One of the world's leading researchers on cystic fibrosis, Michael Welsh, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and professor of physiology and internal medicine at the University of Iowa, will speak at Cornell Aug. 22 at 4 p.m. in the Veterinary Education Center's Lecture Hall 2.

The talk, "Development of New Models to Probe Cystic Fibrosis," will be the keynote Douglas McGregor lecture at this year's Biological and Biomedical Sciences Symposium, an annual event to showcase the breadth of research by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine.

The lecture and symposium are free and open to the public. The symposium will include more than 30 posters and four student lectures spanning the fields of comparative biomedical sciences, immunology, pharmacology, molecular and integrative physiology, biochemistry, molecular and cell biology and microbiology.

Welsh specializes in early diagnosis and cutting-edge gene therapies for cystic fibrosis. His lecture will outline his recent discoveries.

"Mike Welsh is an exemplary physician, scientist and mentor," said Robin Davisson, Cornell professor of molecular physiology. "It will be an extraordinary honor and pleasure to welcome him to Cornell as our student's choice speaker at this year's symposium."

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 Americans and 70,000 worldwide. A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that can clog the lungs, lead to life-threatening lung infections, obstruct the pancreas and interfere with normal digestion.

Welsh specifically explores how a mutation in a gene that regulates a chloride ion channel important in creating sweat, digestive juices and mucus leads to disruptions of function and chronic airway infections; and how this knowledge can be used to develop new treatments. His laboratory is also working to develop gene therapy for cystic fibrosis and other genetic diseases.