Early career researcher’s paper honoured in Faculty awards

Dr Narelle Cox has won one of the six 2022 MNHS ECR publication
prizes for her paper on telerehabilitation for chronic respiratory disease.

by Anne Crawford

A paper reviewing the merits of telerehabilitation for Chronic Respiratory Disease has won one of the six Monash Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Faculty Early Career Researcher Publication Prizes 2022 (see detail of prizes in Monash intranet).

The global review by Central Clinical School physiotherapist/academic Dr Narelle Cox was awarded the Jenny Keating Prize for Nursing and Allied Health.

Participants sought: People with COPD for in-home nasal high flow air therapy

Participants with COPD sought for 8 day in-home study

EAGLE is a phase II trial to assess feasibility of using nasal high flow for breathlessness in participants with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who do not qualify for domiciliary long-term oxygen therapy.

We are seeking participants for our 8-day trial of in-home nasal high flow air therapy for COPD patients who experience breathlessness. The study aims to determine the effects of in-home nasal high flow air therapy on breathlessness, quality of life, and other symptom management. 

Contact Dr Amy Pascoe:

• email amy.pascoe@monash.edu 
• phone +61 3 9903 8930
  

Participants sought: SINFONIA: Are there benefits of SingINg For breathing in COPD aNd ILD pAtients (SINFONIA)?

Can singing help your COPD or ILD? Image: Solace Hospice

3 May update: We're happy to announce that the SINFONIA trial is now live with its first session being held Thursday 5 May. Anyone interested please contact Amy Pascoe, see detail below. 

Participants are sought for a clinical trial examining the benefits of SingINg For breathing in COPD aNd ILD pAtient (SINFONIA). It is a 12-week trial of guided online group singing for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or interstitial lung disease (ILD) who experience breathlessness, and (optionally) their carers. 

The study aims to determine the effects of online group singing on well-being and symptom management.

Contact Dr Amy Pascoe:

• email amy.pascoe@monash.edu 
• phone +61 3 9903 8930

 

Participants sought: SINFONIA longitudinal study

How do SINFONIA participants feel about the experience?

Image: Shutterstock

Participants are sought for a qualitative longitudinal study examining perceptions, attitudes and experiences of “SINFONIA” - a group singing program for people with chronic respiratory diseases. (See also the recruitment notice for SINFONIA)

‘Thank you for asking’: patient-centred research helps drive change in lung disease treatment

Physiotherapist monitoring and providing guidance for at home patients.
Image: Dr Narelle Cox. See also Narelle describing the research: video

Monash University researchers are giving new hope to people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), with the COVID-19 pandemic prompting some of the first innovations in treatment models in 30 years.

See more:

• Faculty story
• First author, Dr Narelle Cox, describing the research (video 2:57 mins).

Australian universities join forces to tackle inflammatory lung disease

Professor Merlin Thomas, lead scientist

 in the RAGE Biotech consortium.

A new spin-out company, RAGE Biotech, will develop novel therapies designed to help patients with chronic inflammatory lung diseases such as severe asthma, cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), supported by investment from IP Group, Monash University (Monash) and The University of Western Australia (UWA).

Globally, COPD is the fourth leading cause of mortality and morbidity, with chronic inflammation being a key feature and driver of disease progression in COPD, cystic fibrosis and severe asthma.

RAGE Biotech is developing new approaches to modulate the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE), an important target in chronic inflammation with links to COPD and cystic fibrosis.

Monash findings offer hope for new lung disease drug

Associate Professor Margaret Hibbs' group. There are a number
of co-authors on the paper which has identified a protein important
for controlling emphysema. L-R: Dr Evelyn Tsantikos, Ms Cassandra
Castelino, Ms April Raftery, Associate Professor Margaret Hibbs,
Mr Tim Gottschalk, Ms Lakshanie Wickramasinghe, Dr Maverick
Lau, Dr Jess Borger

by Anne Crawford

Monash University researchers have identified a critical role for a protein known as G-CSF in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an incurable lung disease often referred to as emphysema.

COPD is the third most common cause of death worldwide, afflicting 29% of people over 75 in Australia and its incidence is increasing. It responds poorly to current therapies, which have remained largely unchanged for decades.

The multi-disciplinary research team, led by Associate Professor Margaret Hibbs from the Department of Immunology and Pathology, showed that lung disease and other disease comorbidities such as osteoporosis, heart disease and body wasting failed to develop in an experimental COPD model when G-CSF was “knocked out” genetically. They also demonstrated that G-CSF levels were elevated in the lungs of patients with COPD, suggesting it played a destructive role.

2013 Thoracic Society Australia and New Zealand awards for PhD student

Dr Jeremy Wrobel won two awards from the recent TSANZ Annual Scientific Meeting this year in Darwin, for his research on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD):

Finalist, Ann Woolcock Young Investigator Award for "Positive pressure ventilation increases pulmonary vascular tone and reduces stroke volume in COPD".