SPIRITUS: (01-16) A Monthly update from the Respiratory Technology team at the WIMR.
This is the first newsletter for 2016 from the RespiTech Group at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research. The group has now been operational for 3 years and we have achieved significant successes. As always the group have prepared an annual report for 2015 which you can read via the direct 2015 report link here. You can also look at the previous reports via RespiTech.org reports page
January marks the commencement of our fourth year and as people have returned from the summer vacation things have began to ramp up. Firstly, David Lewis and Alan Tweedie from Chiesi UK visited in January to discuss and focus on a number of projects that we are running in collaboration. With this visit and a number of birthdays in January (Sjoerd Zonings and Lala Sarkissian) the group found plenty of time to celebrate. You can learn more about social aspects of the group via our Facebook page and Twitter page (don’t forget to like and follow us!)
As always we welcome new researchers to the group and say farewell to old colleagues. Firstly we say goodbye to both Sjoerd Zonings and Rafael Villalobos García. Sjoerd has spent the second part of 2015 with us undertaking a research program looking at advanced excipients for controlling handling of carrier based DPIs during manufacture and filling. Sjoerd returns to the Netherlands to finish his degree. Rafael has been here on sabbatical for the past 6 months working on a collaborative project in the area of counter simulation for controlled release inhalation systems. He will return to the University of Mexico. You are always welcome back guys!
We would like to welcome new visiting research scientists: Elvira Pisano and Sergio Guiltier from the University of Ferrara (Italy) and Marie Hellfritzsch from the University of Kiel (Germany). Sergio is working on a project in the area of carrier based dry powder inhaler drug delivery, Elvira on a project focused on controlled release in the lung and Marie on advanced microparticles for nasal targeting. Welcome all!
We also give an update on peer-reviewed publications from the group. This month, the group published one article, accepted in Pharmaceutical Research. The paper is a multi-institute collaborative project, which Nicholas Mason-Smith being the lead author from Monash. The paper entitled: ‘Insights into spray development from metered-dose inhalers through quantitative X-ray radiography’ utilises a synchrotron to evaluate the evolution of sprays from metered dose inhalers. Learn more about our publications here.
Year 4 looks to be an exciting year for RespiTech!.