5th Annual VCU 3MT® Competition, held on October 18-19, 2019.
Transcription:
Breathing should
be one of the most vital, instinctual, and underwhelming moments of our day. But
for over 25 million Americans living with asthma, this supposedly mundane activity
carries a heavy toll. Every year the number of people with asthma continues to
rise, especially in developed countries. In the United States alone an alarming
10 people per day lose their life this disease. But for an issue that has
become so common and so dangerous, we are still without a cure. This is because
the different types of asthma are as unique as the individuals who have them. You
see, the asthma medication for your Aunt Pam with the bad allergies is taking
isn’t gonna do much for your BFF Kyle who gets into a coughing fit after his
short runs, or for your younger brother who unfortunately inherited asthma from
your dad’s side of the family. There just isn’t one simple solution. The best doctors
can do is meet with their patients individually and design a unique treatment
plans, which could suggest avoiding environments activities or environments that
can trigger their asthma, and taking a bunch of medications to manage
symptoms. But what if all of these
symptoms shared one common source? My research suggests that ceramide, a type
of sphingolipid, play a central role in the development and severity of asthma.
Now
I know it’s a fancy word, but sphingolipids are a just a special class of
lipids, like fats of cholesterol. Ceramide, the molecule I’m interested in, is
the central building block for all sphingolipids. And our lab and a host of
others have shown that ceramide is involved in a wide variety of cellular
pathways. But what does all of this have to do with asthma? First, my lab has
shown in multiple mice asthma models that ceramide levels are increased in the
lung. Second, and this my favorite part, when you block just ceramide in the
lung you can protect these same mice from developing asthma. And so now we are
currently trying to understand which specific pathways ceramide is pushing to progress
this airway disease. And so far we’ve seen that high levels of ceramide is
linked to reactive oxygen species and cell death, which are two very common
markers of severe asthma. Now some of you may be thinking, “that’s cute Briana,
but mice aren’t people”. And you would be right. But we’ve also measured higher
levels of ceramide in asthmatic patients. We are beginning to see all of these
different connections between different symptoms of asthma to one sphingolipid.
And though we still have a long way to
go, my research can bring us closer to designing inclusive, simple treatments
for a variety of symptoms for asthma, and maybe even a cure. And I think that’s
something that can all help us breathe a little easier. Thank you.
