Welcome Message

We have some good news for respiratory researchers. After much discussion with the NHMRC, the Field of Research classification “Cardiovascular Medicine and Haematology” has now been updated to include ‘respiratory’. From now on the FoR should read “Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology”. TSANZ thanks the NHMRC for responding to our concerns and we are pleased to see Respiratory now recognised in this heading.

On behalf of the Australian Cystic Fibrosis Research Trust and Cystic Fibrosis Australia, we am pleased to announce that the Australian Cystic Fibrosis Research Trust 2018 Innovation Grant is now open. The purpose of the Innovation Award is to allow a CF researcher to explore novel concepts at the initial feasibility stage. This grant was highly competitive and popular last year. Innovative applications on any aspect of CF are welcome, even those lacking pilot data. 

We also welcome the LFA Bill van Nierop PhD Scholarship in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Research 2018, a collaborative initiative of Lung Foundation Australia, Thoracic Society of Australia & Centre for Research Excellence in Pulmonary Fibrosis. This PhD scholarship invites university partnership and will help build workforce capacity in IPF research.

Lastly, the TSANZ AstraZeneca Respiratory Research Fellowship remains open for application for early-career and mid-career researchers in the asthma/and or COPD fields of research.

This is the twentieth edition of the research roundup and as we enter into the festive season we would like to thank you for your engagement and research, and remind you of two things:

1) Stay safe this Summer and look after your close ones.

2) We have a few awards open over the Summer, so please take a look, and if these awards are for you, we wish you all the best in your preparation.

If you have any content which you feel fits the theme please feel free to send it into the TSANZ Office. Also remember, we have the Holy Grail showcase available if you would like to share your story.

Wishing you a wonderful break and enjoy the December edition of your research roundup.

Prof Phil Hansbro

Prof Sandra Hodge

Co-Chairs, Research Sub-Committee

The following articles will take you to thelimbic.com

Rethink what constitutes occupational lung disease

New guidelines bring clarity to NTM pulmonary disease

People with COPD need more than the right puffers

Watch for false negatives with eosinophils: expert

Pulmonary rehab at home stacks up

Open Awards

TSANZ Research and Career Development Awards

TSANZ / AstraZeneca Respiratory Research Fellowship – closing 19th January 2018

TSANZ Indigenous Respiratory Nursing Award – closing 21 January 2018

For more information visit https://www.thoracic.org.au/researchawards/tsanz-awards

Cystic Fibrosis Australia Awards

Australian Cystic Fibrosis Research Trust 2018 Innovation Grant – closing 29 January 2018

Lung Foundation Australia Awards

The Lung Foundation Australia Bill van Nierop PhD Scholarship in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Research 2018 – closing 19 January 2018

How to participate

Follow the links above to access each award application form and download the information sheet.

Please email the TSANZ Awards Coordinator with any questions, comments or enquires.

Watch this space for more award announcements…

Respirology Issue 23.1 – Editor’s Choice

Effect on health-related quality of life of ongoing feedback during a 12-month maintenance walking programme in patients with COPD: A randomized controlled trial

Sally L. Wootton, Zoe McKeough, Cindy L.W. Ng, Sue Jenkins, Kylie Hill, Peter R. Eastwood, David Hillman, Christine Jenkins, Nola Cecins, Lissa Spencer, Jennifer Alison

DOI: 10.1111/resp.13128

Walking tracks used by participants with COPD who completed an 8-10 week supervised, ground-based walking training program before starting the maintenance study

Usefulness of a routine endoscopic assessment of laryngeal lesions after lung cancer surgery

lex Fourdrain, Florence De Dominicis, Jules Iquille, Sophie Lafitte, Geoni Merlusca, Alejandro Witte Pfister, Patrick Bagan, Pascal Berna

DOI: 10.1111/resp.13139

Grant Bulletin

This grant bulletin contains direct-to-researcher grants and awards:

Allen Foundation Grants (2018) – closes 31/12/17
Priorities are: to fund relevant nutritional research; to support programs for the education and training of mothers during pregnancy and after the birth of their children; to assist in the training of persons to work as educators and demonstrators of good nutritional practices; to encourage the dissemination of information regarding healthful nutritional practices and habits; in limited situations to make grants to help solve immediate emergency hunger and malnutrition problems.

