This is our August 2014 update of news from the RespiTech group at the WIMR. August has been a whirlwind month for the team with plenty of comings and goings, visitors and social events.

Firstly, Jesslynn Ooi leaves us to take up a position at Glaxo SmithKline in the UK. Jess, a PhD student supervised by Paul, Dany, Ben Boyd (Monash) and Simon Gaisford (UCL), commenced work this month in the GSKs Materials Group in the UK. Jess has completed her laboratory work and will submit her Thesis over the next month. In addition to Jess, we also say farewell to Jasper Lamers, Mary Goud and Sumit Arora. Jasper and Mary were visiting researchers from Avans University while Sumit was visiting us as a PhD student on an Incoming Endeavour Scholarship. All three achieved significant research during their stay and are currently writing up their findings for publication.

This month we hosted Prof Jose Pedraz from the University of the Basque Country. Prof Pedraz visited the group for a short sabbatical. The two groups are going to start a series of new projects focussing on non-viral vector cell targeting for a range of diseases via the upper and lower respiratory tract. We would also like to welcome Anphy Nguyen, an industrial placement student from the Faculty of Pharmacy (The University of Sydney) and Joao Da Conceicao, a internship student from Brazil. Both will work on particle engineering projects. Welcome!

With all the incoming and exiting personnel, the group took time to let their hair down on a few occasions. Of note, the group met up in Newtown for drinks and the ‘Great Pho dventure’. You can find out more about the social side of RespiTech via our Facebook and Twitter pages. Further away from home, YY was awarded an Early Career Scientist Travel Award worth £400 from the the Aerosol Society to attend the ERS congress. Also, YY, currently on an ERS fellowship in Southampton updates us via YY's ERS blog post here.

The group published two articles this month. the first by Sharon Davies entitled ‘The Role of Direct Support Professionals in Asthma Management’ was accepted in the Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability. This article focusses on practice, and the challenges that care workers face when treating respiratory disorders in people with intellectual disability. The second, by Eric Zhu entitled ‘Aerosol particle generation from solution-based pressurised metered dose inhalers: a technical overview of parameters that influence respiratory deposition’ was accepted in Pharmaceutical Development and Technology. This article gives an overview of our current understanding in the area of pMDI formulation and aerosol generation. You can find all the peer reviewed articles published by the RespiTech group at: www.respitech.org/publications/

Lastly, the group has been gearing up for the upcoming ISAM-Woolcock conference in Sydney at the end of September. You can now find the full program, registration and speakers at the following site: www.woolcock.org.au/isam2014. We look forward to seeing you there!

postscript. we also have a new logo;)

SPIRITUS: (8-14) A Monthly update from the Respiratory Technology team at the WIMR.