Tiny Signals, Big Impact: From Molecules to Modern Medicine

Why do our airways tighten in asthma and COPD and what does cigarette smoking do to make things worse? In this talk, I will explore these questions by introducing two tiny players inside airway smooth muscle cells: M2 muscarinic receptors and Kv7 potassium channels. These act a bit like switches and brakes that help control whether the airway stays relaxed or becomes narrowed. I will also discuss how cigarette smoke can disturb the normal behaviour of airway smooth muscle and contribute to breathing difficulties. Overall, the talk will show how very small molecular changes inside lung cells can have a large impact on the way we breathe.

How do we learn to take care of our health—and who gets left behind? This talk explores how people make everyday health decisions, and how access to the right information can make all the difference. Focusing on underserved communities, we’ll look at how data can be used as a tool to support healthier choices, improve wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities.

Why do some people never fully recover from COVID-19? This talk explores the leading ideas behind Long COVID—from lingering viruses to immune system disruption—and why finding a clear treatment has been so challenging. We’ll also look ahead: what Long COVID means for public health, and what it might teach us before the next pandemic arrives.

Lamotrigine is widely used to control seizures, but current blood tests are slow and costly, delaying care. We developed a low-cost electrochemical sensor that detects the drug quickly using tiny electrical signals. It works in real patient samples and matches standard methods—paving the way for rapid, point-of-care monitoring of epilepsy treatment.