What are we
Researching?
Cystic Fibrosis research at the Royal Children's Hospital will receive a fantastic boost from the Research Trust in 2008/2009 with the funding of 2 significant research projects over this 2 year period.

 AREST CF

In 2008 the CF Research Unit at the Children's Hospital in conjunction with the CF Unit at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth, joined together to form the AREST CF Group. The AREST (Australian Respiratory Early Surveillance Team) CF group will spend the next 3 to 5 years conducting innovative and wide ranging research projects into the assessment and management of early lung disease in infants with cystic fibrosis. (See below). The CF Research Trust has committed to fund a research officer to this program for at least 2 years and Dr Naveen Pillarisetti commenced in this role in November 2007 and will continue in this role until 2009.
 

This project is currently also funded through the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, Australia's most prestigious medical research funding body and currently applications are also being sort from the CF Foundation of the United States for ongoing support of this world recognised project.

 

MRI Scanning

February will see the delivery of the first of 2 MRI detector coils at the Children's Hospital. These detector coils valued at just under $100,000 each will enable us to conduct world leading research into imaging of the CF lung using specalised gases such as helium and the gas SF6. Helium MRI scans are performed in other centres around the world but the gas is very expensive and difficult to handle and indeed in Australia it must be imported from Germany on a case by case basis. We are involved in a program trying to replace this gas with a much easier to use cheaper and easier to obtain gas called SF6. We are the only research Unit in the Southern Hemisphere conducting this type of research and Dr John Widger a Paediatric Respiratory Trainee from Ireland has joined the Department in February 2009 to conduct 12 months research in this regard.

 

How Do We Choose Which Projects To Support?

The Trust advertises internationally inviting doctors to apply for funding for CF research projects proposed by senior members of the hospital CF team.  Applications are reviewed by the Trust medical review panel, which comprises of 3 medical experts.  The panel then recommends the projects most suitable for funding and the Trust pays the salaries of the doctors for one or two year projects.  Research findings are presented at leading international CF conferences and published in leading journals.