Graduate Q&A: Yamen Shahwan - University of Alberta

Hang Liu1, Peng Liu3, Jiawei Yu1, Qiang Lu2, Yerong Qian1, Junxi Xiang1, Aihua Shi4, Shasha Wei4, Yi Lv1,3,4 & … Lifei Yang3,4 We’re sharing this article early to provide faster access to peer-reviewed, accepted research. It is citable and carries a permanent DOI. This version is subject to further edits and will be replaced automatically by the final Version of Record. All legal disclaimers apply.

Conflicts of interest: Carlin has received conference travel, speaker fees, advisory board, unrestricted investigator-initiated grant, and joint working support from AstraZeneca, Glaxo-Smith Kline, Sanofi-Regeneron, and ResMed. Keywords: Case-finding, COPD, diagnosis, exacerbations, lung cancer screening.

Jiménez-Gómez has received support for attending meetings and/or travel from Oximesa Nippon Sanso. The other authors have declared no conflicts of interest. Each article is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 License.

David Mannino | Professor, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, USA; Chief Medical Officer, COPD Foundation Could you tell us what first drew you to respiratory medicine and COPD, and how this interest has developed throughout your career?

The publication of this infographic was funded by Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Medical writing assistance was provided by Bethany Cooper, Ownership Health Limited, UK. Advances in cystic fibrosis care have transformed expectations for many people living with the disease. Evidence continues to support intervening early to prevent irreversible organ damage and optimise outcomes.

MSA and Parkinson’s share alpha-synuclein pathology but progress very differently. Earlier detection could help researchers understand why – and reveal which proteins, cells and disease mechanisms offer the strongest therapeutic targets. Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a devastating condition that progresses rapidly, leaving patients and families to navigate an uncertain future. The rare neurodegenerative disorder is often fatal within five years and affects voluntary and involuntary functions, including movement, balance and even digestion or blood pressure regulation. A treatment that slows disease progression could mean more time for patients to remain independent, make plans and be with the people they love. MSA, Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia (LBD) share an association with misfolded alpha-synuclein protein. And yet, for example, MSA patients do not respond well to standard Parkinson’s therapies. For drug discovery researchers, the disease raises questions that reach beyond MSA: why does pathology involving the same protein behave so differently across neurodegenerative conditions? Which differences should determine what a drug targets?