Professors Daniela Traini and Paul Young were awarded an Australian Research Council grant to develop innovative nanotechnologies that target biofilms. Biofilms occur everywhere in nature and act as a protective matrix for aggressive bacteria and fungus that can have an effect on our health and impact on food production, processing machinery and water quality. The Linkage grant worth $420,000 is in partnership with Aradigm Corporation (USA). 

Biofilm targeting nanoparticleS

The linkage team will develop nano-particulate systems based on a single platform technology that can be used to treat both bacterial and fungal biofilms for numerous applications. The current lack of a suitable formulation and delivery system hinders the eradication of fungal and bacterial biofilms from surfaces. These new systems will have enhanced residency time, penetration properties and effectiveness in biofilms. This project intends to understand the properties that govern the formation and interactions in these systems, and develop in-vitro tools that the wider scientific community can use. The project expects to generate a single platform that can be used for the eradication of biofilms in numerous applications, from healthcare to agriculture.

This is the April 2016 newsletter from the RespiTech Group at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research. During April the team attended Respiratory Drug Delivery in Arizona. Daniela, Paul, YY, Larissa and Michele presented an update of research from the group. The group had 4 peer reviewed full-conference abstracts accepted for publication. In addition,  Larissa Gomes was invited to give a poster on the podium presentation on her work in respiratory vaccine drug delivery space, while Paul gave a podium presentation on the mysteries of lactose and the meaning of life. 

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RespiTech at RDD2016

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RespiTech Celebrations during April 2016

Back at home the group celebrated Yang Chen’s PhD graduation -Well done Dr Yang! We also said farewell to Marie Hellfritzsch, who returns to the University of Kiel after spending the past few months with our group working on a collaborative project in the area of nano-technology. You can learn more about the social aspects of the RespiTech group via our Facebook page or Twitter pages.

As always, the group give an update of their publications. This month the group had one publication accepted in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics entitled ‘The development of a single-use, capsule-free multi-breath tobramycin dry powder inhaler for the treatment of cystic fibrosis.’ Details of this publication along with all others from the RespiTech group can be found on our publications page.

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This is the March 2016 newsletter from the RespiTech Group at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research. During March, a number of RespiTech people have graduated during official ceremonies in both Australia and Italy. Mali Ghadiri graduated with a PhD from the Faculty of Pharmacy at The University of Sydney. Valentina Trotta graduated with a PhD from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney and The Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Ferrara (Italy). Beatrice Zanelli graduated with a Bachelor in CTF (being awarded 110/110 cum laude). Many congratulations to all! This month we also celebrated Elvira’s birthday and the return of Dany from her overseas trip to Italy. You can learn more about social aspects of the group via our Facebook page and Twitter account (don’t forget to like and follow!)

As always we welcome new members of the group and say goodbye to old members and visitors. This month we say farewell to Regina Scherließ who has spent the last month with us on a short-term sabbatical from the University of Kiel. The visit was a great success and we have a number of new and exciting projects underway. Regina, you are always welcome back, hopefully on a longer sabbatical next time.

Lastly, we give an update on publications. This month the group had a paper accepted in RSC advances. The paper, authored by Sumit Arora is entitled “Investigation of surface properties, local elastic modulus and interaction with simulated pulmonary surfactant of surface modified inhalable voriconazole dry powders using atomic force microscopy.” Well done Sumit! You can learn more about our publications here.

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Mali, Valentina and Beatrice graduations | March 2016

This is the February 2016 newsletter from the RespiTech Group at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research. During this month, Dr Regina Scherließ from the University of Kiel visited us on sabbatical. Regina was awarded a University of Sydney international collaboration award to establish a number of joint projects in the area of controlled drug delivery to the respiratory tract. She is co-supervising Marie Hellfritzsch. Welcome Regina!

Daniela Traini, left for a visit to the University of Ferrara in February. Dany and the RespiTech team have a long-running collaboration and exchange of students with both Prof Santo Scalia and A/Prof Gaia Colombo from Ferrara. Dany will spend 4 weeks discussing new projects, giving lectures and sitting on a PhD commission panel. We also say farewell David Lewis and Allan Tweedie who visited us briefly. David and Alan co-supervise Mic and Stewart. The visit was focussed on catching up regarding current and future projects for the next year..

February also saw the arrival of two new honours students, Anthony Nedanoski and Jesse Zhe Yi Xu. Over the next year Anthony will undertake a research project in the area of CFD with a focus on simulation of the nasal geometry for drug delivery. Jesse is undertaking a research project on transmembrane proteins in the respiratory tract and developing a number of models to study them. 

Lastly, the group had 2 journal articles accepted this month. the first by Valentina entitled ‘Co-spray dried resveratrol and budesonide inhalation formulation for reducing inflammation and oxidative stress in rat alveolar macrophages’ was accepted in the European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. The second by Michele, entitled ‘Dry Powder Nasal Drug Delivery: Challenges, Opportunities and a study of the commercial Teijin Puvlizer Rhinocort® device and formulation’ was accepted in Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy. Well done all! You can learn more about our publications here.

