Primary Human Airway Cell Culture Core

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Core D Cell Culture The goal of the work described in this proposal is to collect grow, store and expand airway epithelial cells and smooth muscle cells. These cells will come from bronchoscopic biopsies (brush biopsies for epithelial cells and endobronchial biopsies for smooth muscle cells) from Core B. The main site for collecting, growing and storing the cells will be at IU, but there will be a satellite facility at CWRU to grow cells from bronchoscopies in Cleveland. Subjects will include both severe asthma patients and healthy control subjects. Cells will be provided to investigators from both sites to each or the Projects for use in their Aims, as described. Cells will be catalogued and labeled (by bar code) by study number from Core C. This will allow analysis of the relationship between clinical phenotype, drug response, genotype (for Project 3) and airway cell behavior. Cells will be stored long-term at the IU site. Each sample can be thawed and further expanded for study and testing at the IU site. The ability to collect, expand, and distribute airway epithelial cells to researchers will have a positive impact on understanding and developing therapies for common airway diseases. This will be the only core with these capabilities at either site.