Tools to recreate deployment-related airborne exposures affecting veterans' lungs
ShEEP-MERP: Request for In Vivo/In Vitro Aerosol Exposure Systems
This project will set up lab equipment to recreate burn pit and other deployment airborne exposures so researchers can understand how they harm veterans' lungs and other organs.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Veterans Health Administration NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Pittsburgh, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11534241 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
VA Pittsburgh will purchase and install specialized aerosol generation systems to recreate deployment-related toxins and particles in controlled lab conditions. The equipment will be used with small animals, isolated tissues, human and animal cells, and 3D organ cultures derived from Veterans to model how exposures cause lung and systemic disease. The instruments will be integrated into a new Pittsburgh Respiratory Exposures and Evaluation (PREE) Core that links exposure generation with existing analytic tools. The Core aims to provide a safer, contamination-free platform distinct from tobacco-exposure equipment to study complex military aerosol mixtures.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants would be veterans who deployed to Southwest Asia or Afghanistan with respiratory or multi-symptom illnesses and who can donate tissue or biological samples or travel to VA Pittsburgh for testing.
Not a fit: People without deployment-related exposures or those who cannot donate samples or travel to the study site are unlikely to benefit directly from participation in this work.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could reveal how deployment airborne toxins damage lungs and other organs and point toward better diagnosis and treatments for affected veterans.
How similar studies have performed: Previous animal and laboratory models of smoke and particulate exposure have informed lung disease mechanisms, but reproducing the complex mixtures from deployment-related toxins in a dedicated core is relatively new and less tested.
Where this research is happening
Pittsburgh, United States
- Veterans Health Administration — Pittsburgh, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Dela Cruz, Charles S — Veterans Health Administration
- Study coordinator: Dela Cruz, Charles S
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.