Chinoy earns ALA Career Investigator Award Mala R. Chinoy, Ph.D., associate professor of surgery and neuroscience and anatomy, has been awarded the American Lung Association Career Investigator Award for two years for her research on induction and reversal of pulmonary hypoplasia in fetal mice. In May, Chinoy was one of four invited speakers from the United States at the International Conference on Pathogenetic and Experimental Aspects of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Genes identified that may be responsible in abnormal lung development Researchers at Penn State's College of Medicine have identified three different genes with a possible role in influencing lung growth and development in newborns. Mala R. Chinoy, Ph.D., associate professor of surgery and neuroscience and anatomy, believes her team's discovery may help the newborns with abnormal lungs. In newborns, respiratory failure is the most significant cause of death.
Respiratory failure is secondary to inadequate lung development.
Despite the use of innovative techniques, newborn mortality remains greater than 50 percent to 70 percent depending on the severity of the pulmonary hypoplasia. The goal of our study is to design alternative therapies to promote lung growth and improve the survival of newborns. Studies in vitro have involved organ cultures of hypoplastic lungs from animal models, which were treated with specific growth factors. The preliminary data have been very encouraging as they have been able to reverse the pulmonary hypoplasia significantly and repair the cell damage. This research is funded in part by the American Lung Association, March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, and the Children's Miracle Network.