Hargreave Research Fellowship – closes 31/01/2018
A position is available for a one-year Fellowship named for Dr. Frederick (Freddy) Hargreave, a pioneer in the field of asthma and pulmonary medicine and a dearly missed colleague. The position will be based at the Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health, St. Joseph’s Healthcare and affiliated with McMaster University. There is potential for renewal for a second year.

NSW Health and Medical Research Sponsorship Program – closes 12/01/2018
Collaboration and sharing of knowledge and new ideas across the health and medical research sector through conferences, events and forums is important for capacity building and for promotion of excellence in health and medical research in NSW. To support this collaboration, the Office for Health and Medical Research is offering sponsorship grants up to $20,000 for eligible conferences or events in NSW. Funding is available on a competitive basis with a total Program funding pool of $100,000. The Program is designed to support medical research institutes, peak and professional bodies, not-for-profits and non-government organisations who may not have access to other sources of sponsorship funding.

ALTA Alpha-1-Antitrypsin Laurell’s Training Award – letter of intent submission closes 01/03/2018
A primary goal of the Alpha-1-Antitrypsin Laurell’s Training Award (ALTA) is to identify and engage investigators (both physicians and scientists) who are early in their careers in a longstanding commitment to investigating alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency (AATD). In awarding 2 grants, the goal/intention is to award one grant for a clinical proposal and a second for a basic research proposal. Another objective of the ALTA award is to strengthen the network between scientists and clinicians working in the field of AATD, facilitating the collaboration between research institutions.

Rolling Grants

John Templeton Foundation
Interest areas are: science and the big questions; character virtue development; freedom and free enterprise; exceptional cognitive talent and genius; genetics; voluntary family planning.

Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds Travel Grants
Grants for non-European researchers to travel to Europe for up to three months to pursue an experimental project in basic biomedical research.

Baxalta Bioscience Grants – Medical Education & Fellowship Grants
Baxalta provides Medical Education & Fellowship Grants to support accredited or unaccredited educational symposia, seminars, web-based sessions, or fellowship programs directed at certified healthcare professionals. They are currently interested in supporting the following areas: Immunology; Hematology; Oncology.

The Balnaves Foundation
The Balnaves Foundation supports organisations that aim to create a better Australia through education, medicine and the arts with a focus on young people, the disadvantaged, and Indigenous communities.

Availability of CF rats and organs/tissues in Australia – Expressions of Interest

The CF research community in Australia now has access to two colonies of CF rats, as well as the potential for accessing tissue samples for research purposes. 

Using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing the CF Airway Research Group (CFARG) in Adelaide, in collaboration with the Australian Phenome Network (APN), has developed and bred two CF rat colonies during 2016-7 that we expect to gradually become available to other Australasian groups for their CF research.  The creation and the operation of the colonies was supported by APN and CF South Australia.

We are currently only starting to characterise the lung disease in the two models – one is a Phedel508 mutation, and the other a CFTR knockout.  Though our plan is to first devote the CF animals to our own CF research needs, we intend the production of the two colonies to also be able to provide CF rats and tissues samples to other CF researchers in our region.

We already have limited amounts of preserved and frozen organ samples from both types of CF rats, and we expect to be able to provide materials /animals on a fee basis (yet to be determined) or via collaborative research arrangements.  As we have not current interest or expertise in non-lung CF organ issues, we are keen to ensure that other who do have those interests can take advantage of the available tissues for their own CF research.

We also are happy to provide access to samples and animals to New Zealand but we do not know the biosecurity implications, if any.

If you have a general or specific interest in obtaining CF rats or CF rat tissues we invite you to register your interest with us.  We will then make contact to determine specific needs, desired method of interaction, likely timelines for supply, and so on. 

Please fill out the basic details below and return by email to: david.parsons@adelaide.edu.au   with heading “CF rat Expression of interest”

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Name:

Email:

Research Group:

Phone: Location:

My interests (circle or highlight those required):

CF rats
Littermate Hets / WT
Lung samples (CF / Het / WT)
Non-lung samples (CF / Het / WT)

How soon do you want the above?

Now
<6 months
<12 months
Future, sometime…

Assoc Prof David Parsons
CFARG, Adelaide, Sth Australia
Mob: 0404 853173 email: david.parsons@adelaide.edu.au

Research Project and Survey Requests