Vision: To regenerate the aged diseased human lung
The multidisciplinary Center of Lung Aging and Regeneration (CLAR) aims to address fundamental questions of lung aging, tissue destruction and regeneration in the lung with the overall goal to identify mechanisms that control and drive lung regeneration and translate these into novel avenues for chronic lung disease treatment.
Chronic lung diseases require urgent attention as their global prevalence is increasing and for many of them only limited effective or causal therapies are available. Aging is a major risk factor for many chronic lung diseases. Several hallmarks of aging, such as impaired telomere biology, stem cell exhaustion, and cellular senescence, are evident in lung diseases, thus supporting a close connection between aging and impaired regeneration. A deeper understanding and new approaches to initiate de novo regeneration of functional lung tissue will pave the way to currently unknown paths to treat and cure chronic lung disease and thus drive transformational change in pulmonary research and medicine.
The CLAR aims to:
- To advance our knowledge on fundamental concepts and trajectories of aging in lung health and disease.
- To understand how complex environmental exposures and aging impair the regenerative potential of the lung.
- To develop and commercialize innovative and human tissue-based models and methodologies to foster translation.
- To identify and validate novel therapeutic targets and drug candidates for regenerative pharmacology in major chronic lung diseases.