RespiTech Team Awarded ARC Grant to develop ‘Smartdrops’

Daniela Traini, Patrick Spicer (UNSW) and Paul Young were awarded $521,800 from the Australian Research Council to develop innovative technologies for lung targeting. The grant is part of a collaboration between the Woolcock and The Spicer Group at the University of New South Wales.

Inhalable Smartdrops will be engineered using cutting edge microfluidic technology

The project will run for three years and will result in the development of a particle engineering technology, based on microfluidics, that results in micro-droplets with controlled geometry and morphology. These Smartdrops will be used to target respiratory macrophages for the delivery of inflammatory suppressants, since their dimensions can be controlled to optimise lung deposition and macrophage recognition. In addition, the project aims to develop an aerosol inhaler and a series of physico-chemical and in vitro characterisation tools that will be used to study Smartdrop formation, aerosol properties and their interactions with cells. The outcome of this project will be the development of a technology for treating chronic lung inflammation which could also be utilised for a number of other commercial applications. 

For further information regarding successfully funded research projects you can follow the link here.