Defining the impact of chronic lung disease on COVID-19 and developing effective therapies

COVID-19 disease is driven by virus-induced, hyper-inflammation that damages the lungs. Patients with chronic lung disease, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and tuberculosis (TB), have increased severity of COVID-19 disease. Using our models of TB and smoking-induced COPD, we will define how chronic lung disease increases the severity of COVID-19, how CoV2 infection exacerbates TB and COPD, and identify effective drugs that suppress this inflammatory damage to the lung.