Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Your airways, which shuttle air into and out of the lung, are coated with a special fatty lining that helps to keep them open. This lining is susceptible to damage by things in your lung is exposed to daily. These include: pollution, cigarette smoke, pollen, and viruses and bacteria. Exposure to these irritants can cause the production of damaging molecules called reactive oxygen species. These molecules can then in turn attack the fatty lining producing compounds called oxidized phospholipids (OxPCs). OxPCs are known to be involved in other diseases and we want to understand how they may be involved in the development of asthma. This information could allow us to one day develop a treatment that prevents the OxPCs from damaging the airways as a way to prevent asthma.