This is our September 2014 update of news from the RespiTech group at the WIMR. September has been a busy but highly productive month for the RespiTech Team. Firstly, we hosted the ISAM and Woolcock 2014 Joint Conference and Workshop at our Headquarters in Sydney.

The Conference focused on paediatric respiratory medicine and bioequivalence and was a complete success, with speakers and attendees from around the globe. While the conference is now over you can view photos of the event, download the abstract book, workshop material and some of the presentations at www.woolcock.org.au/isam2014. International speakers included Prof Peter Byron (VCU), Mark Everard (UWA) and Mark Sanders (www.inhalatorium.com) The group also hosted Wilco, Jasper, Nadine and Mary’s supervisors from Avans University of Applied Sciences, in the Netherlands, earlier in the month.

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ISAM 2014 DELEGATES | SYDNEY HARBOUR CRUISE CONFERENCE DINNER

Overseas, Alaa Tulbah gave a presentation at the APS PharmSci 2014 conference (UK) on her recent work formulating Statins for respiratory disorders. At the same time, YY (Hui Xin Ong) gave a presentation at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Munich.

Back at home, YY, Wing and Judy were awarded a prestigious Seed Funding Grant from the Marie Bashir Institute For Infectious Diseases And Biosecurity (MBI). The project, entitled ‘Development of a novel biofilm/human airway epithelia co-culture model for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treatment’ received $10,000. Well done team! 

Sharon Davis and Yang Chen gave their final PhD presentations this month. Sharon’s work has been in the area of pharmacy practice and the use of medicines in people with disability while Yang’s has been in the area of aerosol electrostatics and pressurised metered dose inhaler particle generation. Work by Yang in this field resulted in a publication in ‘Pharmaceutical Research’ this month entitled ‘The effect of actuator nozzle designs on the electrostatic charge generated in pressurised metered dose inhaler aerosols’. Meanwhile Alaa had a full research paper accepted in ‘Exper Opinion on Drug Delivery’ entitled ‘Dry powder formulation of simvastatin’ Congratulations to all!

As always we like to say goodbye to current members and welcome new people to our group. Nadine Vermeiren leaves us to return to the Avans University and Angelo Granieri returns to the University of Ferrara to complete their bachelors degrees. Both have been an integral part of our research and culture and they are always welcome back to undertake a higher degree. We would like to welcome Larissa Gomes Dos Reis and Maree Svolos. Larissa is a new PhD student within the group and will work on vaccine drug delivery, while Maree has been employed as a Research Scientist to oversea a number of projects across the group in the area of cell biology and applied in vitro models. 

Lastly, we give an update on some of our fun social activities. The group participated in the Woolcock cook-up, an event across the whole institute, where members bring and cook food for a communal lunch. For the RespiTech group, this involved the formation of ‘Team Pasta’ and the coordinated preparation of mountains of Matriciana! We also held a couple of farewells for Angelo in China town (the Friday Night Ding Ding Noodle Experience) and at the Institute (a glass or two of red wine). On the more sporty side, Guilia and Yang formed the ‘RespiTech Chicks’ team and ran in the #SydneyRunningFestival. To learn more about all our social activities you can see the photo stream and Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter.

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MEMBERS OF RESPITECH AT THE END OF THE ISAM-WOOLCOCK CONFERENCE 2014

Lowe respiratory tract infections are rated as the 3rd cause of mortality worldwide.

Chief investigator Hui Xin Ong (YY), Wing Hin Lee and Judy Loo were awarded a prestigious Seed Funding Grant from the Marie Bashir Institute For Infectious Diseases And Biosecurity (MBI). The project, entitled ‘Development of a novel biofilm/human airway epithelia co-culture model for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease treatment’,  was awarded $10,000. The MBI is committed to meeting the challenge of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and YY and her team will use the funds supplied by the MBI to establish a series of new cell-based models. These models will ultimately be used to predict the effectiveness of new inhaled antibiotic therapies and drug delivery systems that specifically target biofilms and bacterial infection in the respiratory tract.

Grant awardees from Left: YY (Hui Zin Ong), Judy Loo, Wing Hin Lee

Congratulations guys!

