Current Projects

For people with asthma and/or cystic fibrosis, acid in the airway plays a role in respiratory function and preventing inflammation in the respiratory tract. Low pH may also affect how well some asthma treatments work. For example, albuterol is not fully active in a low pH environment. This study aims to design a method to identify which people with asthma and cystic fibrosis have acidic airways, so they can have more personalized, effective treatments.

This study is sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and is part of the Personalized Asthma and Cystic Fibrosis Treatments (PACT) program, taking place at IU and Case Western Reserve University and their associated hospitals.

Some asthma patients have high levels of an enzyme called GSNOR. GSNOR reduces the available amount of an airway relaxant called GSNO. Without enough airway relaxant, the airway becomes constricted and inflamed.  There are medications that can help with this, but first, a person needs to know if they could benefit from these medications. This study is designing a method to identify who could benefit from these medications.

This study is sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and is part of the Personalized Asthma and Cystic Fibrosis Treatments (PACT) program, taking place at Indiana University and Case Western Reserve University and their associated hospitals.

The purpose of this study is to determine how dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) treatments, a supplement for a hormone that your body naturally produces, affect people with asthma. Though DHEA is currently an over-the-counter medication, researchers want to pinpoint its slow-release capability to help patients with asthma.

This study is sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and is taking place at Indiana University.

The PrecISE study is designed to investigate new treatments for asthma that are thought to work better in some patients than in others. This study is sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and is taking place at many hospitals and research centers around the country.

For those who are eligible and enroll, there will be a variety of treatments to be taken throughout the study, each of these treatment blocks lasting for about 4 months, with about 2 months in between each block. Participants may be in the study for more than a year. We understand this is a big commitment, so compensation is provided.

Learn how the Pediatric Translational Research group is working with the PrecISE Network or visit the full program website at preciseasthma.org.

The goal of this study is to test an investigational new inhaled medication called Optate. Investigational means it has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for this use. We hypothesize that Optate will reduce the length of symptoms and disease severity in patients with COVID-19, preventing SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) from reproducing within the upper and lower airways. Testing this hypothesis is important because treatments for COVID-19 are needed alongside vaccines. COVID-19 begins in the nasal passages, so targeted therapies to the nasal passages at early stages of the disease may prevent severe disease from occurring. We are inviting people ages 18-60 to participate who have mild COVID-19 upper respiratory tract infection symptoms (including fever greater than 100F and/or nasal congestion). 

This study is sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and is taking place at Indiana University and Indiana University Health.