A  lung-resident protein, called isthmin 1 (ISM1), which is critical for restraining inflammation in a healthy lung by selectively eliminating the pro-inflammatory type of AMs, could be a potential target for developing a very promising biologic drug to treat COPD. A recent study, carried out by Dr Ge Ruowen, an associate professor at NUS Biological Sciences, and team, discovered this novel property of a protein found in human lungs which could lead to the development of biologic drugs that can potentially be used to treat COPD.