# Pre-Clinical Models of ARDS/VILI

> **NIH NIH P01** · UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA · 2020 · $326,628

## Abstract

ABSTRACT: 
The Pre-Clinical Models of Acute Lung Injury Core (Core C) is designed to provide PPG investigators with 
rigorously defined and reproducible murine models of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and 
ventilation-induced lung injury (VILI). The Core will advance three principal objectives with the first objective 
to provide a complete range of expertise, training, equipment, and data analysis tools to extensively study and 
characterize the role of cytoskeleton in preclinical models of murine lung injury. We will employ the state-of- 
the-art techniques to a) characterize the role of cytoskeleton in regulating lung endothelial cell barrier function, 
b) determine the effects of specific interventions in order to provide insight into the efficacy and mechanisms of 
novel therapeutic strategies, and c) facilitate the translation of basic research to clinical interventions. Toward 
this ultimate aim, the Core will first provide validated quantitative measurements of vascular permeability and 
inflammation. The second objective is to house and care for the genetically-engineered mice utilized in this 
PPG and to generate novel transgenic and knockout mice (e.g., inducible endothelium conditional knockout 
mice). The third objective is to examine selective siRNAs or pharmacological agonists or antagonists for 
cytoskeletal proteins as potential therapeutic strategies and approaches for ARDS and VILI models. The 
fourth objective will be to provide rigorously performed, protocol-driven performance of specific experimental 
strategies involving LPS and VILI preclinical models of ARDS/VILI as well as S1P and HGF rescue 
interventions. The last objective will be to evaluate the function of ARDS-associated SNPs and sites of 
functional protein post-translational modification (PTM), utilizing mutated cDNA (high efficiency expression 
plasmids) targeting the lung endothelium (with ACE antibody conjugated liposome) in the endothelial 
conditional knockout mice. As a centralized and functional core, Core C will perform all mice-related work 
across all three projects of this program, including generating new strains, breeding and housing of mice, 
generating preclinical ARDS/VILI models, accessing therapeutic effects of siRNAs and chemicals, performing 
lung inflammation assessment, and providing tissue samples to individual projects for specific assays 
(including immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis). In addition to its own space and equipment, the 
Core will have full access to and will utilize resources available at the University of Arizona shared facilities 
including the Genetically Engineered Mouse Models Core (GEMM) and the Small Animal Medical Imaging 
Service (SAMIS) Facility.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9925257
- **Project number:** 5P01HL126609-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
- **Principal Investigator:** LILIANA DEL SOCORRO MORENO VINASCO
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $326,628
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9925257

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9925257, Pre-Clinical Models of ARDS/VILI (5P01HL126609-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-14 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9925257. Licensed CC0.

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