About this Class

The Bhattacharya Lab at the UCSF Parnassus Campus is focused on the functional role of monocyte-derived macrophages in the onset and persistence of fibrosis in the lung. We are addressing the following major questions, with a goal of discovering new targets for therapy for acute lung injury and fibrosis:

• What molecules released by monocyte-derived macrophages and other immune cells signal to and activate pro-fibrotic programs in parenchymal cell types such as fibroblasts and epithelial cells?
• What reciprocal signals derive from these parenchymal cells to modify the immune response?
• How can this pathologic crosstalk be reversed to combat fibrosis and restore lung health?