Mary Sunday
Principal Investigator
Professor of Pathology
Professor in Cell Biology
Professor of Medicine
Professor in Pediatrics
Contact Information

DUMC 3712
Durham, NC 27710
Phone: 919-681-4945
Email

Research Interests

Bao, EL, Chystsiakova, A, Brahmajothi, MV, Sunday, ME, Pavlisko, EN, Wempe, MF, and Auten, RL. "Bronchopulmonary dysplasia impairs L-type amino acid transporter-1 expression in human and baboon lung." Pediatric pulmonology 51, no. 10 (October 2016): 1048-1056Oxygen (O2) is essential for life, but excessive oxygen causes tissue injury, scarring, aging, and death. We are studying mechanisms of injury mediated by O2-sensing pulmonary neuroendocrine cells, especially gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP). GRP secretion is induced by O2-related (oxidant) injury, leading to acute and chronic lung injury and pulmonary fibrosis (PF). Our key model is PF due to ionizing radiation to the thorax. This is clinically relevant to PF triggered by many environmental exposures or autoimmune diseases, as well as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). There is no cure for PF. We seek to reverse fibrotic responses in lung.

Publications

Journal Articles