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The University of Southampton
Medicine

Southampton’s collaboration with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital leads to two recently published papers

Published: 11 April 2014
Image of Dr Hans Michael Haitchi

Dr Hans Michael Haitchi, MRC Clinician Scientist, Senior Lecturer in Respiratory Medicine and NHS Honorary Consultant, worked as a visiting scientist and scholar in the Division of Pulmonary Biology, in Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC), Ohio, US from 2010-2011. From this time and his on-going collaboration he has contributed to research work in Jeff Whitsett’s laboratory in CCHMC.

The work has resulted in another two recent co-authorships, which in one of them also involved Philip Thurner and Nicholas Udell from the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment here at Southampton.

The first paper, ‘Sox17 is required for normal pulmonary vascular morphogenesis’, was published by Developmental Biology in March this year. The research showed that the transcription factor Sox17 is required for normal development of the pulmonary vasculature. As part of the study Dr Haitchi took micro CT scans in Cincinnati, which were then analysed here in Southampton. A knock out mouse model showed abnormal lung vascular development, which was associated with cardiac abnormalities after birth.

The second paper, ‘Foxa3 induces goblet cell metaplasia and inhibits innate antiviral immunity’, was published by the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care in February 2014 and showed that the transcription factor Foxa3 induces mucus producing cells in the airways and inhibits antiviral innate immunity, which may contribute to a susceptibility to viral infections in chronic lung diseases such as asthma and COPD.

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