Human airway epithelial cells cultured in vitro at the air-liquid interface (ALI) form a pseudostratified epithelium that forms tight junctions and cilia, and produces mucin. These cells are widely used in models of differentiation, injury, and repair. To assess how closely the transcriptome of ALI epithelium matches that of in vivo airway epithelial cells, we used microarrays to compare the transcriptome of human large airway epithelial cells cultured at the ALI with the transcriptome of large airway epithelium obtained via bronchoscopy and brushing. Gene expression profiling showed that global gene expression correlated well between ALI cells and brushed cells, but with some differences. Gene expression patterns mirrored differences in proportions of cell types (ALIs have higher percentages of basal cells, whereas brushed cells have higher percentages of ciliated cells), that is, ALI cells expressed higher levels of basal cell-related genes, and brushed cells expressed higher levels of cilia-related genes. Pathway analysis showed that ALI cells had increased expression of cell cycle and proliferation genes, whereas brushed cells had increased expression of cytoskeletal organization and humoral immune response genes. Overall, ALI cells provide a good representation of the in vivo airway epithelial transcriptome, but for some biologic questions, the differences between in vitro and in vivo environments need to be considered.
• We present a tribute to our late colleague Anna Dvorak, featuring elements of her last (unfinished) manuscript. • We incorporate an examination of critical GIS education in the age of corporate story-telling. • A case study of Anna's engagement in environmental justice illustrates GIS advocacy through critical GIS education. In honour of our lost colleague Anna K. Dvorak, we draw from elements of her last unfinished manuscript to explore new directions in critical GIS education and practice. Anna was a recent PhD in Geography hired into a critical GIS tenure-track position. The ways in which she wove GIS practice through her research interests, teaching sensibilities, and community advocacy experiences defied easy categorization; we argue she represents a new generation of geography graduate student who is redefining where and how critical GIS education occurs. Anna's social and environmental justice work with the Pacoima Beautiful non-profit organization in southern California formed the basis for an ongoing research initiative that gave her the opportunity to experiment with GIS as advocacy tool in the hands of local high school students. At the time of her death she had completed an initial draft of a manuscript situating this work in broader community activism issues. We remember Anna by presenting large sections of her work unaltered, interwoven with our commentary on the significance of her approach to critical GIS in a time of shifting academic and corporate commercial relationships to the technology.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.