Dr. Tillie-Louise Hackett

Dr. Tillie-Lousie Hackett received her BSc. (2002) in Biochemistry and Pharmacology and her Ph.D. (2006) in Cellular and Biological Sciences from the University of Southampton, in the UK under the mentorship of Dr. J.A. Warner and Prof. S.T. Holgate. Dr. Hackett is an assistant professor in Anesthiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics at University of British Columbia, and is also the Associate Director of the James Hogg Research Centre.

Dr. Hackett’s research centres on COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), one of the leading causes of death worldwide.

What's the focus of your research?

My current study focus is understanding the disruption of normal repair processes within the lungs and how this promotes inflammation and changes the lung tissue of COPD patients. Using a targeted approach that isolates cells from donor lungs using Computed Tomography (CT) imaging, we created a resource called “The Human Lung Cell Repository” that provides examples of cells that represent a variety of lung disease states for clinical comparison.

How will this help patients with COPD and asthma?

My goal is to further understand the micro-environment of airways. By finding out what causes fibrosis in our lung airways at a mollecular level, we hope to prevent the disease processes which contribute to obstructive airway diseases, such as asthma and COPD. Learning as much as we can about COPD will give us a greater understanding of how our airways and lungs react to related illnesses, and the more we know about the disease the better we’ll be able to treat it.

What's your favourite part about working as a medical scientist?

Every day is different. I could be working in the laboratory, analysing results, writing grant proposals or presenting at international conferences to peers or the general public. I especially enjoy meeting other people who research in similar areas, which often means travelling or working in different countries.