The Van Ry Lab is a translational research group bridging the gap between basic science and clinical medicine. They use traditional 2D cell culture along with spheroid, distal lung organoids and animal models to investigate disease pathogenesis and possible therapeutics approaches for pulmonary fibrosis and lung cancer. Additionally, the Van Ry lab has been developing a treatment using recombinant galectin-1 as a protein therapy for muscular dystrophy. The lab stresses the importance of using techniques and models that mimic human patient conditions as closely as possible. For example, the pulmonary teams use the same clinical endpoints in live animal models that are used in patients with lung cancer and pulmonary fibrosis such as micro-CT scans and pulmonary function tests.