The International Society of Aerosols in Medicine Conference (ISAM) and Woolcock are proud to announce the final program for the upcoming conference on the 25th and 26th September. The 2 day conference and workshop has a number of internationally renowned speakers in the areas of paediatric respiratory medicine, formulation and drug delivery. While abstract submissions are closed, you can still register to attend at www.woolcock.org.au/isam2014/.

For the full program, you can download here. We look forward to seeing you in Sydney this week!

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;)

Early bird registration for registration and abstract submission closes in 7 days!
(Early Bird Deadline August 24th 2014)

Translating Advances in Understanding Lung Disease into Innovative Inhaled Therapeutics

The 2014 International Society for Aerosols in Medicine and The Woolcock Institute of Medical Research are proud to announce the program for the 2014 Conference and Workshop to be held in Sydney at the end of September (25-26th). We have a number of great speakers lined-up to discuss recent advances in:

• Paediatric respiratory medicine,
• Aerosol drug delivery,
• Regulatory issues surronding formulation,
• PK and Bioequivalence in inhaled medicines.

For a list of Plenary and Invited speakers, please follow: http://woolcock.org.au/isam2014speakers/ 

For the current program you can follow: http://woolcock.org.au/isam2014program/

There is also a workshop focussed paediatric medical devices on day one : http://woolcock.org.au/isam2014workshop/

Along with a number of social events, networking opportunities and exhibitors this event is going to be a perfect mix of science and education suited to academics, clinicians and industry participants within the field of respiratory medicine. You still have time to register for the early bird rate and submit an abstract for a contributed talk or poster. Please submit your abstract at: http://woolcock.org.au/isam2014abstracts/

And don't forget to register today: http://woolcock.org.au/isam2014rego/

On behalf of the ISAM and Woolcock Conference Organising Team.

This is our July 2014 update of news from the Respitech group at the WIMR. 

This Month, members of the group have been traveling in both the USA and UK. Daniela and YY attended the Chiesi i3Innovation conference to celebrate 5 years of the new Chiesi UK innovation centre, headed up by Dr David Lewis. The two days conference was an amazing success and brought in Chiesi collaborators from around the world to meet and discuss the future of inhalation science. Daniela gave a presentation on the application of 3D printing and CFD for inhalation device development, while YY presented in an ECR session. YY was given an award for best early career researcher sponsored by Nanopharm Ltd. At the same time, Paul attended the Controlled Release Society Annual meeting in Chicago and gave a podium presentation on the future for respiratory controlled release formulations in a new session focused on respiratory drug delivery. Paul also presented Judy and Wings posters, as they were unable to attend.

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Dany and YY attending i3Innovation UK conference

Back at home, Jesslynn Ooi had a paper accepted in Current Drug Delivery entitled 'The Effects of Loaded Carrier Mass and Formulation Mass on Aerosolisation Efficiency in Dry Powder Inhaler Devices'. This paper focuses on the mechanisms that underpin aerosolisation of carrier-based systems and begins to eliminate some factors that we previously thought were key in generating fine aerosols.

As usual, the group welcome new members and say goodbye to old members. 

Giula Ballerin re-joins the group to undertake a PhD. Giulia spent 4 months with us in 2013 as a visiting student from the University of Ferrara, Italy. She now has a scholarship awarded by UTS and will undertake a PhD in the area of respiratory infection, co-supervised by Daniela, Paul and A/Prof Cynthia Whitchurch (iThree Institute). 

We would also like to welcome Mariam Mamlouk as a new PhD candidate in the Faculty of Medicine. Mariam undertook a Master with Paul and Dany in 2012 in the area of cell biology and drug transport. Her PhD will focus on understanding mechanisms of mucus clearance in children with CF. Mariam will be co-supervised by Paul, Daniela and Paul Robinson (The Children's Hospital at Westmead). Mariam has been awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) scholarship to conduct her PhD.

We say farewell to Matteo Padroni who has been undertaking a research project looking at inhaled Tobramycin. Matteo will return to the University of Ferrara to complete his Pharmacy degree. Matteo, you are always welcome back! 

Lastly, we say farewell to Dr Mehra Haghi. Mehra has been with the group through her PhD first and then as a PostDoc at the Woolcock. Mehra was instrumental in establishing the RespiTech group and has co-supervised many students with the team. Mehra will begin her Humboldt Fellowship in Germany next month and will return to Sydney to take up a full time appointment as a lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney. The group celebrated Mehra's contributions at the Belgian Beer Cafe at the end of the month (photos are on Facebook). We wish Mehra all the best and will continue working with her as a collaborator and independent Academic. Well done Mehra!

