Tania Wong, PhD

We have been studying the interactions of bacteria and respiratory epithelial cells to understand the pathogenesis of bacterial infection in cystic fibrosis (CF). As airway inflammation is a major component of CF lung disease, our studies have focused on the molecular mechanisms involved in bacteria activation of epithelial proinflammatory cytokine expression. Our approach has been to use bacterial genetic systems to identify virulence genes and adhesins important in the pathogenesis of infection and to delineate the cytokine signaling systems in normal and CF epithelial cells that are activated by these bacterial components.