• Question: Is there any research for the medical condition Cystic Fibrosis? Are there any researchers that study about Cystic Fibrosis

    Asked by anon-263602 on 14 Oct 2020.
    • Photo: Will Davison

      Will Davison answered on 14 Oct 2020:

      Yeah, there is loads of research going on about Cystic Fibrosis! While it’s not really my area of expertise (I work on fish, and I’m sure somebody more qualified will respond with way more info than i can offer!), I studied it a fair amount while doing my undergraduate degree. At my university a lot of the research on cystic fibrosis was about the microbes that can grow in the lungs of people in cystic fibrosis and figuring out different ways of getting rid of them so the person doesn’t get sick.

      Weirdly enough, my work on fish actually features a protein called CFTR (which stands for cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) which is also linked to causing cystic fibrosis in humans. But in fish they use that protein to regulate their salt levels in the water.

      The progress on cystic fibrosis research though is happening really quickly and new treatments are being developed all the time so hopefully soon people who have it will be able to live completely normal lives!

    • Photo: Richard Fielder

      Richard Fielder answered on 14 Oct 2020:

      Yes, we study cystic fibrosis at our facility, along with many other medical conditions. We don’t look at actual patients though, but rather at how the genes and proteins involved work at a molecular level. CF is caused by a mutation in one gene, which causes a protein to not form properly. If we can understand exactly what is different about the structure of the mutated protein and why it no longer works properly, we can hopefully develop treatments that focus on the root cause instead of just trying to reduce the symptoms as most current treatments do.

      You can read a bit about some of the recent research on the subject here – https://www.diamond.ac.uk/Science/Research/Highlights/2020/engineering-antibodies-treat-cystic-fibrosis-.html

    • Photo: Sonia Rodriguez

      Sonia Rodriguez answered on 14 Oct 2020:

      There are a lot of researchers working on cystic fibrosis around the world to try to both cure the disease and treat the symptoms. There are also several ongoing clinical trials to test promising treatments in patients.
      As Richard said, cystic fibrosis is caused by a mutation in one specific gene. One of the newest and most exciting therapies in which scientists are working is trying to correct the mutation in the DNA using gene therapy.

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