SPIRITUS: (07-15) A Monthly update from the Respiratory Technology team at the WIMR

This is our July 2015 update of news from the RespiTech group at the WIMR.

In July, a number of the group have received awards and grants. YY (Dr Hui Xin Ong) was awarded seed funding from the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity (MBI) to study the role of ion supplementation on the effectiveness of cystic fibrosis drugs during routine therapy. The $15,000 grant will establish a project between the Woolcock, University of Sydney and Westmead Hospital to conduct preliminary in vitro laboratory studies which the team hope to translate into a clinical trial.
YY was also mentioned this month in Sydney Research’s July news headline talking about a routine analytical method she has developed for studying the fate of inhaled antibiotics.

Yang Chen was awarded a place on the NSW 2015 Medical Device Commercialisation Training Program. Yang is one of only 20 applicants from across the State who were chosen to undertake the prestigious three-month program with ATP Innovations, a technology incubator with a proven record in driving the commercialisation of medical devices in Sydney. Yang also received the final printed versions of her PhD Thesis on aerosol electrostatics this month. Well done Dr Chen!

Later in the month, Michele Pozzoli presented at the 3 minute thesis competition at the University of Technology Sydney. Michele’s talk on new characterisation methods for evaluating nasal drug delivery devices. His talk was well received. 

As always, the group welcome new members and say goodbye to old members. This month, Beatrice Zanelli from the University of Ferrara returned to Italy. Beatrice has spent the last 4 months with the group studying cell targeted uptake of novel inhaled antibiotics. Beatrice, you are always welcome back to do a PhD!

The group had a number of social events in July. Among which were Gnocchi night and Beatrice’s farewell dinner at Saray’s (for Wine, Beer and Turkish Kebabs). Roberto (and lego Roberto) also had their birthdays this month, that the group celebrated. To learn more about RespiTech achievements you can visit our home page. If you are more interested in our social events, or if you want to follow the adventures of our RespiTech Lego Scientists you please visit and Like our Facebook page or Twitter feed.