e-Bulletin December 2024

HIGHLIGHTS
World Pneumonia Day
Raising Awareness and Advancing Research

On World Pneumonia Day, we stand with the global community in raising awareness about pneumonia, a deadly disease affecting millions every year, especially among children and the elderly.

Did you know? Emerging respiratory virus infection, like influenza viruses, can cause severe pneumonia and acute lung injury. At our School, Professor Michael Chan, Professor Kenrie Hui, and other researchers are combating pneumonia with an in vitro lung injury model to offer screen treatments for emerging respiratory diseases. The model has been crucial in exploring therapies like mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) for treating influenza H5N1-induced pneumonia and acute lung injury.

Their work also includes investigating viruses like influenza A and SARS-CoV-2 damage lung tissue. Their discoveries aid novel drug discovery and guide experiments to repurpose FDA-approved drugs. The team has found that common drugs like statins can alleviate inflammatory responses in influenza A virus infection, and also found that imatinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor used in cancer, can reduce COVID-19 inflammation.

Here are some references for further reading:

Return to Main Page