Jul 2, 2026 · 14 min · 9 segments
Abigail Wood is joined by Julia Emmert, a teen whose personal experience with cystic fibrosis inspired her to research a possible cure for the genetic disease.
Julia EmmertGuest
Abigail WoodHost
So going through your day to day and what the lab looks like and traveling to the lab, could you maybe go in depth about the research you do?
So before I talk about my research, I want to talk about a common and dangerous infection that people with cystic fibrosis tend to get, and it's called Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
And while people without CF can sometimes get Pseudomonas infections, And people with CF, it could become a chronic and very dangerous infection because the thick mucus creates a perfect environment for it to thrive and grow and not want to ever leave.
And over time though, these infections could contribute to lung damage and become harder to treat.
And then we often rely on antibiotics and antibiotic resistance though is becoming a huge increasing concern.
And also the fact isn't good for anyone's body to be constantly pumped with antibiotics.
And so then my project, since I can't directly work with Pseudomonas, that's too dangerous for me, unfortunately.
I focus on these molecules that are produced from the infection called ramnolipids and they are surfactants, which means that they are slippery.
They have their makeup and very small concentrations because what they do is they help break down oils.
And with Pseudomonas, it helps them live because it breaks down oils as food to keep it alive and maybe other things, which I'm trying to figure out.
And it can be, though, toxic at very high concentrations to cells since they're so slippery they could interact and slip into cell membranes and make them more permeable or porous.
And so researchers think that they may contribute to lung damage by their help with keeping pseudomonas infection alive and causing stress to airway cells, increasing inflammation, potentially interfering with normal lung function.
And something that makes them interesting is they remind researchers that It may not only be the bacteria itself causing damage, but the molecules released by the bacteria play an important role.
And so I'm studying something that hasn't really been done before, how they specifically affect airway cells, especially for cystic fibrosis.
And calcium is important because it acts like a messenger system that helps cells communicate distress And I'm also studying whether they affect cell survival, mitochondrial health, ciliary function.
And again, cilia are tiny structures that are supposed to help move mucus out of the lungs.
And understanding whether ramnolipids affect them could especially be important in CF since the mucus already causes the cilia to not function properly.
So going through your day to day and what the lab looks like and traveling to the lab, could you maybe go in depth about the research you do?
So before I talk about my research, I want to talk about a common and dangerous infection that people with cystic fibrosis tend to get, and it's called Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
And while people without CF can sometimes get Pseudomonas infections, And people with CF, it could become a chronic and very dangerous infection because the thick mucus creates a perfect environment for it to thrive and grow and not want to ever leave.
And over time though, these infections could contribute to lung damage and become harder to treat.
And then we often rely on antibiotics and antibiotic resistance though is becoming a huge increasing concern.
And also the fact isn't good for anyone's body to be constantly pumped with antibiotics.
And so then my project, since I can't directly work with Pseudomonas, that's too dangerous for me, unfortunately.
I focus on these molecules that are produced from the infection called ramnolipids and they are surfactants, which means that they are slippery.
They have their makeup and very small concentrations because what they do is they help break down oils.
And with Pseudomonas, it helps them live because it breaks down oils as food to keep it alive and maybe other things, which I'm trying to figure out.
And it can be, though, toxic at very high concentrations to cells since they're so slippery they could interact and slip into cell membranes and make them more permeable or porous.
And so researchers think that they may contribute to lung damage by their help with keeping pseudomonas infection alive and causing stress to airway cells, increasing inflammation, potentially interfering with normal lung function.
And something that makes them interesting is they remind researchers that It may not only be the bacteria itself causing damage, but the molecules released by the bacteria play an important role.
And so I'm studying something that hasn't really been done before, how they specifically affect airway cells, especially for cystic fibrosis.
And calcium is important because it acts like a messenger system that helps cells communicate distress And I'm also studying whether they affect cell survival, mitochondrial health, ciliary function.
And again, cilia are tiny structures that are supposed to help move mucus out of the lungs.
And understanding whether ramnolipids affect them could especially be important in CF since the mucus already causes the cilia to not function properly.
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