Congratulations to Chang-Lung Lee, PhD, who was awarded a $2.4 million, five-year U01 grant by the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to support the investigation of lethality from radiation-induced damage to the gastrointestinal (GI) system, also known as GI acute radiation syndrome (GI-ARS). Dr. Lee is the contact PI on the grant, which runs through November 2029; co-PIs on the grant are Jatin Roper, MD, Duke Assistant Professor of Medicine, Cell Biology and Pharmacology and Cancer Biology; and previous faculty member David Kirsch, MD, PhD, now Peter and Shelagh Godsoe Chair in Radiation at Medicine Princess Margaret Cancer Centre at University Health Network.
GI-ARS is a major cause of mortality after radiological disasters, including nuclear accident or terrorist attack. However, no FDA-approved medical countermeasures are available to mitigate GI-ARS beyond standard supportive care. "Through single-cell RNA-seq, lineage tracing and functional studies, our group has identified clusterin-positive revival stem cells as a key epithelial cell population that mediates the regeneration of irradiated intestinal epithelium," said Dr. Lee. "The long-term goal of this project is to develop novel therapies that promote clusterin-mediated regeneration of the small intestines following severe radiation injury. We anticipate that our findings will have significant and broad impacts on the rational design of medical countermeasures for mitigating GI-ARS."