Sarah E. Schaefer

This study shows that mechanical-nuclear signaling in alveolar fibroblasts influences lung regeneration by modulating transcriptional identity and epithelial repair after injury.

The paper creates a postnatal human lung developmental atlas to identify genes linked to chronic lung disease risk and shows COPD genetic risk is enriched in genes active during early postnatal endothelial development.

This study shows that alveolar epithelial type I cells propagate mechanical signals that affect lung homeostasis and disease states through intercellular communication.

The paper identifies an injury-induced tissue niche (iTCH) in the lung that coordinates regenerative and disease responses through mesenchymal plasticity and signaling pathways.