UW is one of the most successful US medical research universities with over $1 billion in sponsored research. It also is one of the leading institutions in the world studying Pseudomonas and cystic fibrosis. The Adult CF centre has 190 patients and is a founding member of the CF Foundation Therapeutics Development Network (CFTDN), a network of ~70 major CF centres conducting clinical trials in CF. The centre has over 20 years of experience in CF clinical trials including leading a major US National Institutes of Health sponsored study of CF pulmonary exacerbation. The Microbiology Department at UW contains one of the greatest concentrations of investigators in the world focusing on CF infections, and P. aeruginosa in particular. This group includes independent research labs run by Drs. P. Singh, C. Manoil, M. Parsek, E.P Greenberg, J. Mougous, S. Miller, J. Burns, A. Smith, and others. This mix includes junior, mid-level and senior investigators; researchers with clinical, basic, translational, and environmental focus; and world-class expertise in biochemical, genetic, genomic, and microscopy methods.

Dr. Christopher H. Goss, principle investigator, is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. He is also the Co-Director of the CF Foundation Therapeutics Development Network Coordinating Center running clinical trial in CF at over 70 sites in the US. His group has conducted over 50 multicenter clinical trials in CF since its inception in 1998 and has the largest repository of CF clinical trial data in the world to use for clinical trial design and sample size calculation. His group’s involvement is integral to the design, conduct and data analysis of the clinical trial in CFMATTERS. Dr. Nicole Hamblett is a Research Associate Professor and has been the senior statistician on all CF clinical trials conducted by the group leading a team of statisticians designing CF clinical trials, overseeing data analysis and clinical trial endpoints assessment in CF.

Dr. Pradeep K. Singh is a CF physician, and has extensive experience in basic and translational P. aeruginosa research related to CF. He contributed to the understanding that biofilm formation occurs in CF patients, and has developed new treatments for CF. Singh has also studied the mechanistic basis of P. aeruginosa biofilm antibiotic resistance. Singh’s lab has the expertise, infrastructure, and collaborative interactions needed to perform the proposed work. In addition he is a permanent member of the CF Foundation's Basic Science study section, an external reviewer of the CF Research and Development programs, and was the leader of the CF Microbiology Working Group for the US National Institutes of Health. Dr. Singh’s laboratory will be essential to CFMATTERS.