Biomedical Research Funded During 1995

CFRI News, Spring 1996

Editor's Note: The following currently funded research efforts are organized into three kinds of research: basic, clinical and gene therapy. Basic research attempts to answer fundamental questions about the molecular processes underlying cellular function (and dysfunction in the case of cells affected by cystic fibrosis). It guides all other scientific work. Clinical research tests proposed therapies on real people, so it may yield approaches that we can use in the near future. Gene therapy research has become possible since the discovery of both the gene and the knowledge of precise genetic differences between people with and without CF. While it is among the newest areas of research, we at CFRI are hopeful that it will provide the basis for human gene therapy or cell transfer in patients having cystic fibrosis.

Basic CF Research

"Production/Characterization of CFTR Antibodies: Use in Studying Maturation of CFTR," Principal Investigator: William J. Welch, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine and Physiology, University of California, San Francisco. Amount funded: $10,000

"Transcriptional Regulation of CFTR in Primary Cultures of Human Airway Epithelial Cells," Principal Investigator: Douglas J. Conrad, Ph.D., Assistant Adjunct Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco. Amount funded: $35,000

"The Effects of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on Fluid Transport Across Human Airway Epithelia," Principal Investigator: David J. Evans, Ph.D., Clinical Instructor in the School of Optometry, University of Ca., Berkeley. Amount funded: $34,000

"Cytosolic and Trans-Golgi Network pH in CF Pathology," Principal Investigator: Terry Machen, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley. Amount funded: $32,000

"Cell-specific Regulation of the CFTR Chloride Channel," Principal Investigator: Jeffrey Wine, Ph.D., Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Research Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, California. Amount funded: $41,000

"Mechanism of Genistein-dependent Activation of the CFTR," Principal Investigator: William Reenstra, Ph.D., Head of the Cystic Fibrosis Research Laboratory of Epithelial Cell Biology at the Alfred L. duPont Institute in Wilmington, Delaware and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Amount funded: $10,000

"T Cells in Cystic Fibrosis: Interleukin-10 Deficiency," Principal Investigator: Richard Moss, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Clinic at Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford, California. Amount funded: $15,000

Clinical Research

"A Genetic and Molecular Analysis of the Virulence Factors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Responsible for Lung Injury in Cystic Fibrosis," Principal Investigator: Joanne Engel, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco. Amount funded: $40,000

Gene Therapy Research

"Evaluation of Adeno-associated Virus Mediated CFTR Gene Transfer in the Maxillary Sinus of Patients with Antrostomies," Principal Investigator: Phyllis Gardner, M.D., Associate Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California. Amount funded: $45,000

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