The Prakash Lab’s long-term research goals are to study the interface between sterile and infectious inflammation and how the innate immune system can distinguish between the two and respond appropriately. As an anesthesiologist focused on trauma care, Arun Prakash’s clinical practice involves the care of patients suffering from injuries in which both sterile and infectious inflammation often occur. In the laboratory, his group utilize a microsurgical traumatic lung injury mouse model to mimic ventilated lung ischemia reperfusion (IR) injury (Liao, Maruyama et al. JOVE 2022) as seen in resuscitated hemorraghic shock, treated pulmonary embolic events, and even lung transplantation. The group has a long-standing interest in identifying molecular, cellular, and signaling regulators of sterile lung injury, specifically focusing on the role of the NLRP3 inflammasome in alveolar macrophages. The clinical scenarios modeled extends beyond simple lung IR injury to isolated, concurrent pulmonary, or super-imposed pulmonary infections (Prakash et al., Anesthesiology 2012, Tian et al., Frontiers in Immunology 2017, Maruyama et al., NYAS 2025). The other main focus currently and R01 funded research program attempts to define the link between the gut microbiome and lung inflammatory responses. We study specific microbial factors and metabolites that mediate the Gut-Lung immune axis, with a strong focus on short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and tryptophan metabolites (Prakash et al., Shock 2015, Tian et al., Frontiers in Microbiology 2019, and Liu et al. AJP Lung 2021, Maruyama et al. Gut Microbes 2025).
