New Member Outstanding Science Award

Dr. Muir’s clinical and research goal is to improve the lives of children with eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease and prevent the devastating consequences of eosinophilic inflammation including weight loss feeding disorders, dysphagia and esophageal stricture.  Following training in general pediatrics, a strong foundation in mucosal immunology led to a natural interest in pediatric gastroenterology, in which perturbations in the balance between environmental factors and host innate immune responses have a profound impact upon human growth and development. Among its many complications, disruptions in the esophageal epithelial homeostasis is the most striking histologic feature of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE).  Dr. Muir has been able to grow expertise in esophageal epithelial biology and 3-D culture systems.  Using primary culture methods, she has developed an esophageal organoid platform to recapitulate the EoE microenviroment and has been able to utilize this model to understand the role of the esophageal epithelium in propagating inflammation and fibrosis.  She has been able to build a robust platform for biobanking, growing primary organoid, air liquid interface and organotypic cultures, and performing in depth genetic and transcriptomic evaluations.  In addition to this disease modeling in vitro, Dr. Muir also has a clinical research portion of her lab. A major knowledge gap in the field of EoE is how to identify esophageal fibrosis prior to the onset of a frank stricture. She has pioneered the use of a novel tool, the endoluminal function imaging probe or EndoFLIP, in clinical and research practice in the pediatric GI community. EndoFLIP uses high-resolution impedance planimetry to determine the pressure-geometry relationship or distensibility of the esophagus. Using this tool, she has found that EoE patients have decreased esophageal distensibility compared to healthy non-EoE controls. Furthermore, this difference is exacerbated by disease complications including esophageal fibrosis and food impactions.