Session Location: Symphony Ballroom IV

Sessions target audience: All attendees

In large animals like pigs and humans, the conducting airways produce strands and sheets of mucus that coat inhaled particles and facilitate their removal from the lungs. In this presentation, we will discuss the production and secretion of mucus strands and how these strands interact with both inhaled particles and with cilia. We will examine differences in mucus structure and function, comparing studies of wild type and cystic fibrosis pigs. We will consider whether mucus strands can be chemically modified to improve mucociliary transport in patients with cystic fibrosis