Airway Physiology and Imaging

The Airway Physiology and Imaging Group investigates why airways and lungs malfunction in people with diseases like asthma, COPD, cystic fibrosis, and the respiratory consequences of bone marrow transplantation and important environmental exposures such as air pollution, bushfire smoke and smoking. Knowledge gained informs doctors of better ways to understand, assess and treat patients.

Armed with state-of-the-art tools to assess lung mechanics and ventilation, current projects seek to understand which parts of the lungs are hyper-responsive, to better target treatment in asthma and COPD. Other projects investigate the effects of ageing and obesity on the lungs. These tools may further help detect early small airway abnormalities in smokers, and potentially slow their progression to COPD. The group is also establishing an at-home lung function test to help monitor patients with asthma and COPD, and predict when flareups are about to occur.

The group collaborates with researchers in Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Milan Italy, Brussels Belgium, London UK, Gothenburg Sweden and Nova Scotia Canada, and partners with several Sydney hospitals to run studies.