Giula, Mariam, Matteo and Mehra

YY (Dr Hui Xin Ong) was awarded 'best presenter' at the I3Innovation in Inhalation Conference hosted by Dr David Lewis and team in the UK. The conference, brought together researchers from within the field and ran over two days at the Celtic Manor Resort in South Wales. The conference was a complete success and YY's talk outlining her recent advancements in cellular biology, drug transport and medical imaging resulted in her being awarded £500 for best speaker sponsored by Nanopharm Ltd.

Clockwise from top left: Prof David Ganderton OBE and YY; YY receives award; A/Prod Daniela Traini, YY and Prof Joy Conway.

YY is currently on a European Respiratory Society Fellowship working at Southampton University with Prof Joy Conway studying the transport of drugs in the respiratory tract using a number of advanced cell based and radiographic imaging techniques.

This is our June 2014 update of news from the Respitech group at the WIMR.

This month, members of the group travelled to Germany to establish a new partnership with Evonik Industries. Daniela and Paul spent time at Evonik's site near Darmstadt for an Evonik-Woolcock strategic workshop that focussed on future directions that will result in expansion of technology and research in a number of exciting new areas. 

At the same time, the Australian Research Council announced the successful participants in the 2014 linkage grant scheme. The Respiratory Technology group were awarded a three years grant worth $482,738 for the development of inhaled vaccines. This project was one of the first initiatives developed via preliminary talks with Evonik at the end of 2013. Dr Windhab (Evonik) is the linkage partner along with CIs Young and Traini. The grant was entitled 'One for all and all for one- Engineering a drug delivery platform for DNA vaccines to the lung’
 
Earlier in the month Paul was interviewed by John Scott on 4BC radio's Health and Wellbeing Show discussing the issues with common lung diseases including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and tuberculosis and how we can develop new approaches to targeting such diseases. This interview coincided with the launch of a new video and partnership focussing on TB with Pharmaxis Ltd.

Two papers were published this month by the group. The first was entitled 'On the thermal and evolved gas analysis of salbutamol sulphate' in the Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry. This paper is the first output resulting from a collaboration between Dr Fabio Sonvico at University of Technology Sydney and the RespiTech group at the Woolcock. The second paper was a review entitled 'An overview of biosimilars' published in the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales. John Chan was the first author of the article.

As usual we would like to welcome new members and say good by to old colleagues. This Month we say farewell to John Chan who has taken up a position as a Formulation Scientist & Project Manager at JHL Biotech in Taiwan. We wish John all the best and also congratulate him for his successful award of his PhD from the University of Sydney this month. Well done Dr Chan!

The Respiratory Technology team at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, in collaboration with Evonik Industries, have been awarded an Australian Research Council (ARC) linkage grant to develop a low-cost vaccination platform. The team will develop a new inhalation technology that can be used to deliver a multitude of DNA based vaccines via the inhalation route. This project is very exciting news and marks the start of a new industrial collaboration. The grant, entitled: ‘One for all and all for one- Engineering a drug delivery platform for DNA vaccines to the lung’, was awarded to A/Prof Traini, Young and Dr Windhab and will last for 3 years  The ARC support this grant via $482,738 of funding.

Paul Young, Daniela Traini and Norbert Windhab (Evonik) at Woolcock-Evonik strategic workshop in Germany, July 2014.

The Woolcock has partnered with Pharmaxis, a medical device company with a high-payload inhaler, to develop novel approaches to treat Tuberculosis. Members of the Respiratory Technology and Respiratory and Environmental Epidemiology groups at the WIMR are working together with Pharmaxis to develop an inhalable therapy for TB to be used in developed and developing countries.

To learn more about our vision for treating TB you can watch the video by clicking on the image above or following the link: http://vimeo.com/respitech/targeting-tuberculosis

You can learn more about the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research,  clinics and research at www.woolcock.org.au. Learn more about the Respiratory Technology team at the Woolcock at www.RespiTech.org. And don't forget to like RespiTech at www.Facebook/RespiTech. and follow us on twitter