# Epithelial cell activation of fibroblasts in pulmonary fibrosis

> **NIH NIH K08** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2020 · $173,880

## Abstract

Project Summary
Candidate
Katharine Black, MD is a faculty member of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine (DPCCM) at
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and an Instructor in Medicine on the tenure track at Harvard Medical
School (HMS). She came to MGH with a strong interest and research background in interstitial lung disease,
and is now working in the laboratory of Dr. Andrew Tager at the MGH Center for Inflammation and
Inflammatory Diseases (CIID). Dr. Tager is a recognized leader in basic mechanisms underlying fibroblast
activation, and in his laboratory she has established expertise in the evaluation of mediators of fibroblast
activation. She is now focusing on alveolar epithelial cell (AEC) injury as a source of these fibroblast-activating
mediators, and on profiling AEC responses to injury in animal and human cell culture models of fibrosis. Her
long-term career goal is to determine the pathways that trigger and exacerbate pulmonary fibrosis, and to
move the discoveries of basic biology closer to patient care, bringing the basic science and the clinical problem
of interstitial lung disease together. The short-term goals of this grant are to delineate the pro-fibrotic AEC
responses to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathways in vitro and in vivo. The experiments, training, and
mentoring plans outlined in the proposal will position Dr. Black extremely well for her first R01 application, and
for an independent career as a physician-scientist.
Mentorship, Training Activities and Environment
The training program described in this proposal is located primarily in the DPCCM and the CIID, both well-
established environments for training high successful physician-scientists. Under the mentorship of Dr. Tager,
Dr. Black has developed a research and training plan that will equip her with the necessary knowledge and
experimental techniques required to move successfully from a mentored to an independent position. This K08
award will provide additional training in epithelial cell biology and in analysis of large sequencing data sets, and
will expand the human subject work she began in establishing a tissue bank of lung explants from patients with
pulmonary fibrosis.
To accomplish her research and career goals, Dr. Black will make use of Dr. Tager’s laboratory’s expertise in
modeling pulmonary fibrosis. She will additionally obtain training in epithelial cell biology and in more advanced
sequencing analysis through collaboration and consultation with a carefully assembled team of experts,
including those who form her Training Advisory Committee. Drs. Jay Rajagopal, Timothy Blackwell, and
Benjamin Humphreys will share their expertise in lung epithelial cell development and repair, pathways of ER
stress in pulmonary fibrosis and human tissue-based research, and the use of cell-specific translational
profiling in analysis of fibrotic injury, respectively. In addition, she will receive formal training in epithelial cell
development, cellul...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9957184
- **Project number:** 5K08HL133603-05
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Katharine E. Black
- **Activity code:** K08 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $173,880
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-01 → 2021-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9957184

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9957184, Epithelial cell activation of fibroblasts in pulmonary fibrosis (5K08HL133603-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9957184. Licensed CC0.

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