Figure 1. Joulia lab (June 2025)
Meet the Joulia Lab at the National Heart and Lung Institute
Dr. Régis Joulia leads a newly established research group based at the National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI) at Imperial College London. Supported by funding from the Wellcome Trust and other charitable organizations, the Joulia Lab focuses on uncovering fundamental mechanisms that drive chronic respiratory diseases, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
The lab is embedded within the dynamic scientific ecosystem of Imperial College London, where discovery science, clinical research, and industry intersect. This environment enables close integration of basic immunology, advanced imaging, and translational lung biology—providing a powerful platform for understanding how immune-driven processes reshape lung structure and function in disease.
Deciphering Immune-Driven Vascular Remodeling in the Lung
The central scientific question guiding the Joulia Lab is how immune cell activation influences lung blood vessel architecture during respiratory disease. Inflammatory processes are a defining feature of asthma and COPD, yet the structural consequences of inflammation—particularly on the pulmonary vasculature—remain incompletely understood.
Dr. Joulia’s team studies how chronic inflammation alters tissue remodeling, with a specific emphasis on changes in blood vessel organization. Two cell types are of particular interest: mast cells, key immune sentinels involved in inflammatory signaling, and pericytes, specialized structural cells that play a critical role in maintaining vascular stability and function. By dissecting how these cell populations interact within inflamed lung tissue, the lab aims to uncover mechanisms that drive pathological remodeling and identify potential therapeutic targets.
Precision-Cut Lung Slices as a Window into Lung Architecture
High-resolution imaging is a cornerstone of the Joulia Lab’s experimental approach. To visualize complex cellular interactions within intact lung tissue, the lab routinely works with thick lung sections that preserve three-dimensional structure while remaining accessible to microscopy.
Using the Compresstome® vibratome from Precisionary Instruments, the team prepares precision-cut lung slices (PCLS) at approximately 200 µm thickness. These sections provide an ideal balance between structural preservation and optical accessibility—offering significantly improved imaging compared to whole-organ preparations, while maintaining excellent cellular and subcellular resolution.
This workflow allows the lab to interrogate immune–vascular interactions in situ, capturing spatial relationships between immune cells, pericytes, and the vascular network that would be lost in thinner or more disruptive sectioning approaches.
Figure 2. Tile-scanning of mouse Precision Cut Lung Slice (PCLS). PCLS (200 um thickness) was performed using the Compresstome® Vibratome and stained for blood vessels (CD31, green), mast cells (avidin, purple) and smooth muscle cells (a-SMA, cyan). Tilescan was performed using a Leica SP8 and a 10X objective.
Figure 3. Overview of mouse Precision Cut Lung Slice (PCLS) and regions of the lungs. PCLS (200 um thickness) was performed using the Compresstome® Vibratome and stained for blood vessels (CD31, green). Following tilescan acquisition using a Leica SP8 and a 10X objective, image processing and rendering were performed using Imaris software.
How the Compresstome® Vibratome Enables This Research
The Compresstome vibratome plays a critical enabling role in the Joulia Lab’s imaging pipeline. Its ability to generate uniform, reproducible thick lung slices is essential for consistent imaging and quantitative analysis across experiments.
By using the Compresstome to prepare PCLS, the lab can:
- Preserve native lung architecture during sectioning
- Produce thick, viable sections suitable for advanced imaging
- Maintain reproducibility across samples and disease models
These capabilities are particularly important when studying subtle changes in blood vessel organization and immune cell localization that occur during inflammation-driven remodeling.
Figure 4. Sanjana Jadhav, member of the Joulia lab, using the Compresstome® Vibratome at Imperial College.
Research Impact and Selected Publications
The Joulia Lab’s work has already contributed to a growing body of high-impact literature examining immune regulation, vascular biology, and lung disease. Precision-cut lung slices have been instrumental in enabling these discoveries by providing a structurally faithful platform for imaging and analysis.
Selected publications from the lab include:
- https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2025.08.030
- https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41590-025-02161-3
- https://dx.doi.org/10.1172/JCI173676
- https://dx.doi.org/10.1164/rccm.202109-2082LE
- https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciimmunol.aav7638
Looking Ahead
As the lab continues to grow, Dr. Joulia and his team aim to further dissect how immune-mediated signals reshape the pulmonary vasculature over time, and how these changes contribute to disease progression and severity. By combining cutting-edge imaging with precision tissue sectioning, the lab is well positioned to address fundamental questions at the intersection of immunology, vascular biology, and respiratory medicine.
We are proud to support the Joulia Lab’s research with the Compresstome vibratome and look forward to seeing how their work advances our understanding of lung disease and tissue remodeling.
Connect with the Joulia Lab and Learn More About Precision-Cut Lung Slices
Interested in learning more about the Joulia Lab’s work, exploring potential collaborations, or implementing precision-cut lung slices (PCLS) in your own research?
We’d be happy to help connect you with the featured lab or discuss how Precisionary Instruments can support your experimental goals. Our scientific team regularly works with researchers to optimize PCLS workflows, from tissue embedding and sectioning parameters to downstream imaging applications.
Contact us at Precisionary to:
- Learn more about the Joulia Lab’s research and publications
- Explore collaboration or knowledge-sharing opportunities
- Get guidance on generating high-quality PCLS for your specific tissue and experimental needs
Reach out to our team at [email protected] or visit our website to schedule a scientific discussion.