I am very excited to report that I will be working at the Warner Laboratory at the Washington University School of Medicine beginning next semester! The lab is ran by Dr. Brad Warner and Dr. Jun Guo. I cannot wait to give updates on my experiences! Here is information from their web page:
The Intestinal Adaptation Laboratory at St. Louis Children’s Hospital seeks to understand the mechanisms through which the intestine adapts to massive intestinal loss.
Multiple human conditions exist in which a large proportion of the intestine needs to be surgically removed or is lost due to injury, inflammation or interruption of blood supply. Once the intestine is removed, the remaining bowel senses this acute loss and tries to compensate by a process termed adaptation.
This adaptive response consists of increases in cellular proliferation within the mucosa as well as a slight bit of growth in intestinal length and caliber. During this time, patients clinically require intravenous nutrition to supplement what cannot be absorbed entirely by the gastrointestinal tract.
A full adaptation response is achieved when patients are able to tolerate full feedings by mouth and no longer need supplemental intravenous nutrition. In many circumstances, the adaptation response is incomplete, and many of these patients require a lifetime of parenteral nutrition and its allied complications.
The main thrust of the Intestinal Adaptation Laboratory is to more fully understand this response and thereby be able to enhance it. Ultimately, growing the bowel back will permit patients to achieve a more normal lifestyle and avoid the complications associated with intravenous nutrition.
The laboratory is led by Brad W. Warner, MD, and Jun Guo, PhD. This team blends sophisticated molecular biology techniques with clinically focused relevant applications. The technology utilizes transgenic, knockout and mutant mice in a unique intestinal resection surgical model. In addition, laser capture microdissection (LCM) microscopy is used to study adaptation in isolated cells of the small intestine.