Published: November 12, 2009
Study Challenges Common Understanding of Asthma
Free public lecture on Wednesday 18 November at University of Leicester
A University of Leicester medic will present his research findings on severe adult asthma at a free public lecture.
Dr Salman Siddiqui from the University of Leicester's Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, will present his key PhD findings, 'Structure function Relationships in Adult Asthma' in a Doctoral Inaugural Lecture taking place on Wednesday 18 November.
The work to be discussed will challenge the widely held conception that the thickening of the airway wall is a key contributor to airway hyper responsiveness (AHR) in asthma, where severe asthma sufferers become more 'twitchy' due to environmental stimuli such as pollen or cold air. Dr Siddiqui has examined the relationship between airway structure and airway function in adult asthma, proposing that AHR is dissociated from structural changes within the airway wall.
PhD prize winner Dr Siddiqui commented:
"There is an urgent need to better understand the mechanisms of severe asthma and identify novel treatment strategies that improve quality of life and reduce hospitalisation. Some asthmatics develop irreversible obstruction of the airways similar to the narrowing seen in smokers.
"Only a small proportion of patients with asthma have severe disease that is difficult to control despite conventional inhaler therapy. This polar group of patients are an important healthcare target as they consumer around 40% of the asthma healthcare budget."
The hour-long event will take place on Wednesday 18 November at the Frank and Katherine May Lecture Theatre, Henry Wellcome Building at 5.30pm. Booking is essential; to confirm your attendance place please follow this link: http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/sd/pgr/events/inaugural/dil-booking
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Salman Siddiqui graduated from Southampton medical school in 2000. He obtained his membership of the Royal College of Physicians in 2003 and his PhD from the University of Leicester in 2009. Salman Siddiqui is a respiratory registrar and clinical lecturer at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester. He developed an interest in asthma at medical school after publishing work looking at leukotriene polymorphisms in asthma and polymorphic variation in the response to anti-leukotriene drugs. Work from his PhD thesis has contributed to a number of publications and he was awarded the Trent prize for research in 2007 and was runner up for the British Thoracic Society young investigator of the year 2008. Salman is currently continuing his research interest in severe asthma.
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