Asthma inhalers could soon become much more effective, thanks to a clever new way of making the particles they deliver invented by a Melbourne chemical engineer and his team. Current puffer designs and typical size ranges of particles mean a large portion of the medication propelled into a patient’s throat remains there. Only a fraction reaches the lungs.
Monash researcher Dr Nirajan Shiwakoti says ethical and safety concerns prevent researchers from testing evacuation procedures on people, so ants provide a welcome solution. “In this research, the collective movement of panicking ants is measured and then results are scaled up to human situations,” says Nirajan.
HIV can hide out in the brain, protected from the immune system and antiviral drugs, Dr Lachlan Gray and his colleagues at Monash University and the Burnet Institute have found.
Melbourne scientists have developed an injectable material that encourages nerves in the brain and spinal cord to regrow. Their work could lead to new ways of treating nerve-based injuries or conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease.
Fresh Science is on hold for 2022. We will be back in 2023.
Let us know if you want to receive updates about the program.
Fresh Science is a national competition and training program helping early-career researchers find and share their stories of discovery.
We take young researchers with no media experience and help them become media spokespeople for their science, and reach stakeholders in government and industry.
Fresh Science gives finalists a taste of life in the limelight, with a day of media training, a day of training in stakeholder engagement, and a public event in their home state.
Alumni of the program include Professor Allan Duffy and Dr Niraj Lal.
Read some of the fresh science we discovered in 2021 here.
