# Control of progenitor cell maintenance and differentiation in the developing lung

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2021 · $482,368

## Abstract

Abstract
Understanding the function of lung progenitor cells is a critical to improve our fundamental understanding of
lung development, but is also critical to design strategies aimed at improving lung regeneration or repair
following injury. Recent evidence has demonstrated that significant functional and gene expression species-
specific differences exist when comparing the developing human and mouse lung, suggesting that our
fundamental understanding of human lung development is incomplete. This proposal will build on novel
methods that allow us to isolate and propagate epithelial progenitor cells from developing human lungs in vitro,
and novel methods to induce human lung epithelial progenitor cells from iPSCs in vitro. iPSC-derived lung
progenitors are capable of long-term engraftment into the injured mouse airway where they differentiated
multiple cell types within the adult murine lung. Through these studies, we have collectively defined an in vitro
niche comprised of a minimal set of biochemical cues along with a physical environment (extracellular matrix)
that supports lung epithelial progenitor cell growth in vitro. However, how niche factors functions to support
lung epithelial progenitor maintenance and/or differentiation is unclear. This proposal will pursue aims that are
designed to understand how specific niche factors mechanistically support epithelial progenitors in the
developing human lung, and to interrogate the mechanisms by which human lung epithelial progenitor cells
undergo cell fate specification.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10181016
- **Project number:** 5R01HL119215-09
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Jason Spence
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $482,368
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2013-08-01 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10181016

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10181016, Control of progenitor cell maintenance and differentiation in the developing lung (5R01HL119215-09). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10181016. Licensed CC0.

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