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Ingrid Pat Laing Holt BSc PhD PhD, DSc, FRCPath, FRCPI, FAA Head, Children's Respiratory Science Emeritus Honorary Researcher 6319 1828 Ingrid.laing@

Children who live in the outer suburbs of Australia’s four biggest cities are twice as likely to have asthma as those living in inner city areas, according to a new study based on health data captured in the last Australian Census.

Excessive production, secretion, and retention of abnormal mucus is a pathological feature of many obstructive airways diseases including asthma. Azithromycin is an antibiotic that also possesses immunomodulatory and mucoregulatory activities, which may contribute to the clinical effectiveness of azithromycin in asthma.

Studies examining associations of early-life cat and dog ownership with childhood asthma have reported inconsistent results. Several factors could explain these inconsistencies, including type of pet, timing, and degree of exposure. Our aim was to study associations of early-life cat and dog ownership with asthma in school-aged children, including the role of type (cat vs dog), timing (never, prenatal, or early childhood), and degree of ownership (number of pets owned), and the role of allergic sensitization.

Recently, "Technical standards for respiratory oscillometry" was published, which reviewed the physiological basis of oscillometric measures and detailed the technical factors related to equipment and test performance, quality assurance and reporting of results. Here we present a review of the clinical significance and applications of oscillometry.

The Respiratory Environmental Health team conducts research in early life determinants of lung growth and development, respiratory environmental health, and mechanisms of airway dysfunction in asthma and other respiratory disease.

The Foundations of Lung Disease Team is focused on improving the diagnosis, treatment, and lifelong care of childhood lung disease.

We’ve heard from families that trustworthy information about preterm-associated lung disease is difficult to find. In response, we’ve created resources to empower families with the knowledge they need to manage these challenges.

This project investigates how different populations of cells within the respiratory tract immune system are altered during a viral infection.

Allergic sensitization and reduced ability to respond to viral infections may contribute to virus-induced wheeze and asthma development in young children. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) are rare immune cells that produce type I interferons (IFN-I) and play a key role in orchestrating immune responses against viruses.