Muralidharan Anbalagan, PhD

Role of estrogen receptor alpha signaling in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

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This research project aims to understand the role of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) signaling in the etiology of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) and whether this signaling relates to the poorer prognoses and greater incidence of IPF observed in biological males. Our current mice model uses intrapulmonary instillation of bleomycin via the trachea to rapidly induce alveolar injury and fibrosis with a single administration. Subsequent analysis for sex differences will use two ERα knock-in mouse strains (S216A and S171A) to identify the role of these two ERα phosphorylation sites.