Smith Pulmonary Biomechanics Laboratory

Lab Mission

The focus of the Pulmonary Biomechanics Lab is pathogenesis and treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). There are no medical therapies for this condition other than supportive care with mechanical ventilators. The goal is to develop ventilation strategies, devices, and algorithms to minimize ventilator-induced lung injuries (VILI) to reduce the 75,000 deaths per year in the US caused by ARDS.

Collaborations and Tools

The lab collaborates with the Anschutz Departments of Pediatrics, Surgery, & Medicine.

Work We Do

In order to prevent VILI we must understand how the fluid-mechanical stress environment in the alveoli causes cellular-scale injury and how this damage leads to organ-scale dysfunction. To this end, we use in vivo injury models and quantify organ-scale effects using state-of-the art computer-controlled mechanical ventilators.