SPIRITUS: (08) A Monthly update from the Respiratory Technology team at the WIMR

Firstly, we would like welcome Judy Loo, who will commence a research post within the group. Judy's research will be focussed on inhaled antibiotic and anti-biofilm therapies. During her PhD, Judy developed a series of antibacterial and biofilm resistant plastics that can be incorporated into intubation tubes for intensive care purposes. Judy undertook her PhD in the Faculty of Pharmacy, supervised by Ramin Rohanizadeh, Cynthia Whitchurch (UTS) and Paul Young. We would also like to congratulate her for a fantastic final thesis presentation at the Faculty earlier in the month. Both Judy and Wing-Hin submitted their thesis this month... Congratulations!

The group would also like to welcome Rebbeca Xu. Rebecca is a Masters student who will be undertaking a research program to develop advanced excipients for use in non-aqueous propellant and nebuliser based inhalation devices. Additionally we would like to invite four elective Pharmacology students who will be working with us, for the next few months, to gain experience in drug delivery. Welcome to Jacob Emilio, 'Jack' Ba Duy, Merrel Anna and Emelie Linnea.

Members of the RespiTech team have been busy preparing for DDA 2013. We have now confirmed international and domestic invited podium presenters and have two fantastic Keynote speakers, Igor Gonda and Ian Tucker. Igor is the CEO of Aradigm in San Francisco. He was also former CEO of Acrux and an academic at the University of Sydney. Ian is the incoming president of the CRS and Professor at the University of Otago, New Zealand. We have had a great response regarding abstract submissions and are looking forward to the social events, including a harbour cruise.

This month, the group have also been successful in securing funding for the establishment of a collaborative research program between Trinity College Dublin and Sydney. Dr. Carsten Ehrhardt will spend time at the Woolcock Institute working with our team to study the expression and function of transport proteins in the lung. Finally, members of the group have published an original article focussed on the preparation of macrolide nano-particles for drug delivery.