Increasingly more medical procedures involve delivery of liquids into the lung airways by direct instillation. These include surfactant replacement therapy, lung lavage, delivery of drugs, delivery of genetic materials for gene therapy, partial and total liquid ventilation, and resuscitation. We study the transport mechanisms ranging from liquid plug flows, gravity drainage in bifurcating tubes, Marangoni flows of small airways and alveolar dynamics. Animal experiments, bench-top models and mathematical analysis are used for these studies. Flow over Wavy, Poro-elastic Layers.
Cell surfaces are bumpy and are coated with a poro-elastic material, the glycocalyx.
Our studies involve the analysis of flow in the glycocalyx layer as it couples to the free-stream flow. The aim is to develop an understanding of the local stresses on cells and the transport of dissolved substances which pass between the cell junctions or are available to the cell surface molecules. Partial and Total Liquid Ventilation. A methodology to enhance pulmonary gas exchange during acute respiratory distress is liquid ventilation. In total liquid ventilation, the lungs are completely filled and ventilated using a liquid ventilation system while in partial liquid ventilation, only the alveoli are filled and the lungs are gas-ventilated using a standard mechanical ventilator.