Over one million Australian children live with serious respiratory conditions. This is why the new Wal-yan Respiratory Research Centre is working to create healthy lungs for every child, for life.
Launched this week by WA Health Minister Hon Roger Cook MLA, the Centre is a powerhouse partnership between Telethon Kids, Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation and Perth Children’s Hospital. As a leader of paediatric respiratory research in Australia, it will contribute significantly to global efforts to improve the lives of children with respiratory conditions and their families.
The Centre’s researchers are spearheading the development of therapies that would function like an asthma vaccine, training the immune system and protecting the lining of the airways to prevent the development of childhood asthma.
Other priority projects for the Centre in the next five years include:
- The use of ‘lung on a chip’ technology to accelerate drug discovery
- Overcoming respiratory ‘superbug’ infections using naturally-occurring viruses
- Improving the poorer lung function outcomes of babies born prematurely
- The identification of key factors during pregnancy that predispose children to lung disease
- A radical re-design of clinical trials to bring medicines to kids quicker
- Narrowing the significant Indigenous respiratory health gap