Investigating lipid-associated macrophage (LAM) biology and functions in chronic fibrosis

Macrophages are innate immune cells present in almost every organ of the body. While previously considered to be a homogenous population, thanks to recent advances in single cell technologies, it is clear that each tissue harbours multiple distinct populations of macrophages especially in the context of tissue injury and inflammation. One subset of macrophages that has gained attention recently are the lipid-associated macrophages (LAMs). Originally described in obese adipose tissue, macrophages with very similar phenotypes have since been described across a range of diseased tissues in both the mouse and human. The widespread presence of LAMs across many important human diseases, makes them an attractive target for future therapeutic strategies with the potential to improve patient health. However, despite this potential, our understanding of the biology and functionality of LAMs remains in its infancy. Therefore, I hypothesize that gaining a more in-depth understanding of LAMs will enable the design of novel therapeutic approaches which could benefit numerous patients. Thus, this project aims to further our understanding of LAM biology and functionality. We will focus this project on the context of chronic fibrosis of the liver and lung, as fibrosis is a common feature of many diseases and LAMs have been identified in this setting both in the mouse and human.