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In This Issue:
Pulmonary Lab
In 2002, Caroline Owen, who earned her MD in England, moved her pulmonary laboratory here from the University of Utah, and the cross-country trip slowed her research productivity at a critical time in her career.
Two years ago, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) launched a new grant program in hopes of boosting the careers of junior investigators like Owen who were not yet gaining funding from the National Institutes of Health.
“I applied, and I managed to get one of the grants,” said Owen, who next month will be featured on the cover of ATS News, which boasts a readership of 14,000 pulmonary, critical care and sleep physicians. ATS is highlighting successes of this grant program such as Owen’s lab.
“We’re doing a lot better now,” she said of her lab on the ninth floor of the Thorn Research Building. “I’ve renewed my RO1 (an NIH funding mechanism) and grown my lab from me and two other researchers last year, and we now have seven total,” Owen said.
Owen’s research focuses on the role of proteolytic enzymes (proteinases) in emphysema, acute lung injury, asthma and pulmonary fibrosis. Her team studies mice that lack certain proteinases to determine the roles these proteinases play in pulmonary diseases using tissues and cells from both animals and human subjects. Her team also studies the biology of proteinases in inflammatory cells, and they work with purified enzymes to assess which proteins these enzymes are digesting to cause pulmonary diseases.
She spends about half her time at the bench and training and educating researchers with all levels of education, including MDs, PhDs and a high school student from the hospital’s Student Success Jobs Program. She spends a significant amount of time writing and reviewing protocols, grants and scientific papers.
When she’s not in her lab, Owen is training as a competitive long-distance runner. In 2000, she was one of only 100 women to qualify for U.S. Olympic marathon time trials, and she has completed 16 marathons, including one Boston and one New York City marathon.