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Mara S Ludwig

photo of mara ludwig: Role of proteoglycans in determining lung tissue behavior.

Position
Professor, Department of Medicine, McGill University

Currently not accepting trainees or staff

Research Interests

  1. Airway Remodeling in Asthma
  2. Proteoglycans and Extracellular Matrix
  3. Mechanotransduction
  4. Lung Tissue Mechanics
  5. Pulmonary Fibrosis

Although my principal activities at present are administrative, I continue to collaborate with faculty at the Meakins-Christie Laboratories. I am a respiratory physician with a research background in physiology. Recent areas of research include airway remodeling in asthma; changes in extracellular matrix, in particular, proteoglycans, in disease characterized by remodeling; effects of mechanical strain on airway structural cells; role of proteoglycans in lung physiology.

Some of the experimental approaches used to investigate these questions include cell and molecular biology, whole animal and in vitro physiology, cell culture, immunohistochemistry and morphometry, Western blotting and real–time PCR.  Experiments are carried out in animal models, eg, the Brown Norway rat model of allergic asthma, the bleomycin model of lung fibrosis. In addition, work has been carried out in human tissue; we have characterized proteoglycans in airway wall using endobronchial biopsies from asthmatic patients; cell cultures derived from patients are used to study the impact of proteoglycans, and excessive mechanical strain on cell phenotype.


Contact Information

Meakins-Christie Laboratories
RI-MUHC, Block E
1001 Decarie Blvd.
Montreal QC H4A 3J1
Canada

Tel: 514-934-1934 Ext. 76172 (admin)
Fax: 514-933-3962
E-Mailmara.ludwig [at] mcgill.ca

Education & Training

MD, U Manitoba, 1979
FRCPC, Int Medicine, 1986
FRCPC, Resp Med, 1987