Robert Guzy, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine Department of Medicine
Biographical Info
Research Interest
Dr. Guzy’s research is focused on the mechanisms involved in recovery from lung injury, and how aberrant recovery from injury leads to fibroblast activation and the development of pulmonary fibrosis. The goal of his research is to understand the mechanisms regulating how lung epithelium, endothelium, and fibroblasts interact following injury to promote 1) repair following lung injury and ARDS and 2) pathological fibroblast proliferation resulting in a variety of lung diseases, including pulmonary fibrosis. His laboratory is interested in the cellular mechanisms by which growth Fibroblast Growth Factors (FGFs) and related pathways such as bone morphogenic protein (BMP) signaling are involved in lung injury and pulmonary fibrosis. Dr. Guzy studies the mechanism by which FGFs act as reparative agents following injury, and whether they can be utilized as therapeutic agents in lung injury and ARDS. He is also interested in how FGFs and BMP signaling interact with TGF-beta and other pro-fibrotic growth factors in fibroblasts in the setting of pulmonary fibrosis. Current work in his laboratory uses a combination of transgenic mouse models, animal models of lung injury and pulmonary fibrosis, and human translational studies.
Honors and Awards
University of Puget Sound Trustee Scholarship (1995 – 1999)
Outstanding Sophomore Award in Biology (1997)
University of Puget Sound Enrichment Committee Research Grant (1998)
Ostransky Music Scholarship (1998)
Phi Sigma Slater Research Award (1998)
Phi Beta Kappa Slater Scholarship (1998)
Allenmore Medical Foundation Scholarship (1998)
Barry M. Goldwater Scholar – Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Award (1998)
Phi Kappa Phi Slater Graduate Scholarship (1999)
James R. Slater Award for Academic Excellence (1999)
Wayne C. Booth Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Teaching (2000)
Kohs Award for Orchestral Excellence (2005)
Harry Ginsberg Memorial Prize in Physiology (2006)
Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center Katten Muchin Rosenman Travel Scholarship (2006)
ATS Abstract Scholarship Award (2013)
Poster Award, 2015 Fusion Conference on Fibroblast Growth Factors in Development and Repair (2015)
Basic Science Abstract Award, 2015 Pulmonary Research Day at Washington University (2015)
1st Place Poster Award, 2015 PFF Summit, Washington, DC (2015)
Outstanding Young Investigator Award, 2018 Combined Meeting of CSCR and MWAFMR, Chicago, IL (2018)
Young Physician-Scientist Award, American Society for Clinical Investigation (2018)
Poster Award Winner, American Society for Clinical Investigation 2018 Meeting, Chicago, IL (2018)
Featured Publications
- Sustained Smad2 Phosphorylation Is Required for Myofibroblast Transformation in Response to TGF-β
- Single-Cell Transcriptomic Analysis of Human Lung Provides Insights into the Pathobiology of Pulmonary Fibrosis
- Fibroblast growth factor 2 decreases bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis and inhibits fibroblast collagen production and myofibroblast differentiation
- Inhibition of Phosphoglycerate Dehydrogenase Attenuates Bleomycin-induced Pulmonary Fibrosis
- Pulmonary fibrosis requires cell-autonomous mesenchymal fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling
- Fibroblast growth factor 2 is required for epithelial recovery, but not for pulmonary fibrosis, in response to bleomycin
Training
- M.D., 2008, The University of Chicago, Medicine
- Ph.D., 2005, The University of Chicago, Cellular Physiology
