Lunging for fresh air

Three doctoral students from the CPC/LHI introduce you to their field : pneumology or the science of the lungs. Lung diseases such as asthma, fibrosis or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are on the rise, and risk factors like air pollution and allergens are nearly impossible to escape: you can stop eating unhealthy, but you cannot stop breathing ! With this talk, you will find out what makes the lungs such an interesting but difficult organ to research and what scientists of the CPC/LHI are currently doing to catch up and cure these diseases.

PART 1: Scientists discovered different types of cell deaths - that lead to real deaths. One of these seems to be crucially involved in the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the third leading cause of death world-wide. If we prevent it, could we stop COPD progression?
PART 2: Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a deadly disease with no existing cure. Michael Gerkens developed a miniaturized cell culture system that he used to screen tens of thousands of known drugs, eventually identifying one that shows promising results. Could this lead to a cure for IPF?