Corey Mattson, a PhD student mentored by Brad Smith has been awarded a F31 pre-doctoral fellowship by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The three-year award for $120,660, titled “Spatiotemporal evolution of lung injury during ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI),” will use a combination of novel image analysis techniques and custom-built computer software to quantify the multiscale distribution of in vivo cellular injury during VILI. These measurements will, for the first time, quantify the heterogeneous spatial distribution of cellular-scale injury.  To interpret these data, she will implement a new type of statistical computer model to determine the range and strength of interdependence between existing and new cellular injury. Finally, finite element models of the alveolar network will be used to determine if the clustering of cell injury may be attributed to increased mechanical strain caused by the physical interconnectivity of the alveoli. These simulations will allow interpretation of the experimental measurements and, in future studies, identify ventilation regimes that prevent the spread of injury to reduce acute respiratory distress syndrome mortality.