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WEEK IN REVIEW
Tuesday
Lynnwood police seek hit-and-run driver
Laundry fire sparks concerns over smoke detectors
Early morning gunfire wounds 2 in Everett
Monday


Economy may silence Everett Symphony's season
Inmates with mental illness bring extra costs t...
Help with heating bills late to arrive this year
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Count drags on long after the election's over
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Gold Bar couple admit animal cruelty in puppy m...
Arlington area man's arrest in alleged burglar'...
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Shelter asks for diaper donations during holida...
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State budget's $2 billion hole will require dee...
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Wednesday


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Marysville rejects idea of a much later start f...
Flu’s full force shocks an Edmonds man an...
 

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Courtesy of Seattle Children's Hospital  (click to enlarge)
Dr. Bonnie Ramsey, a cystic fibrosis researcher at Seattle Children's Research Institute, works with Oliver McGarey, an 18-year-old patient from Seattle.
 
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CONTACT THE HERALD
Robert Frank, City Editor
frank@heraldnet.com
 
Published: Sunday, March 8, 2009

Some answers from an expert on cystic fibrosis

Dr. Bonnie Ramsey, director of the Center for Clinical and Translational Research, Seattle Children's Research Institute, is a leading researcher in cystic fibrosis.

A graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School, she first began her research into the disease when she came to Seattle in 1978.

In 2005, the Bonnie W. Ramsey endowed professorship in cystic fibrosis was created in her honor at the University of Washington.

Q: Why did you choose to specialize in the research of cystic fibrosis?

A: I came out here to be a cancer specialist. Then … they needed somebody to take over the cystic fibrosis program. I said I'll be glad to do that at least short term. But at that time there was no hope in the illness. We didn't know what caused the illness. The lifespan was to the early teens and the quality of life was different than today. They had to spend the majority of their lives in the hospital.

Q: How did research into the disease progress?

A: In the '80s, they found the protein, what the mutations were, what the mutations did. … Then when you get an interesting scientific story you have people flocking to the area. They can get funding and get answers. Now the cystic fibrosis (research) community has moved into small molecules.

At the same time we've done a huge amount in treating of the secondary complications, lung infections and mucus buildup.

Q: What eventually causes patients to die of cystic fibrosis?

A: They have these recurrent lung infections. It's almost impossible to clear them.

Over time each infection slowly takes a toll. It cause scar tissue in the airway of the lung and scar tissue over time (results) in lung failure.

In this stage … (people) die of lung failure or get lung transplants.

I don't think lung transplants are what we want as a good, long-term solution.

Q: What cystic fibrosis research is currently under way at Seattle Children's Research Institute?

A: Children's is involved in several clinical trials to develop new therapies to treat cystic fibrosis, in particular to treat related lung infections.

Q: What new treatments are now being developed, either in Seattle or elsewhere?

A: There are several really exciting new treatments in development. For the first time we have treatments which may correct the abnormal protein in cystic fibrosis called "CFTR."

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