Biological Sciences Division
Newsmakers

June 2017

Novel Glimpses Into Early Lung Development

PNNL researchers are part of a national team creating a map of molecules in the lungs.

For most prematurely born infants, it's not their tiny size itself that makes life a struggle. Rather, it's the development of their lungs that spells the difference between life and death.

In a bid to learn more about the lungs to help such children, scientists around the nation are working together to develop a molecular atlas of the developing human lung during late pregnancy and early childhood. As part of the LungMAP project, scientists at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have gotten one of the most in-depth looks ever at the developing lung, characterizing hundreds of lipids and thousands of proteins from samples as small as just 4,000 cells.

Read more in today's news brief.