Dr. Wiener-Kronish has devoted much of her academic career to investigating the mechanism of acute lung injury produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a gram negative bacterium that can infect patients in the intensive care unit. Her past research focused on the mechanism of pleural fluid formation during acute lung injury, how toxins produced by Pseudomonascause acute lung injury, and the production of humanized antibodies that will block these products. Most recently, she has investigated the epidemiology of bacterial communities in asthmatics, critically ill patients and in young, newly colonized patients with cystic fibrosis. The goal of her research is to establish whether there are beneficial communities of bacteria that protect patients against asthma and infections. Dr. Wiener-Kronish is working with oral biologists and environmental scientists to utilize molecular identification of bacteria for these investigations.