[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Hirota_Simon_&_Jeremy.jpg” caption=”Simon, left, and Jeremy Hirota pose in one of the FIRH labs with a confocal microscope. Photo credit: Graham Jansz”]Take a deep breath. Breathe in – hold – and now out. If you were able to perform that task you are now hopefully more relaxed – you are also a member of the fortunate group of people who are able to breath freely.

The incidence of respiratory diseases is on the rise. In fact, between seven and 10 per cent of all Canadian children have asthma. Asthma accounts for 25 per cent of all school absences – it also kills over 500 Canadians each year.

McMaster University graduate students Simon and Jeremy Hirota hope to help those afflicted with this condition breath easier. Simon, a PhD student working under the supervision of Luke Janssen, and Jeremy, a master's student supervised by Mark Inman, both work at the Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health (FIRH) located at St. Joseph's Healthcare.

The brothers, both of whom are funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), study unique aspects of asthma. They also frequently pool their ideas, skills and resources to provide each other with a more complete picture of the disease. Jeremy notes, “I've got ideas on one end of the spectrum and he's got ideas on the other end of the spectrum and we're putting them together.” In a sense, their familial collaboration is a microcosm of the innovative, comprehensive and world-class approach of the FIRH to understanding and treating respiratory diseases.

Simon focuses on the smooth muscle that surrounds the airways. Specifically, he is studying how certain molecules can trigger these muscles to contract. Simon is finding that calcium molecules are very important in triggering contraction. When calcium is present, the muscles in the airway are triggered to contract; this is a normal process. However, Simon is discovering that it is possible to develop a 'hyper-sensitivity' towards calcium molecules. The results, Simon says, are “further constriction of airways, tightness of chest, lack of ventilation, etc.” – the symptoms of asthma.

Despite the fact that calcium triggers these symptoms, asthmatics need not worry about drinking milk. The body tightly regulates the amount of calcium in the airway muscles. People with calcium hyper-sensitivities have the same amount of calcium in their muscles as anybody else – the difference is that their muscles react more than normal to this calcium.

To explore this aspect of asthma Simon generally works on a small scale, dealing with small samples of muscle or single cells. For example, he says, “[We] take a piece of smooth muscle and measure contractions – add a drug and watch [the muscle] contract.” Simon also uses an advanced 'confocal' microscope to bolster his research. This tool allows him to, as he says, “look at calcium moving within a single cell and sub-cellular compartment.”

Jeremy's lab, on the other hand, studies asthma from a more macroscopic level, looking at the whole lung and organism. Jeremy notes, “In asthma, there is 'scarring' in the lung. With the inhalation of pollen or allergen, there is damage to the lung and the lung undergoes 'scarring' or changes which can cause 'remodeling' & We can try to pick apart what structural changes (in the lung and airways) are contributing to asthma, and what structural changes can be targeted for treatment.”

Working in the lab, Jeremy can simulate exposure to the allergens and irritants that cause asthma attacks. “This repeated allergen exposure simulates you or I walking around and getting allergen in our nose everyday by breathing. With this repeated exposure there is insult and damage to the airways, which causes inflammation and damage. We believe this leads to structural changes [as with asthma]. Over time the structural changes develop and then we take airway physiology measurements.”

These measurements show the ways in which the lungs and airways of people with asthma physically change. They also provide a concrete way to measure the effectiveness of various drugs in treating asthma. Jeremy notes, “(our experiments are) a model of asthma. Companies often come and say 'How does our drug work?' and we can test it in the model.”

Although the brothers' approaches to the study of asthma are quite different, the Hirotas certainly have a lot in common. Both suffered from asthma and allergies themselves as children. The are also both graduates of McMaster's unique biology & pharmacology co-op program which they agree is “a really good program” and a “great asset.”

“You get to figure out what you like and what you don't like. You get the experiences that a lot of programs don't offer,” expands Jeremy. This program has played a significant role in bringing both brothers to the place they now find themselves. For Jeremy, a co-op placement with Merck Frosst allowed him to experience industry-based research prior to beginning his master's work at the FIRH and Simon's work in his current lab began as a co-op placement several years ago.

Simon and Jeremy also share a strong positive feeling towards working in their respective labs and in the FIRH. Simon says, “The work atmosphere is really good in our lab. We've got good people to work with. We bounce ideas off each other and sit in the backroom and talk science.”

Jeremy adds, “Our supervisors are great. You run by them if you have any ideas or questions and they take the time to sit down and discuss it with you. We could extend that to the rest of the investigators at Firestone as well. The supervisors are very accomplished, but we're all colleagues & You want to succeed, you want to do something, because they respect you as a student.”

Finally, the brothers share a strong passion for research. When asked about their goals, both immediately respond, “to cure asthma” – an aspiration that may one day help a lot of people to breath easier. “The goal is to keep on asking the questions that aren't answered – let's ask the questions and see what happens. In research, our goal is to be satisfied with being unsatisfied, always asking pertinent questions.”

(The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council SPARK (Students Promoting Awareness of Research Knowledge) program was launched in 1999 at 10 universities across Canada. Through SPARK, students with an aptitude for communications are recruited, trained and paid to write stories based on the NSERC supported research at participating universities.)