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Allergic diseases are rising worldwide, especially in childhood, and their clinical diversity increasingly exposes the limits of traditional phenotype-based classifications. Genetic susceptibility, environmental exposures, epithelial barrier biology, and immune pathways interact to shape highly variable disease trajectories and treatment responses. In this context, precision medicine is no longer only an aspirational concept, but a practical effort to define meaningful endotypes, identify clinically useful biomarkers, and connect biological insight to prevention and care.
The airway epithelium is the primary structural and functional airway barrier and orchestrates innate immunity. Some children may have underlying epithelial vulnerabilities that contribute to the pathogenesis of acute wheeze and asthma.
Type 1 interferons (T1IFNs) are typically expressed in low concentrations under homeostatic conditions, but upon pathogenic insult or perturbation of the pathway, these critical immune signaling molecules can become either protectors from or drivers of pathology. While essential for initiating antiviral defense and modulating inflammation, dysregulation of T1IFN signaling can contribute to immunopathology, making it and its associated pathways prime targets for immune evasion and disruption by pathogens.
Project Manager, Respiratory Health
The major morbidity and mortality from cystic fibrosis (CF) comes from progressive lung disease with bronchiectasis leading to respiratory failure
In human asthma, and experimental allergic airways disease in mice, antigen-presenting cells and CD4(+) effector cells at the airway mucosa orchestrate, and CD4
The study of small airway diseases such as post-transplant bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) is hampered by the difficulty in assessing peripheral airway
The Advancing Innovation in Respiratory (AIR) Health Team is a multi-disciplinary group with skills in clinical medicine, physiology, psychology, and in cellular and molecular biology, that are committed to improving the lives of children with respiratory diseases and their families.
Macrophages are the major resident immune cells in human airways coordinating responses to infection and injury. In cystic fibrosis, neutrophils are recruited to the airways shortly after birth, and actively exocytose damaging enzymes prior to chronic infection, suggesting a potential defect in macrophage immunomodulatory function.
Lung abscess is a rare condition in paediatrics with a paucity of literature. Intravenous antibiotics is the main therapy; however interventional radiological approaches have led to the use of percutaneous drainage. Surgery is reserved for the management of complications.