Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 30, 2026

Quantitative Measure of Lung Structure and Function Obtained from Hyperpolarized Xenon Spectroscopy
Published on: November 10, 2023
Advancing respiratory research
1Division of Lung Diseases, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD.
Abstract:
Respiratory diseases remain a major public health problem in the United States and worldwide, with increasing morbidity and mortality. Substantial progress has been made to advance understanding of the basic mechanisms of lung disease and to optimize clinical management of patients with a range of respiratory diseases. Despite this progress, our knowledge of how to predict disease prior to symptoms, improve disease definition and subclassification, and target novel and new treatments in a more personalized manner still remains inadequate. This article highlights several future opportunities and challenges related to genomics and molecular characterization of lung disease, lung injury and repair, translational lung research, the microbiome, and sleep and circadian biology as potential frontiers to advance progress in respiratory biology in health and disease.
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