B17 : Quantifying Lung Macrophages to Understand Increased Susceptibility to Bacterial Pneumonia with Age


Students Anika Gupta
School HWDSB - Westdale Secondary School - Hamilton
Level Intermediate 9/10 - Grade 10
Group Group 3 - Health Sciences II
Abstract The purpose of my project is to determine if age-associated inflammation drives differences in lung macrophages leading to increased susceptibility to bacterial pneumonia. This will involve characterizing immune aggregates found in the lungs of old mice in the absence of infection. Furthermore, I will quantify lung macrophages to determine if they go up in number and whether this change relates to an age-associated increase in tumor necrosis factor.