Mapping the miRNA atlas of CF airway epithelial cells using patient-derived gene-edited iPSC

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an inherited disease with no cure and it affects up to 3,000 newborn babies worldwide each year. If we are to design better treatments, we need to understand how and why the cells of people with CF are different to those of a healthy person. 

We will take a patient’s blood cells and treat them so they mimic the behaviour of lung cells to enable the study of CF lung disease. We will grow these cells in the lab to look at their genes and microRNA. Identifying how genes and microRNA differ in CF compared with healthy people will help us design treatments to target and correct these differences.

Our project will help investigators advance the understanding of CF and ultimately improve the treatment of the disease with the possibility of a cure.