# Assessing Airway Smooth Muscle Tone in Asthma with Endobronchial Optical Coherence Tomography

> **NIH NIH K25** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2020 · $187,546

## Abstract

Research: Asthma affects over 300 million individuals with up to an estimated 10% suffering from “treatment-
resistant” asthma, for whom alternative strategies are needed. Airway smooth muscle (ASM) undergoes
significant changes in asthma that increase bronchoconstriction and impair lung function. Treatments and
therapies that target ASM specifically may therefore offer an alternative approach to controlling asthma, but
progress is impeded by the difficulty in assessing ASM in a clinical setting. Recently we have demonstrated an
imaging platform based on polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) capable of
assessing ASM distributions in vivo by exploiting the form birefringence of smooth muscle. In this proposal we
are aiming to develop, validate, and implement in a pilot clinical study an extension to this technology that can
be used to assess ASM function. This technology has the potential to advance not only asthma research, but
research of many diseases and disorders involving smooth muscle in a number of organ systems.
Candidate: David Adams, PhD is an Instructor in Medicine on the tenure track at Harvard Medical School. His
long-term career goal is to become an independent translational researcher in functional imaging, focusing
primarily on ASM and asthma. He has a strong background in physics, with emphasis on optics and signal
processing. Since beginning postdoctoral research at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), he has worked
on developing novel data processing techniques to maximize the utilization of data obtained with OCT imaging.
The focus of this being the assessment of ASM with PS-OCT. This research will greatly benefit him in his
transition to independent translational research by providing him with invaluable training in lung physiology and
clinical research.
Environment: Dr. Adams will train in an exceptional environment at MGH, with an abundance of resources
available to help him conduct his research. His mentoring team is comprised of internationally recognized
leaders in their fields: Dr. Melissa Suter, primary mentor, is a luminary in the field of translational OCT
research, having been directly involved in seminal studies aimed at translating OCT imaging to the clinic. Dr.
Brett Bouma, co-primary mentor, of the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at MGH is one of the key
progenitors of OCT technology and translational OCT. Dr. Kenneth Lutchen, a secondary mentor, of Boston
University is a pioneer in the development of experiments aimed at investigating lung physiology, and
specifically ASM. Dr. Benjamin Medoff, also a secondary mentor, is chief of the Division of Pulmonary and
Critical Care at MGH and a leading figure in clinical asthma research. In addition to this impressive mentoring
team, Dr. Adams also has immediate access to the tremendous intellectual and collaborative opportunities
available at MGH and Harvard.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9983795
- **Project number:** 5K25HL145120-02
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** David C Adams
- **Activity code:** K25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $187,546
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-01 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9983795

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9983795, Assessing Airway Smooth Muscle Tone in Asthma with Endobronchial Optical Coherence Tomography (5K25HL145120-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9983795. Licensed CC0.

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