ASCI / Young Physician-Scientist Awards, 2023

Four years ago, Mark E. Snyder, MD started a laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh studying the role of lung tissue resident memory T cells (TRM) in health and disease.  Specifically, the Snyder lab focuses on the role of alloreactive TRM in the development of chronic lung allograft dysfunction. Prior to this, Dr. Snyder trained in both clinical epidemiology, working with Dr. David Lederer studying the impact of body physiometry on primary graft dysfunction after lung transplantation, and fundamental immunology, completing his post-doctorate with Dr. Donna Farber studying the generation and maintenance of human lung TRM.  Working with these world-class mentors taught me that a career in science can and should be both intellectually fulfilling and enjoyable; a sentiment he works hard to recreate with those currently training in his laboratory.  

Dr. Snyder finds the University of Pittsburgh to be a collaborative community providing an environment that promotes intellectual curiosity and innovation. Through collaborations with a diverse group of scientists from Cardiothoracic Surgery, Pharmacology, Immunology, and Systems Biology, he has established two translational models to study human lung TRM.  First, as co-director of the Pitt Ex-Vivo Research Core, Dr. Snyder's team uses ex-vivo lung perfusion of human lungs to study how the local mucosal environment impacts lung TRM function and how systemic and inhaled immune modulators alter TRM survival and activity.  Next, studying longitudinal bronchoalveolar lavage samples from lung transplant recipients, they are investigating molecular drivers of recipient TRM generation and alloreactive potential.  Through their use of single cell RNA and T cell receptor (TCR) sequencing, Dr. Snyder's team is actively cloning expanded TCRs and performing high-throughput epitope screening.  Their preliminary data suggests that alloreactive T cells, recruited to the lung during acute rejection persist as highly cytotoxic TRM contributing to chronic airway inflammation leading to CLAD.  Importantly, it seems these TRM are protected from systemic immune modulators.