Contact: Yong Zhang, PhD
Email: yong.zhang@wustl.edu
Under the direction of Michael Holtzman, MD, the Animal Model Core provides services for studies of acute and chronic respiratory disease. Current services include support of respiratory virus infection, drug inhalation, and lung physiology measurements in mice and pigs. For mouse model studies, the core maintains an aerosol delivery chamber system that includes an inhalation tower with a compact, flow past concentric design, with fourteen exposure ports for mice, so each animal receives the same exposure to delivered aerosols, gases, or dusts. The core also operates a Buxco system to evaluate lung physiology, including measurements of lung resistance and compliance at baseline and in response to inhaled methacholine to determine airway reactivity. The core also prepares several respiratory viruses for use in models of post-viral lung disease at Biosafety Level 2.