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I never had the luxury of time to reflect on the hardships that I experienced fighting cystic fibrosis because I was too focused on that particular day’s struggle. Still, there are two experiences that have stuck with me even though they were more than 10 years ago.
I am excited that the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has surpassed $100 million in research funding through its Infection Research Initiative and that it promises to continue to support infection research at the same rate as the past three years. I am hopeful that the patient community will hear more about funding updates for new infection research as we move forward.
I felt unrelenting hope watching the first plenary of this year’s North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference. As I learned about progress that has been made in sickle cell disease, and how those learnings may help us develop a genetic therapy for CF, it showed me that the CF community is supporting people like me who can’t take modulators.
mRNA therapy is one way to deliver the correct genetic instructions to cells, which would allow them to make functional CFTR protein regardless of an individual’s CF mutations.
I was diagnosed late with cystic fibrosis. When I found out I had bronchiectasis on top of that, I was crushed. However, nine years later, my health is as good as it can be, and I’ve learned the value of fighting back.
Cystic fibrosis is caused by mutations in both copies of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. Scientists are examining whether it is possible to correct the mutations through a process called gene editing.
Scientists around the world agree that global innovation is needed to address the shortage of effective antibiotics. Our Infection Research Initiative supports much-needed research and development, but new policies are needed to promote a sustainable, robust antibiotics pipeline and a marketplace that rewards innovation.
Cystic fibrosis is caused by mutations in the gene responsible for producing the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein. For this reason, scientists are exploring ways to provide a correct copy of the gene to treat CF.
I learned that service dogs for diabetics can be trained to detect the scent of high or low blood sugar. Could this type of training be effective for teaching my service dog to detect when I have a bacterial infection?