Research at Lung and Allergy Research Centre

This past year has seen further growth in the Centre, and has been highly productive for all concerned with success in attracting research funding, multiple publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, and a successful patent application.

The research of the group is well supported with grants from NH&MRC, and the Asthma Foundation of Queensland.

Key achievements have included:

  • Investigating the importance of antigen presenting dendritic cells (DC) in the pathogenesis of human allergic disease, confirming the importance of DC in asthma.
  • Describing the key determinants of host defence against viral infections in chronic respiratory disease, with particular emphasis on the function of plasmacytoid dendritic cells innate interferon production, interleukin 33 and understanding how this varies in people with severe asthma
  • Showing that that low doses of the macrolide antibiotic azithromycin over 48 weeks reduce severe asthma exacerbations by 41% compared with placebo.