大象传媒

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Alessandra Livraghi-Butrico, PhD

Associate Professor

Specialty Areas:

Animal models of inflammatory and obstructive lung diseases, lung mucosal immunology, mucin biology.

Chronology:

BS Cum Laude: University of Milan, 1996; PhD: University of Milan, 2001; Postdoctoral Research Associate: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Cystic Fibrosis Research and Treatment Center, 2002- 2005; Research Associate: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Cystic Fibrosis Research and Treatment Center, 2005-2013; Research Assistant Professor of Medicine: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Marsico Lung Institute/Cystic Fibrosis Center, 2014-2020; Research Associate Professor of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Marsico Lung Institute/Cystic Fibrosis Center, 2021-present

Research Focus:

Our research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in the derangement of mucus clearance and how its impairment impact other components of the airway mucosal immune system. Over the years, I have a developed a keen interest in using mouse models as a tool to understand the pathogenesis of obstructive lung disease, identify unique targets and test novel therapeutic approaches for translational research.聽In our lab, these studies nicely complement studies performed in available human specimens or simplified in vitro systems (e.g., primary cultures of airway epithelial cells differentiated at the air-liquid interface). Current research activities in the lab cover three main areas:

  1. Mouse models of defective airway mucus clearance are used to study responses to environmental and infectious challenges, to develop models of chronic airway infections, and to test efficiency and pharmacokinetic properties of mucokinetic/mucolytic/gene-editing therapies.
  2. Genetically engineered mouse models are used to study the contribution of specific components of the airway mucus clearance system (mucins secretion and assembly, ion, transport, cilia) in determining measurable phenotypes in both na茂ve and experimentally challenged conditions.
  3. Germ-free and specific pathogen-free mice are used to study the influence of age and host microbiota in the composition and function of airway mucus. These studies, funded by a recently awarded NHLBI R01, are complemented by efforts to define the pediatric airway epithelial landscape in healthy humans.
Cartoon depicting airway mucus clearance
Airway mucus clearance is a primary mechanism of lung defense. The mechanisms governing effective mucus clearance in health and its impairment during disease are the research focus of the Livraghi-Butrico lab. Adapted from Livraghi A. & Randell S. Tox. Pathology 2007

Affiliations (links):

Marsico Lung Institute/Cystic Fibrosis Center

Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Selected Bibliography:

