Defining the genetic contribution and functional role to altered lung function of genes identified by GWAS meta-analysis

Every year, 30,000 people in the UK die from COPD, a lung disease that slowly suffocates them. The condition is strongly linked to smoking, but genetics also plays a role—some people are simply more vulnerable than others. Researchers have already identified three specific genes—GSTCD, HTR4, and AGER—that are risk factors for abnormal lung function and COPD. What remains unknown is exactly how variations in these genes alter the lungs’ workings. This project aims to close that gap. The team will investigate what these genes actually do in lung tissue and how different genetic variants change lung function. If they succeed, the work could lead to a clearer biological understanding of why some smokers develop COPD while others do not. That knowledge could eventually inform which patients are most at risk, or point toward new drug targets for a disease that currently has no cure—only symptom management. For now, this is fundamental science: it will not immediately change clinical practice, but without knowing how these genes act, efforts to prevent or treat COPD will remain blunt instruments.