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Respiratory Physiology

Lead contact: Professor Janet Stocks

Introduction

The Portex Respiratory Unit has an international reputation for the development and validation of lung function tests for use in infants and pre-school children, and the application of these measurements in epidemiological and clinical research studies. 

This has helped elucidate the early determinants of airway function and establish objective phenotypic outcome measures of the nature and severity of lung disease and response to therapy in a range of paediatric respiratory illnesses, including cystic fibrosis (CF), asthma, and sickle cell disease.

Aims

• To develop and validate respiratory function tests for use in infants and young children
• To apply these tests in clinical and epidemiological studies to strengthen the scientific basis for the prevention and treatment of respiratory disease in early life
• To investigate the early determinants of lung growth and development in health and disease

Current and Recent Projects

• Overcoming ethnic differences: a 3D approach to body physique for predicting lung function in children (the SLIC study, funded by Asthma UK (pilot) and the Wellcome Trust (full study); www.ucl.ac.uk/slic)
• Respiratory Follow up during infancy and at 11 years of age of children born extremely preterm (<26 weeks gestation) (the EPICure project, funded by the MRC, www.epicure.ac.uk)

• Establishment of international growth charts for pulmonary function in young children. (Funded by Asthma UK, see www.growinglungs.org.uk)

• A multi-centre study to determine phenotypic and genotypic relationships between asthma, sleep-disordered breathing, pain and acute chest syndrome in children with Sickle Cell Disease (The SAC study: NHLBI funded) 

  
• Identification of early changes in lung structure and function and airwayinflammation in young children with asthma. (Funded by Asthma UK)
• Longitudinal assessments of lung function and clinical status in children with CF, from birth through to school age. (London Cystic Fibrosis Collaboration (LCFC) funded by the CF Trust)

• Early detection of lung disease in infants with CF diagnosed by newborn screening, structure- function relationships (Funded by GOSH Children’s Charities) 

  
• Effect of altitude on cardio-respiratory function and sleep patterns in healthy children (See Smiths Medical Young Everest Study for more details)

Higher Degree Students

The unit always has a number of students undertaking research degrees in the field of respiratory physiology. These currently include

• Dr Amit Gupta (Characterising the nature and severity of lung disease in infants born extremely preterm, year 5)
• Jane Kirkby (Application and interpretation of lung function in children with airways obstruction, year 4)
• Lena Thia (Lung function and structure in infants with cystic fibrosis one year after diagnosis through newborn screening, year 2)
• Rachel Bonner (Ethnic differences in lung function, body size, shape and composition during childhood, year 1)

Recent awards include

• Dr Sanja Stanojevic (PhD awarded 2009) for her work on developing international growth charts for lung function in young children
• Dr Sanja Stanojevic has also recently won the prestigious European Respiratory Society 'Paediatric Respiratory Research Award' for outstanding contributions to the field, which was awarded as a special symposium at the ERS meeting in September 2011
• Professor Janet Stocks has also been recently awarded the 'Paediatric Assembly: Lifetime Achievement Award 2011' for her achievements in the Paediatric Respiratory field, as the special symposium at the ERS meeting in September 2011.

Involvement in International Scientific Organisations

Several members of the respiratory physiology theme are active in a number of scientific and professional organisations, including the European Respiratory Society (ERS) and American Thoracic Society (ATS) and the Association of Respiratory Technicians and Physiologists (ARTP: Ms Jane Kirkby), where they have responsibility for developing national and international guidelines and standards for topics such as lung function reference values, multiple breath inert gas washout and the application and interpretation of lung function tests in very young children.