The main focus of the Chang Laboratory is to determine the mechanisms underlying chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS); a complex heterogeneous disorder affecting 15 million people in the United States with costs exceeding 11 billion dollars per year. Dr. Chang is a physician-scientist who provides medical and surgical care for those with upper airway (nasal, sinus, and skull base) disorders. Currently our therapies include medications and surgeries that treat the symptoms of disease. Our goal is to utilize modern molecular techniques to identify the primary cause and translate these findings to improve therapies for our patients.
Our research interests include:
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Rhinovirus and unified airway disease: Rhinovirus is implicated in chronic rhinosinusitis, asthma, and COPD exacerbations. Our goal is to identify the genome-virome epithelial response in airway epithelia.
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CFTR-related sinus disease: identify the mechanism of disease for those with cystic fibrosis (two CFTR mutations) and CF carriers (single CFTR mutation).
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Surgical simulation for functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS).