Unravelling the role of lymphatics in vaping associated lung injury

Electronic cigarettes (ECs) were developed as a smoking cessation aid, however, there has been an unexpected uptake of ‘vaping’ by non-smokers. Despite the popularity of ECs, there are significant gaps in our understanding of how safe EC use is. What we do know is that acute EC exposure increases blood pressure and heart rate, and that long-term EC exposure increases blood vessel stiffness and causes endothelial damage. Several studies have found that vaping also causes inflammation, including a severe form of lung injury known as ‘e-cigarette and vaping-associated lung injury’ (EVALI). Lung inflammation presents as abnormal excess fluid in the lungs. This excess fluid is hypothesised to arise from injury to blood vessels in the lung, resulting in fluid ‘leaking’ from blood vessels into the lung’s tissue at a greater rate than can be cleared by the pulmonary lymphatics, interfering with pulmonary function. 

The lymphatics are a network of unidirectional vessels that absorb fluid and large molecules from tissues and deliver them to the bloodstream. Despite the lymphatics’ vital roles, there are huge gaps in our knowledge of how they work in health and disease. When the lymphatic system is dysfunctional, fluid clearance becomes inadequate and excess fluid accumulates. In the lungs, lymphatic dysfunction has been implicated in lung injury in humans after cigarette smoke exposure and severe COVID-19. In our broad project, we will combine cell culture, in vivo (short- and long-term) and in silico techniques to examine the role of lung lymphatics in EC exposure as a marker for long-term health effects of vaping. This PhD position will aim to further develop a computational model of lung lymphatics and apply this model to increase our understanding of the role of lymphatic dysfunction in lung (dys)function.

The ideal candidate will have a background in bioengineering/biomedical engineering, or another type of engineering or mathematics. Computational modelling, programming, data analysis, and mathematical modelling skills would be useful.

RSNZ Marsden

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