Research profile:
Professor Tak Lee

I am currently working on two areas, namely aspirin sensitive asthma and airway remodelling, which I hope will lead to new treatments for severe asthma.

Aspirin sensitive asthma is very difficult to treat and often associated with debilitating sinus problems and nasal polyps. We are trying to find out why and what we can do to help.

Airway remodelling is the term used to describe the changes in the structure of the airways in asthma which contribute to severe symptoms and resistance to treatment. We are investigating how this happens, and how it might be reversed.

Severe asthma affects a relatively small percent of people with asthma but it creates the greatest suffering and consumes enormous healthcare resources.

I hope our discoveries will help to find ways to treat these individuals and improve their quality of life.

It’s impossible to predict how long a fundamental discovery will end up as a treatment because there are so many steps along the way, but the sooner we start, the quicker will be the end point, especially if the research is supported by sufficient funding.

The most innovative thing I have been involved in is the creation of the unique MRC-Asthma UK Centre in Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma.

This was established in 2005 and is a partnership between Asthma UK, the Medical Research Council, King’s College London, Imperial College London, and their NHS partners. Queen Mary, University of London also joined us about two years ago.

Our work spans from the womb to old age and from the test tube to the community.

The Centre brings together a multidisciplinary team of outstanding scientists and doctors so that fundamental discoveries can be moved along a pipeline into humans as soon as possible.

It is has been very exciting seeing it grow and succeed. It has also given us the opportunity to train the next generation of researchers to find a cure for asthma.

I have been very lucky and worked with some of the best people in the world.

Notably I trained with Professor Barry Kay at the National Heart and Lung Institute in London and Professors Frank Austen and Jeffrey Drazen at Harvard in the USA. They have been great role models and mentors for me.

They taught me to be inquisitive yet focused on key questions, to use state-of-the-art technologies whenever possible, to be meticulous about correct experimental design with appropriate controls, and always to reflect on the relevance of the experiments for the disease in question.

I collaborate with many people.

There are still some outstanding scientists who work alone. However the field is moving so rapidly now, it is impossible for one person to be familiar with all the required expertise.

The multidisciplinary approach has served me very well over the years and it’s also fun to work with colleagues who are bright and equally committed to the work.

I have a three-way mission: looking after patients, researching and teaching. It has always been a privilege to be a doctor.

In research I love the process of discovery as much as the discovery itself. The fact that I am doing something that will (I hope) help my patients one day is of course paramount.

I also enjoy seeing my junior staff succeed as independent scientists and develop a career of their own.