Richard Bland
Academic Appointments
- Professor (Research), Pediatrics - Neonatal and Developmental Medicine
Key Documents
Contact Information
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Clinical Offices
269 Campus Drive CCSR, Room 1225 Stanford, CA 94305 Tel Work (650) 723-8080 Fax (650) 723-6700Practices at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
- Academic Offices
Personal Information Email Tel (650) 723-8080Alternate Contact Michelle Fox Administrative Associate Email Tel Work 723-8239
Professional Overview
Clinical Focus
- Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
Honors and Awards
- Ogden C Bruton Award, Uniformed Services (1972, 1973)
- Established Investigator, American Heart Association (1979-1984)
- Distinguished Alumnus Award, Boston University School of Medicine (1996)
- Honorary Doctor of Medicine, University of Uppsala, Sweden (2004)
Professional Education
| Residency: | Johns Hopkins University MD (1969) |
| Board Certification: | Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, American Board of Pediatrics (1975) |
| Fellowship: | UCSF Medical Center CA (1975) |
| Board Certification: | General Pediatrics, American Board of Pediatrics (1971) |
| Internship: | Johns Hopkins University MD (1967) |
| Medical Education: | Boston University School Of Medicine MA (1966) |
Graduate & Fellowship Program Affiliations
Internet Links
Scientific Focus
Current Research Interests
Our research program focuses on lung growth and development, and the adverse impact of prolonged mechanical ventilation on the incompletely formed lung, which in very premature infants often leads to a life-threatening condition that was first described as bronchopulmonary dysplasia (Northway WH Jr et al, Stanford University, New Engl J Med 276: 357-368, 1967). This form of neonatal chronic lung disease is the leading cause of long-term hospitalization and recurrent respiratory disorders seen in tiny infants who have been born at less than 28 weeks of gestation. Failed alveolar formation and excess, disordered lung elastin are prominent histological features of this disease, which in some ways resembles adult emphysema. We study the effects of mechanical ventilation, with either air or 40% O2, on genes and proteins that regulate lung growth and development in newborn mice, whose alveoli and pulmonary capillaries form mainly after birth at term gestation. As elastin plays a crucial role in lung growth and development (elastin-null mice die soon after birth from cardiorespiratory failure related to defective alveolar and lung vascular formation), we are especially interested in studying the effects of prolonged mechanical ventilation (cyclic lung stretch) with O2-rich gas (which is often needed to sustain life of extremely premature infants) on genes that regulate elastin synthesis and assembly, which in turn can affect lung septation and angiogenesis. We currently study the effects of lengthy mechanical ventilation on lungs of mutant newborn mice that have defects in elastin assembly and associated abnormalities of lung structure. Because mechanical ventilation of the developing lung can induce the release of proteolytic enzymes that break down elastin, we recently began to study the effects of mechanical ventilation with O2-rich gas in a transgenic mouse that over-expresses elafin, a potent inhibitor of serine elastase activity. We think that these studies will pave the way for novel and effective strategies to treat or prevent neonatal chronic lung disease, and perhaps other respiratory disorders that exhibit similar pathological features in older children and adults.
Publications
- Neonatal mice genetically modified to express the elastase inhibitor elafin are protected against the adverse effects of mechanical ventilation on lung growth. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2012; (3): L215-27
- Inhibiting lung elastase activity enables lung growth in mechanically ventilated newborn mice. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2011; (5): 537-46
- Prolonged mechanical ventilation with air induces apoptosis and causes failure of alveolar septation and angiogenesis in lungs of newborn mice. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2010; (1): L23-35
- Mechanical ventilation uncouples synthesis and assembly of elastin and increases apoptosis in lungs of newborn mice Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2008; (1): L3-L14
- Dysregulation of pulmonary elastin synthesis and assembly in preterm lambs with chronic lung disease. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2007; (6): L1370-84
- Mechanical ventilation with 40% oxygen reduces pulmonary expression of genes that regulate lung development and impairs alveolar septation in newborn mice. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2007; (5): L1099-110
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