Projects

Clinical/Translational Research and Clinical Trials:

  • Flight Attendants Health Study is a single-center study of the physiologic, radiographic, and inflammatory sequelae of prolonged and heavy exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke in nonsmokers. Arjomandi Lab. 
  • Secondhand Smoke Respiratory Health Study is a single-center placebo-controlled crossover randomized controlled trial of bronchodilators in nonsmokers at risk for COPD due to prolonged exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke who have air trapping and dynamic hyperinflation yet preserved spirometry. Arjomandi Lab.
  • Post-Deployment Cardiopulmonary Evaluation Network (PDCEN): The PDCEN provides standardized and comprehensive clinical evaluations for Veterans enrolled in the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pits Registry (AHOBPR) to better identify the relationship between airborne hazards and burn pit exposures and longer-term health outcomes, to identify research to improve understanding of health concerns and to identify possible treatments to improve care. The San Francisco PDCEN studies a multitude of subjects related to Veterans’ concerns about their post-deployment respiratory health, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the effects of tobacco smoke on lung capacity. To find out more, visit the San Francisco PDCEN Website. Arjomandi Lab.
  • RETHINC Study: redefining therapy in early COPD. A multicenter randomized controlled clinical trial of bronchodilators in current and former smokers who have symptoms of COPD despite preserved spirometry. San Francisco VA Medical Center study site.  Arjomandi Lab.
  • VA Airborne Hazards Collaborative Network is a congressionally mandated multicenter project to study post-deployment respiratory health effects of exposure to combat-related air pollutants including irritant-induced asthma, reactive airway disease syndrome, and early and mild COPD. Arjomandi Lab.
  • Da VINCI project is an epidemiological study of VA nationwide electronic health records that uses supervised and unsupervised (machine learning) approaches to discover the clinical phenotypes of complex respiratory diseases such as COPD and to generate mechanism-oriented hypotheses. Arjomandi Lab.
  • Understanding the endotype of the “susceptible smoker” in pre-COPD. This is currently a single-center pilot study (approved to become a multicenter ancillary study associated with SPIROMICS II) to explore the role of lung innate immunity in pre-COPD by molecular phenotyping of lung macrophages using single-cell proteomics (mass cytometry) and genomics. Arjomandi Lab.
  • CO3PD Study: modeling exacerbation using ozone exposure in patients with COPD. This is a controlled human exposure study to model pollutant-induced exacerbation in patients with moderate to severe COPD to investigate the role of resident versus incoming lung macrophages in susceptibility to develop COPD exacerbation. Arjomandi Lab/Human Exposure Lab.
  • Biomarkers of Lung Cancer: This is a prospective observational study that will follow patients who undergo lung cancer screening at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, UCSF Medical Center, and the San Francisco General Hospital. The goal of this study is to evaluate the ability of cell-free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to detect early stage lung cancer as compared to healthy volunteers and those patients at high risk for lung cancer, but without a lung cancer diagnosis. 
  • The UCSF Human Exposure Laboratory (HEL): The UCSF HEL is one of a small number of facilities in the U.S. that are equipped to conduct controlled human exposure studies of inhaled pollutants. Built in 1985 and renovated in 2008, the HEL is equipped with a 9'x9'x9' environmental chamber with automated climate control; generation and monitoring equipment for many pollutants including ozone, secondhand tobacco smoke, and wood smoke exposure; exercise treadmill and cycle ergometer; equipment for cardiorespiratory physiologic testing; and an adjacent wet lab for experimentation on biologic samples (blood, sputum, nasal and bronchoalveolar lavage samples) using a variety of basic molecular and cell biology approaches. The HEL has been studying the respiratory and cardiovascular responses to air pollutants of human subjects for over 25 years supported by funding from the National Institute of Health (NIH), the Health Effects Institute (HEI), the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute (FAMRI), and the California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP). Current research projects in HEL include:
  1. Modeling exacerbation using ozone exposure in patients with COPD: CO3PD pilot project (PI: Arjomandi; Funding: UCSF Resource Allocation Program; Date: 2019).
  2. Characterization of innate immunity in pollution-induced exacerbation in COPD (PI: Arjomandi; Funding: TRDRP; Date: 2019-2022).
  3. Human Inhalational Toxicology Studies (HITS) biorepository- PI: Arjomandi.
  4. Measuring Environmental Tobacco and Cannabis (PI: Schick; Funding: TRDRP; Date: 2019-2022).