Submitted by J. Grosse on Thu, 11/04/2024 - 09:39
Lung conditions are the third biggest killer in the UK, but receive relatively small amounts of research funding. Less than 2% of public medical research funding goes to respiratory disease research.
Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis (APF) are the leading charity committed to putting a stop to a group of lung scarring conditions which affect around 70,000 people in the UK. In pulmonary fibrosis, the lungs become progressively stiffer and with a smaller area which leads to low blood oxygen. Some causes of these conditions are better understood, such as asbestosis, but there is no known cause of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and it is not known why some people develop these conditions while other do not.
We are delighted that Dr Jenny Dickens has been awarded a Mike Bray Fellowship from APF which will fund three years of research aiming to unravel the genetics of PF, leading to better understanding of the causes as well as new and better treatments. The award, totalling £600k, was shared with Dr Bin (Kevin) Liu from Imperial College London. These awards allow the researchers to develop the skills and experience to become leaders in the field.
Dr Dickens’ research involves miniaturised 3D versions of the lung, a new model which will enable her to investigate how genetic variations cause lung cells to ‘misbehave’ leading to scarring of the tissue.
She says: “This funding will be transformational for my research career, providing a springboard to establish a large research programme aiming to understand the triggers of pulmonary fibrosis and develop new treatments.”
