Zissis Chroneos, PhD

Zissis C. Chroneos, PhD, is Director of Basic Research in the Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Penn State College of Medicine. His research focuses on pulmonary innate immunity and the cellular and molecular mechanisms that maintain alveolar homeostasis during infection, injury, and recovery.

Dr. Chroneos’s research focuses on how pulmonary surfactant, alveolar macrophages, and epithelial and vascular cells interact to regulate host defense and lung tissue homeostasis. His laboratory identified and characterized SP-R210 as a macrophage receptor for surfactant protein A (SP-A) and defined its roles in macrophage activation, differentiation, and immune function.

A major focus of his current research is understanding how genetic variation in human surfactant protein A2 (SP-A2) influences susceptibility to influenza, lung injury and recovery, fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, and developmental lung disease. His laboratory integrates genetically engineered and humanized mouse models, human biospecimens, alveolar organoids, proteomics, and cellular and molecular approaches to determine how surfactant-dependent pathways coordinate macrophage, epithelial, and vascular responses in the lung.

Dr. Chroneos has authored approximately 70 peer-reviewed publications, and his research has resulted in intellectual property and licensed technology. He has trained and mentored undergraduate, graduate, and MD/PhD students, postdoctoral and clinical fellows, and junior faculty, and is committed to developing physician-scientists and early-career investigators pursuing translational research in pulmonary and neonatal medicine.