Dr. Donald Gaver directs research in Tulane’s Biofluid Mechanics Laboratory, which aims to develop an understanding of the interrelationship between the mechanical and physicochemical behavior of biological systems. These investigations focus on the pulmonary system with the goal of developing improved therapies for pulmonary diseases such as infant and acute respiratory distress syndrome (RDS and ARDS) and the prevention of ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI). At present, his research focuses on study of the dynamic interplay between transport processes, interfacial phenomena and fluid stresses that alter the pulmonary epithelial structure and function during respiratory distress. In addition, his research extends to the design of optimized microfluidic devices for biosensor technology. These integrated studies bring together basic and applied scientists (including computational scientists), device developers and physicians to study problems of high clinical importance.