Grant: Project Grant

Asthma is a chronic disease of the lungs, in which patients struggle to breathe due to excessive narrowing of the airways and mucus production. According to the World Health Organization, asthma is a serious public health problem affecting over 300 million patients and their families worldwide. Asthma takes the lives of approximately five hundred Canadians each year. Researchers seek to understand not only how and why a person develops asthma but also the disease process itself, because "knowing your enemy" can lead to the development of new therapies to treat asthma. In our lab, we are looking at a molecule called Sema3E, because it appears to send signals that protect against many of the debilitating effects of asthma. Interestingly, patients with severe asthma have less Sema3E in their airways compared to people who don't have asthma. We can mimic asthma in mice, and these mice have shown us that disrupting the normal function of Sema3E makes the disease worse. In this project, we will focus on better understanding why this happens. This knowledge will point to new ways to potentially lessen or even reverse the effects of this terrible disease.