Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42420427›Full record

ArticleNature biomedical engineering2026

Real-time single-particle imaging of functional lungs reveals mosaic-like patterns of aerosol deposition in alveoli.

Gabrielle N Grifno, Han Ali Kahvecioglu, Robert LeBourdais, Victoria Travnik, Rohin Banerji, Winita Wangsrikhun, Linzheng Shi, Suleyman B Bozal, Heewon Suh, Ahmed A Raslan and 19 more

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Nature biomedical engineering, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

29 authors.

Gabrielle N GrifnoDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Han Ali KahveciogluDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5480-6331
Robert LeBourdaisDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Victoria TravnikDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Rohin BanerjiDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0009-5885-9719
Winita WangsrikhunDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Linzheng ShiDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Suleyman B BozalDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8370-9693
Heewon SuhDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
Ahmed A RaslanBoston University Pulmonary Center, Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Athanasios BatgidisDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Byungjun KangDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7220-801X
Feiyang DengDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Caleb DaltonDepartment of Pharmaceutics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
Andrew TsaoDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0357-8153
Lauren CastleDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Kathryn ReganDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Abdulrahman KobayterDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0000-2508-996X
Michael VanniniBoston University Pulmonary Center, Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Mohammad RashidianDepartment of Cancer Immunology and Virology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3708-0038
Liang HaoDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7513-3922
Giovanni LigrestiBoston University Pulmonary Center, Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
Joseph P MizgerdBoston University Pulmonary Center, Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4042-3169
Worth LongestDepartment of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
Michael HindleDepartment of Pharmaceutics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
W Mark SaltzmanDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2163-549X
James P ButlerHarvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0687-4481
Béla SukiDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9720-1006
Hadi T NiaDepartment of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA. htnia@bu.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1970-9901

Funding

Probing functioning lung at the cellular resolution in health and diseaseDP2HL168562 · NHLBI · BOSTON UNIVERSITY (CHARLES RIVER CAMPUS) · PI NIA, HADI TAVAKOLI · 2022 to 2025
$2.5M
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Sloan Research FellowshipAmerican Cancer Society (American Cancer Society, Inc.) Institutional Fund at Boston UniversityArnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation Beckman Young Investigator AwardBoston University (BU) CMTM AwardBoston University (BU) Dean's Catalyst AwardBoston University (BU) Kilachand FundFoundation for the National Institutes of Health (Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, Inc.) DP2HL168562Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, Inc.) F30HL168952Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, Inc.) R21EB031332National Science Foundation (NSF) GRFPNational Science Foundation (NSF) NSF CAREERNational Science Foundation (NSF) NSF GRFPNHLBI NIH HHS DP2 HL168562
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Inhaled pathogens, pollutants and therapeutics interact with the dynamic architecture of the alveoli, yet how individual particles move and deposit at cellular resolution remains unclear. Here, utilizing the crystal ribcage platform, we track aerosol transport in ex vivo, actively ventilated lungs using real-time fluorescence imaging with single-particle resolution, capturing droplet trajectories, free-flight motion, impact orientation and deposition timescales within functional alveoli. These measurements show that intra-alveolar transport is directional and shaped by airway-guided flow and tissue motion. At larger scales, aerosols do not disperse uniformly throughout the lung's volume but instead concentrate into geometrically constrained clusters of alveoli, forming a conserved mosaic-like compartmentalization while neighbouring alveoli remain largely unexposed. The pattern persists across particle types and species and varies with particle properties and lung age. In models of emphysema, fibrosis and metastasis, airway remodelling alters both the geometry and amount of deposition. These multiscale insights reveal how single-particle transport and airway structure together shape alveolar exposure, immune activation, development and therapeutic accessibility.

Identifiers

PMID42420427

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.