Skip to content
The Kids Research Institute Australia logo
Donate

Discover . Prevent . Cure .

Search

Research

Phage therapy for multi-drug resistant respiratory tract infections

The emergence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria is recognised today as one of the greatest challenges to public health. As traditional antimicrobials are becoming ineffective and research into new antibiotics is diminishing, a number of alternative treatments for MDR bacteria have been receiving greater attention. Bacteriophage therapies are being revisited and present a promising opportunity to reduce the burden of bacterial infection in this post-antibiotic era.

Research

Differential cell counts using center-point networks achieves human-level accuracy and efficiency over segmentation

Differential cell counts is a challenging task when applying computer vision algorithms to pathology. Existing approaches to train cell recognition require high availability of multi-class segmentation and/or bounding box annotations and suffer in performance when objects are tightly clustered.

Research

Associations between respiratory and vascular function in early childhood

The link between respiratory and vascular health is well documented in adult populations. Impaired lung function is consistently associated with thicker arteries and higher incidence of cardiovascular disease. However, there are limited data on this relationship in young children and the studies that exist have focussed on populations at high risk of cardiorespiratory morbidity.

Research

Role of Tris-CaEDTA as an adjuvant with nebulised tobramycin in cystic fibrosis patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infections: A randomised controlled trial

We tested if disrupting iron utilisation by P. aeruginosa by adding the Tris-buffered chelating agent CaEDTA to nebulised tobramycin would enhance bacterial clearance and improve lung function in CF patients.

Research

Changes in airway inflammation with pseudomonas eradication in early cystic fibrosis

Neutrophil elastase is a significant risk factor for structural lung disease in cystic fibrosis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa airway infection is linked with neutrophilic inflammation and substantial respiratory morbidity. We aimed to evaluate how neutrophil elastase (NE) activity changes after P. aeruginosa eradication and influences early disease outcomes. We assessed participants in the AREST CF cohort between 2000 and 2018 who had P. aeruginosa cultured from their routine annual bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and who underwent eradication treatment and a post eradication BAL. Factors associated with persistent P. aeruginosa infection, persistent neutrophilic inflammation following eradication and worse structural lung disease one year post-eradication were evaluated.

Research

Improving screening in a paediatric cohort for cystic fibrosis-related diabetes: A quality improvement project

André Schultz MBChB, PhD, FRACP Program Head, Respiratory Health RFA Program Head, Respiratory Health RFA Prof André Schultz is the Program Head of

Aboriginal Respiratory Health

Respiratory illness accounts for 12% of the age-standardised gap in mortality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

News & Events

New drug offers hope for people living with cystic fibrosis

A promising new treatment pioneered in Western Australia for people with cystic fibrosis has commenced testing in a clinical trial in the United States and Australia.

News & Events

Four The Kids researchers in running for West Australian of the Year Awards

Four outstanding The Kids Research Institute Australia researchers, including Institute Director, Professor Jonathan Carapetis AM, have been named finalists in the 2021 Western Australian of the Year Awards.

Respiratory Research Teams

The Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre is made up of multi-disciplinary teams that are committed to improving the lives of children and their families living with respiratory disease.