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Asthma Research
There is an asthma epidemic underway in the United States and most other developed countries. Although the cause of the asthma epidemic is not known, current thinking is that environemental exposures (for example to air pollution or respiratory viral infections) in genetically susceptible individuals play a major role. An active asthma research program is underway at the University of Rochester Medical Center, with the goal of identifying the causes of asthma and discovering new therapies www.urmc.rochester.edu/pulmonary With the support of the Parkes family foundation, we started an Asthma Registry at the Mary Parkes Center in 2007. Patients enrolled in the Asthma Registry are followed closely by asthma experts who use non-invasive methods to monitor airway inflammation. This includes simple breathing tests that measure exhaled nitric oxide (eNO), and collect exhaled breath condensate (EBC). Other ongoing asthma studies involve obtaining a blood sample from subjects who have allergies to cats or other allergens. All asthma research conducted at the Mary Parkes Center has been approved by the Research Subjects Review Board at the University of Rochester Medical Center. For more information, please contact Sue Smith at (585) 486-0147 ext. 131.
