Cystic Fibrosis

A recent study from the labs of Lars Plate and Jens Meiler, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, analyzed both selectively responsive and poorly responsive variants of cystic fibrosis and revealed the molecular determinants of drug response. Read More

Vanderbilt engineering professor Xiaoguang Dong is leading a team of researchers that has developed a system of artificial cilia capable of monitoring mucus conditions in human airways to better detect infection, airway obstruction, or the severity of diseases like cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and lung cancer. Read More

Lars Plate, assistant professor of chemistry and biological sciences, has received a $2.76 million collaborative grant to investigate medical therapy for people with cystic fibrosis. The interdisciplinary project brings together teams with varied expertise in computational structural biology, proteomics, biophysics, and physiology in hopes of improving the quality of life for those afflicted with the genetic disease. Read More

Electronic health records and biobanks can be effectively combined to detect and study Mendelian diseases such as cystic fibrosis. Read More

Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus — two pathogens that frequently co-infect the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis — appear to cooperate with each other, Vanderbilt investigators have discovered. When pseudomonas is starved for metal by the host, it shuts down the production of factors that would normally kill staph, promoting a co-infection. Read More

A research team led by structural biologists from Vanderbilt University has come up with the first detailed molecular explanation for a factor that may contribute to the so-called cystic fibrosis (CF) “gender gap.” Read More

As parents we were proud of Sara’s curiosity, boldness, openness to new experiences and thirst for life. And we were even more proud of the woman who returned to us from France after her junior year, more self-confident and aware of the world around her. Read More

New views of how transporters move molecules across cell membranes are key to understanding how these proteins impact tumor cell drug resistance and inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis. Read More

Abnormal levels of fatty acids in the blood and tissues of patients with cystic fibrosis may be reversed by supplementation with the fatty acids DHA and EPA. Read More