Associate Professor
Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine
Office Location:
200 Lothrop St, Rm E1144
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Contact Information:
Office Telephone: 412-383-4766
Email: benamk@pitt.edu
Research Interests
Tissue Engineering, Organs-on-Chips, Host-Pathogen/Environment Interactions, Lung Pathophysiology, Immunobiology, Disease Modeling, Drug Discovery
Selected Publications
Niemeyer BF, Miller CM, Ledesma-Feliciano C, Morrison JH, Jimenez-Valdes R, Clifton C, Poeschla EM, Benam KH. “Broad Antiviral and Anti-inflammatory Efficacy of Nafamostat Against SARS-CoV-2 and Seasonal Coronaviruses in Primary Human Bronchiolar Epithelia”. Nano Select 2022 Feb;3(2):437-449.
Kaiser AJ, Salem C, Alvarenga BJ, Pagliaro A, Smith KP, Valerio Jr LG, Benam KH. “A robotic system for real-time analysis of inhaled submicron and microparticles”. iScience. 2021 Sep 29;24(10):103091. Features in Nature 2021: doi 10.1038/d41586-021-02679-0.
Si L, Bai H, Rodas M, Cao W, Oh CY, Jiang A, Moller R, Hoagland D, Oishi K, Horiuchi S, Uhl S, Blanco-Melo S, Albrecht RA, Liu WC, Jordan T, Nilsson-Payant BE, Golynker I, Frere J, Logue J, Haupt R, McGrath M, Weston S, Zhang T, Plebani R, Soong M, Nurani A, Kim SM, Zhu DY, Benam KH, Goyal G, Gilpin SE, Prantil-Baun RE, Gygi SP, Powers RK, Carlson KE, Frieman M, tenOever BR, Ingber DE. A Human-Airway-on-a-Chip for the Rapid Identification of Candidate Antiviral Therapeutics and Prophylactics”. Nature Biomedical Engineering 2021 Aug;5(8):815-829.
Jimenez-Valdes RJ, Can UI, Niemeyer BF, Benam KH. “Where We Stand: Lung Organotypic Living Systems That Emulate Human-Relevant Host-Environment/Pathogen Interactions”. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology 2020; Aug 13;8: 989.
Benam KH, Novak R, Ferrante TC, Choe Y, Ingber DE. “A Microfluidically Compatible Modular Smoking Robot for Inhalation Exposure of In Vitro Cultures”. Nature Protocols 2020; 15(2): 183-206.
Benam KH, Königshoff M, Eickelberg O. “Breaking the In Vitro Barrier in Respiratory Medicine. Engineered Microphysiological Systems for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Beyond”. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2018; Apr 1;197(7): 869-875.
Cole SL, Dunning J, Kok WL, Benam KH, Benlahrech A, Repapi E, Martinez FO, Drumright L, Powell TJ, Bennett M, Elderfield R, Thomas C, MOSAIC Investigators, Dong T, McCauley J, Liew FY, Taylor S, Sambon M, McMichael AJ, Ho LP. “M1-like Monocytes Are a Major Immunological Determinant of Severity in Previously Healthy Adults with Life-Threatening Influenza”. JCI Insight 2017; Apr 6;2(7): e91868.
Benam KH, Novak R, Nawroth J, Hiraon-Kobayashi M, Ferrante TC, Choe Y, Prantil-Baun R, Weaver JC, Bahinski A, Parker KK, Ingber DE. “Matched-Comparative Modeling of Normal and Diseased Human Airway Responses Using a Microengineered Breathing Lung Chip”. Cell Systems 2016; Nov 23;3(5): 456-466.e4.
Benam KH, Ingber DE. “Commendation for Exposing Key Advantage of Organ Chip Approach”. Cell Systems 2016; Nov 23;3(5): 411.
Benam KH, Villenave R, Lucchesi C, Varone A, Hubeau C, Lee HH, Alves SE, Salmon M, Ferrante TC, Weaver JC, Bahinski A, Hamilton GA, Ingber DE. “Small Airway-on-a-Chip Enables Analysis of Human Lung Inflammation and Drug Responses In Vitro”. Nature Methods 2015; Feb;13(2): 151-7.