Summary
The Brownfield lab seeks to reverse-engineer how the alveolus is built, maintained and repaired — and uncover why these processes fail in diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis. We combine developmental biology, mechanobiology, single-cell genomics and organoid engineering to define the physical and molecular rules that govern alveolar epithelial identity, plasticity and regeneration.
Tissues are not assembled by molecules alone. Cells constantly interpret mechanical forces, membrane tension and niche interactions to decide whether to remain stemlike, differentiate or enter maladaptive states. Our lab dissects these multiscale inputs in vivo and then reconstructs them in culture, enabling us to determine exactly how AT1 and AT2 lineages emerge, progenitors regain competence after injury, and pathological "stuck" transitional states arise in chronic disease.
We map these processes by:
- Enumerating the cellular and mechanical components.
- Defining their signaling and physical interactions in vivo.
- Rebuilding fate decisions in 3D organoid and co-culture systems.
We aim to generate a unified understanding of alveolar development and repair.
Our long-term vision is to use these principles to design rational, mechanistically informed regenerative therapies, including approaches that modulate membrane tension, engineer supportive microenvironments, or restore epithelial differentiation programs in injured and fibrotic lungs.
We welcome trainees excited by discovery at the intersection of development, mechanics and regeneration, and by the challenge of understanding — and ultimately reconstructing — the fundamental logic of lung biology.