Nothing to Sneeze At: Inspiration and Respiration in a Dish

Nothing to Sneeze At: Inspiration and Respiration in a Dish

Collections: Image Award Winners

2019 Award Winner

Raghu Chivukula, David Mankus, Margaret Bisher, Abigail Lytton-Jean, David Sabatini

Koch Institute at MIT, Massachusetts General Hospital, Whitehead Institute

Inspired by a patient’s mysterious breathing disorder, MGH and MIT researchers set out to understand it by growing human airway cells in a dish. Derived from adult stem cells, the resulting tissue (seen here) allows a detailed view of cilia (hair-like filaments) in a fully differentiated airway epithelium—the respiratory tract’s frontline defense system. By manipulating genes in the model, the clinician-scientists were able to discover and characterize a rare genetic condition in the patient responsible for impaired ciliary function.

Read more about this project and its results here.

Video

Raghu Chivukula shares the story behind his image at the exhibit opening ceremony on March 20, 2019.

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