D.B. Sanders, MD, MS, Receives UW-ICTR and Gilead Sciences Awards

Congratulations to D.B. Sanders, MD, MS, on his new awards from the UW-Institute of Clinical and Translational Research (UW-ICTR) and Gilead Sciences.

As an ICTR KL2 scholar, Dr. Sanders will receive 75% protected research time + $25,000/year to support his research. Funding from the Gilead Sciences Research Scholar Program in Cystic Fibrosis will support his project, “Determinants of the microbiome in young children with cystic fibrosis” at $130,000 over 2 years. This study will investigate the roles that antibiotics and viral infections play in the development of the microbial communities (or microbiomes) that exist in the airways and GI tracts of infants with cystic fibrosis (CF).

Children with CF frequently receive antibiotics for viral infections, but it is unknown how often viral infections require treatment with antibiotics, whether antibiotics contribute to disruptions seen in the microbiomes of children with CF, or if early CF lung disease is affected by disruptions of the microbiomes. Understanding how microbiomes develop in young children with CF, and the roles that viral infections and antibiotic exposures play in this process, will improve our understanding of early CF lung disease and may lead to alternative strategies to prevent and treat CF lung disease.