Led by Dr. Gloria Pryhuber at the University of Rochester Medical Center, the NIH-funded Lung Molecular Atlas Program (LungMAP) is seeking ways to trigger lung cell re-growth to ultimately help the lungs develop in premature babies, as well as treat adults suffering from COPD. By bringing the greatest lung development experts in the country together to work with non-diseased human lungs from the neonatal stage through 10 years of age, the Lung MAP will create a publicly accessible reference for the research community regarding normal human lung development at the structural, cellular, protein and gene level to help guide us toward novel and more effective treatments for chronic lung disease in children and adults. “It is very probable that what we learn will lead to new therapies for lung disease relevant not only to preterm infants, but also to adults with injured and scarred lungs,” said Dr. Pryhuber.” She added, “Through a nationwide network of organ procurement organizations, IIAM has given us unprecedented access to normal lungs from across the U.S. within the crucial 24-hour window.“