Russ College prof balances undergrad teaching and leadership with his own research

A chemical and biomolecular engineering faculty member and team are looking at how e-cigarettes — battery-powered devices that deliver nicotine by heating an "e-liquid" — affect lung surfactant. They've found that the e-cigarettes, while still toxic, are less harmful than conventional cigarettes.

Amir Farnoud explains that pulmonary surfactant — a mixture of lipids and proteins that lines the alveolar region of the lungs — reduces the surface tension of alveolar fluid, preventing lung collapse, and decreasing the work of breathing. Numerous studies have focused on how e-cigarettes affect the cells of the pulmonary airways or the deep lungs, but Farnoud's team studied whether e-cigarette vapor affects the ability of surfactant to reduce surface tension.

They exposed both conventional cigarette and e-cigarette vapor to calf lung surfactant extract (Infasurf©, ONY Inc.), which is used to treat preterm infants who have yet to form surfactant.

Their findings? Burning tar, an ingredient found in conventional cigarettes, was specifically damaging for pulmonary surfactant, but particles in e-cigarette vapor don't affect the normal functioning of surfactant because e-cigarettes involve vaporization, not burning. On the other hand, conventional cigarettes significantly inhibited the ability of surfactant to reduce surface tension.

The team included Professor of Electrical Engineering Savas Kaya, former technician Rebecca J. Przybyla, BA, '11, chemical and biomolecular engineering doctoral student Saeed Nazemidashtarjandi, and electrical engineering doctoral students Rajan Parthiban and Jason Wright.

The study, entitled "Electronic cigarette vapor alters the lateral structure but not tensiometric properties of calf lung surfactant," was first published in Respiratory Research journal.

Elisabeth Weems and Anna Hartenbach, BSJ '11, contributed to this story.