Moraxella catarrhalis, the bacteria that is commonly found in COPD patients causing exacerbations, persists in the airways by changing its genome, making its prevention and treatment difficult. Marielisa Cabrera Sánchez, a finalist in the 2021 AMA Research Challenge and a second-year medical student at the University of Puerto Rico, analysed 78 samples of isolated genomes from COPD patients who had the infection for her work researching the effects of moraxella catarrhalis. 

The researcher said that this finding will  play a vital role in developing better therapies to treat COPD related exacerbations, as there hasn’t been any preventive mechanisms for the infection currently even though it is associated with high comorbidity.