial
macrophage expansion during acute lung inflammation from direct epithelial and indirect systemic stimuli in
mice. The principal investigator will have a two-tiered mentorship team within the same laboratory. William
Janssen MD, an expert in macrophage biology and exemplary physician-scientist at National Jewish Health
and the University of Colorado, is the primary mentor and sponsor and will provide project oversight and career
mentorship. Dr. Alexandra McCubbrey PhD, a junior faculty lung immunologist, will serve as the co-sponsor
and will provide hands-on training in laboratory techniques and data analysis.
The overall research goal of this proposal is to determine differences in interstitial macrophage responses to
acute inflammation from direct and indirect stimuli. We hypothesize that interstitial macrophage expansion
during acute inflammation is driven by recruitment of circulating monocyte-derived macrophages rather than
proliferation of resident macrophages. Further, direct lung inflammation results in macrophage recruitment to
multiple sites within the lung parenchyma while indirect inflammation results in macrophage recruitment
primarily to the alveolar septa. Differences in chemokine receptors will target macrophage recruitment to the
interstitium versus airspace. Flow cytometry and immunofluorescence will quantify and localize recruited
macrophages in an established transgenic reporter mouse model that allows lineage tracing of interstitial
macrophages. Mixed bone marrow chimera mice and chemokine receptor knockout mice will be used to
evaluate contribution of specific chemokine receptors to inflammatory macrophage migration.
Determining the interstitial macrophage response to different inflammatory stimuli will provide novel insights
into variations in lung inflammation. Findings from these experiments have potential implications for human
lung disease like the acute respiratory distress syndrome. Further, as interstitial pulmonary macrophages are
located adjacent to many structures with important biologic structures these findings may have applications to
many lung disorders. This work will also serve as the basis for future work as the principal investigator moves
from fellowship, to junior investigator, to independent researcher.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10136234
- **Project number:** 1F32HL156289-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
- **Principal Investigator:** Peter Kitrick Moore
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $77,386
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-07-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10136234

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10136234, Interstitial macrophage recruitment during direct versus indirect acute lung inflammation (1F32HL156289-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10136234. Licensed CC0.

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