Abstract
The highest goal of biomedical bench research is to translate test-tube discoveries into real-world benefits for patients. The extraordinary advances in research on cystic fibrosis in the past 10 years have provided a wealth of opportunities for therapeutic intervention and will surely add new strategies to the current armamentarium. Conventional treatment for cystic fibrosis, devised 30 years ago by intrepid clinicians without knowledge of the basic defect, has been remarkably successful. Therapeutic programs aimed at clearing viscid secretions from the lung, correcting nutritional deficits, and controlling pulmonary infections have increased the median survival age for patients with cystic fibrosis to . . .