Name: Associate Professor Douglas Luckie
Department: Physiology and the Lyman Briggs School
Type of research: Acidity of cystic fibrosis cells
Date of research: Luckie began this field of research about 15 years ago.
Basics of the project: In his research at the MSU Cystic Fibrosis Lab, Luckie compares model cells that line both healthy and cystic fibrosis-infected lungs. He looks at the acid levels produced in the lining to discover why cystic fibrosis cells produce more acid.
"We study what the healthy cells do and what the cystic fibrosis cells do and try to determine what's wrong," Luckie said.
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that usually affects children, and its largest effect is in the lung, Luckie said.
The airway of the lungs becomes infected and clogged by mucus, he said.
Luckie's research team found that cystic fibrosis cells produce more acid because they lack a protein that healthy cells have, he said.
The models used in Luckie's research are made from healthy and infected animal and human lung cells, and cells that are injected with different genes to model the effects of cystic fibrosis, he said.
Social impact of research: Luckie can test the cystic fibrosis cells with chemical treatments and see if there is any decrease in the amount of acid produced, he said.
If there is improvement, they can do further testing with various concentrations of the chemicals, and this potentially could lead to the development of medicines for the disease, Luckie said.
Grants and funding: Funding comes from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the National Science Foundation and public donations to the lab, and it costs about $50,000 per year to run the lab and do the research, Luckie said.
