Our Honours and HDR projects can be tailored to focus on any aspect of this work, and may be related to gene therapy studies in CF rats, assessment of in vivo gene expression, stem cell analyses including FACS analyses, and LV vector production improvements.Įxample projects include, but are not limited to: We have access to a range of animal models (including CF mice and rats, and large animals), and a dedicated state-of-the-art research laboratory in the Gilbert Building at the WCH. Our research themes are currently focussed on several complementary areas achieving effective lentiviral CFTR vector gene delivery, lentiviral vector development, upscaling vector production, transducing airway stem cells in situ to enable extended gene expression, and creating and testing new delivery methods. The CFARG goal is to develop an effective genetic therapy for prevention or treatment of Cystic Fibrosis airway disease. We also use our cystic fibrosis rat models for evaluation of therapies.Ĭystic Fibrosis Airway Research Group (CFARG) Our Honours and HDR projects focus on algorithm development for mucociliary transit assessment, and for measuring local lung function. This enables us to image at a range of scales from micro through to macro, using small and large animal models. We have access to the SPring-8 Synchrotron in Japan and the Australian Synchrotron in Melbourne, as well as local X-ray imaging facilities at the SAHMRI PIRL facility at Gilles Plains. The ReXIL aims to develop rapid and accurate outcome measures for assessment of airway disease using X-ray imaging. Respiratory X-ray Imaging Laboratory (ReXIL) The phenotype characterisation of these models was published in 2020.Īll of this work has built towards a world leading capacity to perform rapid, non-invasive, direct, quantitative measurement of the effects of CFTR gene therapy on airway health and lung function. In 2017 I championed the development of Adelaide-based CF rat models using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, to facilitate further development of my group's airway gene therapy. This work was the first to show improved survival in the gene vector treated CF group, supporting the prediction that CF airway gene therapy can produce significant health benefits. In 2014 my CFARG team published key data to show that our airway conditioning and lentiviral gene vector system produces correction of the CFTR defect in CF mouse nasal airways for at least 12 months. This work has been funded by the NHMRC and MRFF. I now have industry collaborations with 4DMedical (Prof Andreas Fouras) who have commercialised this technology. This unique and world-leading imaging method gathers lung motion information during normal breathing, and has revolutionary potential since it can detect, quantify and follow changes in regional lung function over time. In 2016 my collaborators and I published the first demonstration of the use of X-ray Velocimetry (XV), an X-ray based pulmonary function testing for the quantification of lung disease heterogeneity in B-ENaC mice. We have now combined these methods into a single powerful airway health assessment method. This work is linked to studies I performed with collaborator Dr Kaye Morgan (Monash University), that show we can also measure changes in airway surface liquid (ASL) depth in live anaesthetised mouse airways. I have developed a novel non-invasive airway health assessment method based on using synchrotron imaging to track changes in the mucociliary transit (MCT) behaviour of deposited marker particles following pharmaceutical treatments. I am therefore in the unique position of having split the focus of my career equally on the fields of X-ray imaging and cystic fibrosis (CF) gene therapy, with the goal of using my advances in imaging to substantially improve outcomes in CF.Īs the ReXIL Leader I have directed a program of X-ray imaging work that has enabled the imaging of respiratory processes at scales that have not previously been possible in vivo. I completed my PhD in Medical Image Processing at the Flinders University of South Australia in 2008, and have spent the last ten+ years developing world-leading gene therapy methodologies, as well as technologies for the measurement of in vivo dynamic function in animal models. I am a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide, Leader of the Respiratory X-ray Imaging Laboratory (ReXIL), Co-Director of the Cystic Fibrosis Airway Research Group (CFARG) at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide, and a Robinson Research Institute Research Leader.
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