  1. Heinzelmann K, Fysikopoulos A, Jaquin TJ, Peper-Gabriel JK, Hansbauer EM, Gr眉ner S, Prassler J, Wurzenberger C, Kennedy JGC, Snead JY, Wrennall JA, Heinig K, Wurzenberger C, Bel Aiba RS, Tarran R, Livraghi-Butrico A, Fitzgerald MF, Anderson GP, Rothe C, Matschiner G, Olwill SA, Hagner M. . Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2025 Jan 1;328(1):L75-L92. doi: 10.1152/ajplung.00059.2024. PMID: 39499257. PMCID: PMC11905813.
  2. Nakano K, Whitehead GS, Lyons-Cohen MR, Grimm SA, Wilkinson CL, Izumi G, Livraghi-Butrico A, Cook DN, Nakano H. . J Allergy Clin Immunol.2024 Feb;153(2):487-502.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2023.10.024. PMID: 37956733. PMCID: PMC10922373.
  3. Donoghue LJ, Markovetz MR, Morrison CB, Chen G, McFadden KM, Sadritabrizi T, Gutay MI, Kato T, Rogers TD, Snead JY, Livraghi-Butrico A, Button B, Ehre C, Grubb BR, Hill DB, Kelada SNP. . Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2023 Dec 1;325(6):L765-L775. doi: 10.1152/ajplung.00390.2022. PMID: 37847709. PMCID: PMC11068428.
  4. Yin W, Golliher HL, Ferguson AJ, Kimbell JS, Livraghi-Butrico A, Rogers TD, Grubb BR, Kimple AJ, Ostrowski LE. . Front Mol Biosci. 2023 Jul 24;10:1221796. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2023.1221796. PMID: 37555015; PMCID: PMC10405821.
  5. Mikami Y, Grubb BR, Rogers TD, Dang H, Asakura T, Kota P, Gilmore RC, Okuda K, Morton LC, Sun L, Chen G, Wykoff JA, Ehre C, Vilar J, van Heusden C, Livraghi-Butrico A, Gentzsch M, Button B, Stutts MJ, Randell SH, O’Neal WK, Boucher RC. . Sci Transl Med. 2023 Jun 7;15(699):eabo7728. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abo7728. PMID: 37285404. PMCID: PMC10664029.
  6. Livraghi-Butrico A, Franklin TB, Wolfgang MC. . Editorial. Eur Resp J. 2022 Sep 7;60(3):2200832. doi: 10.1183/13993003.00832-2022.
  7. Biering SB, Sarnik SA, Wang E, Zengel JR, Leist SR, Sch盲fer A, Sathyan V, Hawkins P, Okuda K, Tau C, Jangid AR, Duffy CV, Wei J, Gilmore RC, Alfajaro MM, Strine MS, Nguyenla X, Van Dis E, Catamura C, Yamashiro LH, Belk JA, Begeman A, Stark JC, Shon DJ, Fox DM, Ezzatpour S, Huang E, Olegario N, Rustagi A, Volmer AS, Livraghi-Butrico A, Wehri E, Behringer RR, Cheon DJ, Schaletzky J, Aguilar HC, Puschnik AS, Button B, Pinsky BA, Blish CA, Baric RS, O’Neal WK, Bertozzi CR, Wilen CB, Boucher RC, Carette JE, Stanley SA, Harris E, Konermann S, Hsu PD. . Nat Genet. 2022 Aug;54(8):1078-1089. doi: 10.1038/s41588-022-01131-x. PMID: 35879412; PMCID: PMC9355872.
  8. Kim N, Kwak G, Rodriguez J, Livraghi-Butrico A, Zuo X, Simon V, Han E, Shenoy SK, Pandey N, Mazur M, Birket SE, Kim A, Rowe SM, Boucher R, Hanes J, Suk JS. . Thorax. 2022 Aug;77(8):812-820. doi: 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2020-215185. PMID: 34697091. PMCID: PMC9129924.
  9. Grubb BR, Livraghi-Butrico A. . Review. Curr Opin Pharmacol. 2022 Jun;64:102235. doi: 10.1016/j.coph.2022.102235.PMID: 35576754; PMCID: PMC9386876.
  10. Rogers TD, Button B, Kelada SNP, Ostrowski LE, Livraghi-Butrico A, Gutay MI, Esther CR Jr, Grubb BR. . Front Physiol. 2022 Mar 9;13:842592. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2022.842592. PMID: 35356083; PMCID: PMC8959816.