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group photo feb 2016 (with DAVE and ALAn)

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!.

This is the final news letter for 2015 from the RespiTech Group at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research. 

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2015 RespiTech Christmas Cook-up

In December members of the group celebrated the festive season with their annual Christmas party. Members and friends of RespiTech attended and even Santa made a appearance. You can learn more about the party and other social events via our Facebook page and Twitter feed. Shortly after the celebrations, Yang, Jess and Sumit attended Drug Delivery to the Lungs Conference in Edinburgh. Sumit Arora was selected for the New Investigator Presentation and, later during the conference, was awarded the Pat Burnell Young Investigator Award for his presentation and research. Well done Sumit! 

Meanwhile, Paul and Daniela visited collaborators in Europe. Daniela gave a series of lectures at the University of Perugia  (Italy) and Paul gave a series of seminars on innovation at the Woolcock and the future of respiratory drug delivery.

As always, we give an update of publications and grants. In December the group published one paper with Mariateresa Stigliani as the first author. The paper entitled ‘Antibiotic Transport Across Bronchial Epithelial Cells: effects of Molecular Weight, LogP and Apparent Permeability’ was accepted in European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Also in December, Daniela was awarded a $61,000 NHMRC USyd Equipment grant for a Real-time bio impedance measurement system. This state-of-the-art system will be used to monitor cellular permeability in realtime when epithelia are treated with drugs or affected by local pathogens. You can learn more about all our journal publications here and grants here.

This month we also say farewell to Fin Canney, who has spent the last few months with the group undertaking a project looking at tight junction modification in lung epithelia. Fin is a Pharmacy Student from Bath (UK) and will return to complete his Degree in January. All the best Fin!

Lastly, the RespiTech group would like to congratulate Daniela Traini who was appointed to Full Professor in December. Daniela’s new title will be ‘Professor of Respiratory Science’ at the University of Sydney. Fantastic news!

2015 has been an exciting and productive year and as we look forward to exciting opportunities in 2016. We wish all our collaborators and followers a happy and productive 2016.

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This is our November update and penultimate news letter from the RespiTech for 2015. This month, members of the group attended Drug Delivery Australia in Brisbane. Paul gave a presentation on innovations in drug delivery and Daniela on repurposing oral drug delivery molecules for inhalation. Lala, Michele, Alaa and Mariam had posters, while Mariam was selected for a posters on the podium presentation to highlight the clinical work she is conducting in Cystic Fibrosis Research.

As always, we congratulate people for their achievements and give an update on publications from the group. Firstly, YY was awarded a University Kick Starter grant. The Kickstarter grant, worth $30,000 will be used to develop ‘Innovative inhaled antibiotic treatment strategies for the eradication and prevention of persistent respiratory infections’. Also this month, Paul was appointed as the new incoming President of The Australian Chapter of the Controlled Release Society (AUS-CRS). AUS-CRS was established in 2007, with the aim of providing a forum for science and education for Australian scientists with an interest in delivery of bioactives. You can learn more about AUS-CRS here. Later in month, Daniela received $30,000 in a NHMRC near-miss funding towards a large multidisciplinary project that will evaluate repurposing a number of small molecules for lung diseases.

The RespiTech group published five peer reviewed papers this month. The first, an original research article by Sumit Arora in ‘Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery’ was titled ‘Highly Respirable Dry Powder Inhalable Formulation of Voriconazole with Enhanced Pulmonary Bioavailability’. This work focusses on respiratory fungal infection and inhalable antifungal treatment. The second paper by Sharon Davis, focused on health-care provision, was accepted in International ‘Journal of Clinical Pharmacy’. This article is titled ‘Knowledge that people with intellectual disability have of their inhaled asthma medications-messages for pharmacists’. Third, the group had a paper accepted with their collaborators at Monash University and Chiesi UK in ‘Pharmaceutical Research’. The paper (first author Daniel Duke) is titled ‘Temporally and spatially resolved x-ray fluorescence measurements of in-situ drug concentration in metered-dose inhaler sprays’ is based on a synchrotron study of the evolution of pMDI sprays. The fourth paper this month was a review article, authored by Maliheh Ghadiri looking at treatment options for Interstitial Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). The article accepted in the journal ‘Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy’ is titled ‘Cell-based therapies for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) disease’. Lastly, a paper authored by Judy Loo was accepted in the ‘Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry’ This study investigated the combination of silver ions and nano-particle flavonoids for reducing bacterial colonisation in respiratory infections. The paper is titled ‘Combination of Silver Nanoparticles and Curcumin Nanoparticles for Enhanced Anti-biofilm Activities’

Well done all!. To learn more about these and other publications from the Respiratory Technology group you can visit our publications page here.

Lastly, the group began to ramp up celebrations for the festive season. This began with the Melbourne Cup day celebrations in November. December will have more celebrations as well as a number of the group traveling overseas for meetings and conferences. You can learn more about these and other activities of the group via Facebook and Twitter.

