working on repair and regeneration of the adult lungs in animals?

Developmental/Regenerative Research
My research centers on a fundamental question in mammalian developmental biology.

Namely, how is development recapitulated during repair and regeneration of the adult lung?

 As a medical professional, I am particularly interested in the cellular mechanisms that are present in the developing mammalian lung and how these are altered with age. This is particularly relevant to human medicine, where chronic lung disease is a major undertreated health concern. My research seeks to understand which cells are necessary for repair and regeneration of the adult lung and how developmentally important cellular mechanisms may improve function of these cells in the adult. In particular, we have isolated mesenchymal and epithelial cell populations from both mice and humans that appear to be important in the regenerative process.




Veterinary Medicine


As a veterinary internal medicine specialist, I am very interested in studying health and disease in veterinary species, and using these naturally occurring diseases as models for human disease. In particular, my veterinary research centers on understanding how cellular regeneration mechanisms and the therapeutic use of stem cells can be used to treat diseases seen commonly in veterinary patients, such as lung disease in horses, and sepsis in dogs.

Dr. Julia Paxson

Assistant Professor -- Beginning August 2012
Ph. D., Yale University;  D.V.M., Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine
Developmental and Regenerative Biology