Department of Medicine
University of Pittsburgh
Silvana Balzar, MD
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Research Assistant Professor Phone: 412-692-2139 |
Bio
Dr. Balzar graduated in 1981. from the School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Croatia, and by 1990. completed internship, postgraduate studies and fellowship in clinical microbiology. After ten years of practicing medicine, she joined Dr. Sally Wenzel’s research team at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, Colorado, to investigate inflammatory processes in human asthma. For the past eight years Dr. Balzar’s studies have been focused on the role of mast cells in inflammation and asthma and on the immunological processes associated with chronic lung inflammatory diseases and development of autoimmunity.
Academic and Research Interests
Presently, Dr. Balzar holds a faculty position at the research assistant professor level and intends to further develop both academic and scientific aspects of her work. Dr. Balzar’s long-term interest is in the role and function of mucosal immune compartment in shaping local and systemic immune responses. She believes that altered mucosal immune responses in the lung may underlie not only the development of asthma, but also the pathogenesis of other chronic respiratory diseases. Dr. Balzar is primarily interested in exploring innate defense mechanisms at mucosal surfaces and the impact of altered or impaired mucosal protection on the systemic immune compartment‘s responses. The overall hypothesis is that deficient mucosal barrier function can lead to dysfunctional compartmentalization of mucosal versus systemic immune processes and induce aberrant local and systemic responses resulting in allergy, chronic inflammatory conditions and autoimmunity.
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Immunoglobulin E (IgE) on the surface of mast cells in distal airway submucosa of a subject with severe asthma. Transbronchial biopsy tissue sample’s consecutive sections were immunostained for mast cell-specific enzyme tryptase (1A) and immunoglobulin E (1B). Tryptase-positive mast cells (red cytoplasmic staining in 1A) co-localize with IgE-positive cells (membrane staining in 1B), identifying mast cells with cell surface-bound IgE. (Original magnification 100X). |
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Autophagic vesicles in interleukin 13-stimulated primary human airway epithelial cells. Epithelial cells were cultured under air-liquid interface conditions and labeled by immunofluorescence for LC3II (autophagosomal marker; green) and LAMP-3 (lysosomal marker; red). Nuclei are stained blue. The image is obtained by confocal microscopy, at 600X magnification. |
Key Publications
Balzar S, Chu HW, Strand M, Wenzel SE. Relationship of small airway chymase-positive mast cells to lung function in severe asthma. Am J Resp Crit Care Med 2005;171:431-39.
Balzar S, Strand M, Nakano T, Wenzel SE. Subtle immunodeficiency in severe asthma: IgA and IgG2 correlate with lung function and symptoms. Int Arch Allergy Immunol 2006; 96-102.
Balzar S, Strand M, Rhodes D, Wenzel SE. Immunoglobulin (Ig)E expression pattern in lung: relation to systemic IgE and asthma phenotypes. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2007;119:855-62.