Therapeutic targeting of airway microbiome in mice with cystic fibrosis-like lung disease to prevent lung damage and pneumonia (Hain / Mall)

Alterations in airway microbiota are associated with severity of lung disease in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). However, the role of disordered microbiota in the in vivo pathogenesis and as therapeutic target in CF lung disease remains unknown.

In this project, we will use a unique mouse model of CF lung disease and state-of-the-art next generation sequencing

(i) to determine the role of altered airway microbiota in CF-like airway inflammation and structural lung damage;

(ii) to test if therapeutic targeting of abnormal microbiota can reduce these abnormalities; and

(iii) to test if such a therapeutic approach can reduce susceptibility to Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection characteristic of CF lung disease in vivo.