News

A new study entitled “Inter- and Intraspecies Metabolite Exchange Promotes Virulence of Antibiotic-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus” published in Cell Host & Microbe reports antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus interacts with other species to promote their growth and virulence inside its host. This new finding is particularly important to the…

Governor Tom Corbett Every year, millions of babies in the U.S. undergo newborn screening to detect conditions that may gravely affect their health or survival in the long run. This effort is part of healthcare’s emphasis on early detection, accurate diagnoses, and prompt intervention in order to prevent juvenile…

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently awarded $15.6 million in grants to support research into mucolytic agents discovered by Parion Sciences, a company dedicated to creating novel therapies for pulmonary diseases, such as Cystic Fibrosis among others. The five-year grants were given to The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) and…

In the 1980s, life expectancy for persons with cystic fibrosis (CF) was just 12 years in the US, and around 20 in Canada. However, the median age of survival for Canadian CF patients continues on an upward trend, and is currently estimated to be 50.9 years of age…

A low-cost, disposable breath analysis device that a person with cystic fibrosis could use at home along with a smartphone to immediately detect a lung infection, much like the device police use to gauge a driver’s blood alcohol level, may soon be a reality. Such a device could provide timely…

A new study entitled “Counteracting suppression of CFTR and voltage-gated K+ channels by a bacterial pathogenic factor with the natural product tannic acid” published in Elife reports on the discovery of an inhibitor for Staphylococcus aureus, the leading agent of infections in Cystic Fibrosis…

This year at the 28th Annual North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference (NACFC) in Atlanta, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated announced their ongoing efforts to treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis (CF) by focusing on mutations in the CFTR gene (short for cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance receptor) through a combination of drugs.

Indiana-based University of Notre Dame, a Catholic research university, has just received a generous gift from a pair of prominent families to fund the institution’s Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases. This specialized center will now be known as the Boler-Parseghian Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases, in commemoration…

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Promising data of an anti-infective therapeutic to treat Cystic Fibrosis-associated lung infections was presented in the 28th Annual North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference, held last week in Atlanta, GA, by N8 Respiratory, LLC. showing the efficacy of its lead compound CSA-13 as an antimicrobial peptide…

While Cystic Fibrosis is considered to be a rare, “orphan” disease, affecting about 70,000 people in total worldwide, the support community that surrounds it is significantly larger, and works tirelessly to support fundraising and advocacy for the disease. Now, a new initiative by one of the world’s leading CF advocacy…