UK Physiologist Uses Biomechanics to Understand Lung Healing
As a child, Chris Waters was always curious about how things worked. His inquiring mind led him on a path from chemical engineering to biomedical engineering to his current work on a dangerous condition called acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
The mortality rate for this acute lung injury is high — almost 40 percent of ARDS patients die. Appropriate mechanical ventilation makes a huge difference in their prognosis.
For Waters, who is now the Dr. Donald T. Frazier Professor of Physiology in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, the $64,000 question is “Why?”
“Typically, a wound’s healing process occurs on a substrate that’s not moving,” Waters said. “But with the act of breathing, the lungs constantly stretch and retract. So how does healing happen in spite of this constant movement?”
Actually, it’s more like a million-dollar question, as Waters’ work is supported by two grants from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. He began these projects before he came to UK in December of last year with his wife Teresa Waters, who is the Charles T. Wethington, Jr. Endowed Chair in the Health Sciences. But he says new collaborations with UK researchers in his own college, the College of Medicine, as well as in the College of Arts & Sciences and College of Engineering will greatly enhance his work.
“UK is really on the upswing in terms of research,” he said.
Watch this episode of “People Behind Our Research” to learn about Waters’ research, his love of teaching and his appreciation for the “vibrant” environment that permeates the UK campus.
More from this series People Behind Our Research The scientists and scholars at the University of Kentucky are remarkable people. Some of them have a very personal connection to field they have chosen: a family member battling addiction or disease. Some of them began their journey based on curiosity. A drive to find out why the world works the way it does. What they all have in common is a passion to ignite progress and partner across fields and with communities to confront, head on, the most profound challenges. Research can do that, and our researchers tell you why and how. Subheading Why do we want you to meet our researchers?
Credits
Produced by Alicia P. Gregory, videography/direction by Chad Rumford and Ben Corwin (Research Communications), text by Laura Wright (UK Public Relations & Marketing).