Our Research Team

The LGRC is comprised of five member institutions, their primary investigators who are leading the consortium’s research efforts, new hires made possible through ARRA funding, and additional research members and support staff:

MEMBER INSTITUTIONS

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Center for Cancer Computational Biology

The Center for Cancer Computational Biology (CCCB) serves as the LGRC’s data-coordinating center. This means it monitors the flow of data among the LGRC research partners, collects and integrates it, develops new methods to analyze the data, and presents this information to the scientific community, so it can be broadly used to better understand and treat lung disease. The CCCB also leads the LGRC's public outreach and education project by maintaining the Consortium's website. Visit the CCCB.

National Jewish Health, Center for Genes, Environment and Health

The Center for Genes, Environment and Health (CGEH) focuses on how biological and genetic factors interact with diseases that are influenced by environmental factors. One of its key roles within the LGRC is to perform deep sequencing and methylation studies. The CGEH is responsible for administering the consortium’s federal funding, as well as coordinating and integrating the scientific activities of the other member institutions. Dr. Schwartz heads the LGRC’s steering committee, working directly with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to assure that the LGRC efficiently and effectively achieves its project goals. Visit the CGEH.

University of Pittsburgh, Dorothy P. and Richard P. Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Disease

Along with the University of Pittsburgh’s Lung, Blood and Vascular Center for Genomic Medicine, the CILD serves as the LGRC’s hub for extracting DNA and RNA from the approximately 1,300 lung tissue samples received from the Lung Tissue Research Consortium (LTRC) and for shipping these nucleic acids to the Consortium’s member institutions. It also performs gene expression and microRNA analyses to better understand the genetic factors that contribute to COPD and ILD. The CILD also works with LGRC research partners to validate findings. Visit the CILD.

Boston University, Section for Computational Biomedicine and the Pulmonary Center

The Section for Computational Biomedicine, together with Boston University’s Pulmonary Center, is performing next-generation sequencing studies using the RNA extracted from the LTRC’s lung tissue samples. This advanced technology provides an unprecedented look at the changes in gene and microRNA expression, changes in gene structure, and the mutational spectrum that occur in chronic lung disease. Visit the Pulmonary Center and other sections of the Boston University School of Medicine's Department of Medicine.

University of Colorado Denver, Genomics Core Facility

The Genomics Core Facility is searching for changes that occur in the DNA of patients suffering from COPD and ILD. By finding these changes and determining which genes they affect the facility can gain insight into the genes that are associated with lung disease. More important, by combining information about these changes with other data generated by LGRC members, its researchers hope to understand how and why these genetic changes manifest to cause the onset of disease. Visit the Genomics Core Facility.

PRIMARY INVESTIGATORS

Mark Geraci, M.D., University of Colorado Denver

Naftali Kaminski, M.D., University of Pittsburgh

John Quackenbush, Ph.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

David Schwartz, M.D., National Jewish Health

Frank Sciurba, M.D., University of Pittsburgh

Avrum Spira, M.D., Boston University

Ivana Yang, Ph.D., National Jewish Health

NEW HIRES

Boston University

Lingqi Luo, Xiaoling Zhang

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Victor Chistyakov, Lev Kuznetsov, Niall O'Connor, Alejandro Quiroz-Sarate

National Jewish Health

Corinne Hennessy, Jian Jing, Eva Laemmerhirt, Sonia Leach, Julia Turner

University of Colorado Denver

An Doan

University of Pittsburgh

Caroline Aboud, Joyce Chang, Brenda Juan Guardela, Dror Ledereman, Durwin Logue, Xinwei Wang

ADDITIONAL LGRC RESEARCH MEMBERS AND SUPPORT STAFF

Boston University

Jennifer Beane, Gang Liu, Marc Lenburg, and David Ulrich

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Stas Alekseev, Joan Coraccio, Julianna Coraccio, Mick Correll, Mary Kalamaras, Niall O'Connor, and Alissa Poh

National Jewish Health

Kevin Brown, Jennifer Kemp, and Steve Gronshong

University of Colorado Denver

Chris Coldren, Bifeng Gao, Marvin Schwartz, and Todd Woessner

University of Pittsburgh

Lara Chensny, David Gur, Joseph K. Leader, JoAnn Phillips-Kronz, Tom Richards, Steven Shapiro, John Tedrow, Mary Williams, and Bin Zheng

University of Michigan

Kevin Flaherty and Marty Frick

Lung Genomics
San Francisco CA 94134
United States