The Hewitt Lab is investigating early mechanisms leading to the development of pulmonary fibrosis.

Focusing on early-stage disease our aims are:

1. to develop biomarkers that can be used for early diagnosis and risk stratification of patients with early changes on CT imaging known as interstitial lung abnormalities (ILA), and
2. to identify novel targets for early therapeutic intervention to prevent the irreversible loss of lung function caused by fibrosis.

We use blood samples, airway cells and tissues from patients with ILA and interstitial lung disease (ILD), transcriptomic approaches (single-cell/ spatial), microscopy techniques and cell culture models to elucidate disease mechanisms.