  11. Xu J, Livraghi-Butrico A, Hou X, Rajagopalan C, Zhang J, Song J, Jiang H, Wei HG, Wang H, Bouhamdan M, Ruan J, Yang D, Qiu Y, Xie Y, Barrett R, McClellan S, Mou H, Wu Q, Chen X, Rogers TD, Wilkinson KJ, Gilmore RC, Esther CR Jr, Zaman K, Liang X, Sobolic M, Hazlett L, Zhang K, Frizzell RA, Gentzsch M, O’Neal WK, Grubb BR, Chen YE, Boucher RC, Sun F. . JCI Insight. 2021 Jan 11;6(1):e139813. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.139813. PMID: 33232302. PMCID: PMC7821608.
  12. Ehre C, Rushton ZL, Wang B, Hothem LN, Morrison CB, Fontana NC, Markovetz MR, Delion MF, Kato T, Villalon D, Thelin WR, Esther CR Jr, Hill DB, Grubb BR, Livraghi-Butrico A, Donaldson SH, Boucher RC. .聽Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2019 Jan 15;199(2):171-180. doi: 10.1164/rccm.201802-0245OC.聽PMID:聽30212240. PMCID:聽PMC6353008.
  13. Chen G, Volmer AS, Wilkinson KJ, Deng Y, Jones LC, Yu D, Bustamante-Marin XM, Burns KA, Grubb BR, O’Neal WK, Livraghi-Butrico A, Boucher RC.. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2018 Sep;59(3):383-396. PMID: 29579396. PMCID: PMC6189647.
  14. Livraghi-Butrico A, Wilkinson KJ, Volmer AS, Gilmore RC, Rogers TD, Caldwell RA, Burns KA, Esther CR Jr, Mall MA, Boucher RC, O’Neal WK, Grubb BR. . Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 2018 Feb 1;314(2):L318-L331. PMID: 29074490. PMCID: PMC5866504.
  15. Donoghue LJ, Livraghi-Butrico A, McFadden KM, Thomas JM, Chen G, Grubb BR, O’Neal WK, Boucher RC, Kelada SNP. . Genetics 2017 Oct;207(2):801-812. PMID: 28851744. PMCID: PMC5629340.
  16. Livraghi-Butrico A, Grubb BR, Wilkinson KJ, Volmer AS, Burns KA, Evans CM, O’Neal WK, Boucher RC. . Mucosal Immunol 2017;10(2):395-407. PMID: 27435107. PMCID: PMC5250616.
  17. Grubb BR, Livraghi-Butrico A, Rogers TD, Yin W, Button B, Ostrowski LE. . Am J Physiol Lung Physiol 2016 May 1;310(9):L860-7. PMID: 26968767. PMCID: PMC4867354.
  18. Roy MG*, Livraghi-Butrico A*, Fletcher AA*, McElwee MM, Evans SE, Boerner RM, Alexander SN, Bellinghausen LK, Song AS, Petrova YM, Tuvim MJ, Adachi R, Romo I, Bordt AS, Bowden MG, Sisson JH, Woodruff PG, Thornton DJ, Rousseau K, De la Garza MM, Moghaddam SJ, Karmouty-Quintana H, Blackburn MR, Drouin SM, Davis CW, Terrell KA, Grubb BR, O’Neal WK, Flores SC, Cota-Gomez A, Lozupone CA, Donnelly JM, Watson AM, Hennessy CE, Keith RC, Yang IV, Barthel L, Henson PM, Janssen WJ, Schwartz DA, Boucher RC, Dickey BF, Evans CM. . Nature 2014 Jan 16;505(7483):412-6. PMID: 24317696. PMCID: PMC4001806.
  19. Livraghi-Butrico A, Kelly EJ, Wilkinson KJ, Rogers TD, Gilmore RC, Harkema JR, Randell SH, Boucher RC, O’Neal WK, Grubb BR. . Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 2013 Apr 1;304(7):L469-80. PMID: 23377346. PMCID: PMC3627939.
  20. Livraghi-Butrico A, Kelly EJ, Klem ER, Dang H, Wolfgang MC, Boucher RC, Randell SH, O’Neal WK. . Mucosal Immunol 2012 Jul 5(4):397-408. PMID: 22419116. PMCID: PMC3377774.
  21. Livraghi-Butrico A, Grubb BR, Kelly EJ, Wilkinson KJ, Yang H, Geiser M, Randell SH, Boucher RC, O’Neal WK. . Physiol Genomics 2012 Apr 15;44(8):470-84. PMID: 22395316. PMCID: PMC3339860.
  22. Livraghi A, Mall M, Paradiso AM, Boucher RC, Ribeiro CM. . Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol 2008 Apr;38(4):423-34. PMID: 17989361. PMCID: PMC2274946.

 

Complete List of Published Work in MyBibliography:

Headshot of Alessandra Livraghi-Butrico