Dr Hui Xin Ong (YY) recipient of 2016 KickStarter GRANT

Congratulations go to YY (Hui Xin Ong) who was awarded a Sydney Medical School Kick Start Grant this month. 

YY will utilise the funding to establish a project on Innovative inhaled antibiotic treatment strategies for the eradication and prevention of persistent respiratory infections. Specifically, The project will explore different novel anti-biofilm agents for patients suffering from chronic lung infections.

The Kickstart Grants Program is a partnership between the University of Sydney and the Balnaves Foundation for investing in people and pilot projects that are likely to lead to external funding returns for the Sydney Medical School and the University of Sydney in the future (you can learn more about the scheme here)

This is our October 2015 update of news from the RespiTech group at the WIMR. This month, members of the group attended the 3rd International Meeting on Inhaled Therapeutics for Tuberculosis and Infectious Diseases in Parma, Italy where Daniela gave a plenary on high dose therapies using the Orbital DPI and Paul was Rapporteur for a session on pulmonary pharmacokinetics. 

Back at home, the group held a social outing to a Persian Restaurant on the North shore to celebrate some new arrivals to the group and departure of old members. Firstly we would like to Welcome Sjoerd Zonings, Finbar Cannery and Dr Rafael Villalobos García. Sjoerd is a visiting student from Avans University in the Netherlands who is working on the use of a new excipient to reduce electrostatics in dry powders. Fin is a visiting student from Bath who is working on a project focussed on understanding how cellular tight junctions are modified by inhaled therapeutics. Rafael is a long-term collaborator with the group and is visiting Sydney on sabbatical from the Facultad de Estudios Superiores in Mexico. Rafael is an expert in computational simulation of complex mixtures and is using Montecarlo simulations to predict the release profile of drug from controlled release formulations that can target the lung. Welcome all! We are also sad to say farewell to Anita Vandyke who was working with us on a project focused on studying the impact of pMDI formulation parameters on aerosol force. Anita is off to pursue a higher degree in medicine. Well done Anita!

As always, we give an update on publications by the group. This month, 2 publications were accepted in peer reviewed Journals. The first was an article by Sharon Davis entitled “Knowledge that people with intellectual disability have of their inhaled asthma medications-messages for pharmacists” to be published in the International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy. The second was an article by Sumit Arora entitled “highly Respirable Dry Powder Inhalable Formulation of Voriconazole with Enhanced Pulmonary Bioavailability” accepted in Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery. The details of both articles along with all our Journal publications can be found on the publication page of our website.

Lastly, we would like to congratulate members of the team for significant achievements. Congratulations go to Alaa Tulbah who submitted her Thesis for review. Alaa has spent the past three years undertaking a PhD studying the formulation and impact of simvastatin on treating chronic lung diseases. Finally, congratulations to Sharon Davis who received the award letter for her PhD on intellectual disability and inhaler use. Congratulation Dr Davis and well done all!

This is our September 2015 update of news from the RespiTech group at the WIMR. This month, members of the group have travelled to China to attend the second Inhalation Asia conference in Shenyang. Wing-Hin Lee, Judy Loo, YY, Lily Daviskas, Paul Young, Daniela Traini and Prof Guy Marks attended and represented the Woolcock.

Guy gave the opening Plenary lecture on ‘TB control in the Asia region: a need for new approaches’ Daniela also gave a presentation on TB and how the Woolcock and Pharmaxis have partnered to develop an innovative inhaled TB product that can be used to significantly reduce treatment times in TB sufferers. In other sessions, Dr Wing-Hin Lee presented an invited talk on novel therapies for cancer in the ISAM sponsored session on lung cancer. Paul and Philip Kwok (University of Hong Kong) gave a morning ‘Inhalation 101’ workshop for ECR researchers. Other members of the Woolcock participated in the conference including Judy Loo, Hui Xin Ong (YY) and Evangelia Daviskas. 

Prior to the Conference, Paul visited Eric Zhu, a RespiTech Alumni, at his company in Hangzhou and Daniela give a two day workshop on inhalation medicine at Shenyang Pharmaceutical University.

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RespiTech Members at Inhalation Asia. Clockwise from top left: David Cipolla (Aradigm), YY, Eric Zhu, Dany Traini, Paul Young, Wing-Hin Lee, Judy Loo, Lego Scientists, Lily Daviskas

Back at home the group have also been busy. YY gave a seminar to the Woolcock on multi-cell-culture models for studying drug uptake and interaction at the lung epithelia and the group published three peer reviewed articles. The first, authored by Eric, entitled ‘The formation of aerosol particles from solution-based pressurised metered dose inhalers and implications of incomplete droplet drying: theoretical and experimental comparison’ was accepted in Aerosol Science and Technology. The second, co-authored by Eric and Mehra focussed on the ‘Delivery Of Theophylline As a Dry Powder For Inhalation’ was accepted in the Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. The third, from Wing focussed on lung cancer is entitled ‘Inhalation of nanoparticles-based drug for lung cancer treatment: advantages and challenges’. This was also accepted in the Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences as a special issue on inhalation therapy, guest edited by YY. You can learn more about our publications on our home page here.