Research areas

We place special emphasis on research at the Faculty of Pharmacy which is structured around the following therapeutic areas and disease states; Respiratory Diseases, Cardiovascular and Diabetes, Cancer, Mental Health and Healthy Ageing. The research themes closely reflect the Australian Government€™s national health priorities. Research at the Faculty covers a broad spectrum of pharmaceutical and clinical sciences, including:

• the design, synthesis, testing and mechanism of action of drugs
• studies on advanced drug delivery
• investigation of the fate of drugs in humans including pharmacogenomics and other aspects of drug disposition, and
• research on the clinical and sociological aspects of pharmacy and health services research

Within the pharmacy profession, the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Sydney is established as a leader in research and innovation. We are experiencing a sustained period of significant growth as we continue to attract outstanding researchers to the faculty through the provision of facilities that promote world class research.

Research income has increased from approximately $0.5 million in 1999 to approximately $5m in 2010. Research in the faculty is supported through nationally competitive grant funding from professional bodies, such as the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council, among others.

Research projects are also conducted as collaborative ventures and contracts with the pharmaceutical industry or with State or Commonwealth Departments of Health.

Respiratory Disease

The Respiratory research group is committed to bridging the gap between respiratory treatment and research by developing;

• clinical services
• specific clinical interventions
• effective patient/health education, and
• self management techniques

In addition, the team is exploring systems-related organisational approaches to facilitate clinical uptake of new approaches to treatment and prevention.

The group's clinical focus covers a wide range of conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive lung disease, allergic rhinitis, tuberculosis, and apnea and spans population groups such as children and the elderly. The group has a diverse range of skills and possesses a multidisciplinary outlook through having psychologists, clinical pharmacists, asthma educators, pharmacy academics and management and organisational behaviour experts.

The work of the Respiratory research group increases our understanding of what happens inside and outside the cells in diseases like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and aims to identify novel targets which may lead to improved therapeutic strategies to reduce the inflammation and manage these chronic respiratory diseases.

Research on advanced drug delivery is focused on understanding physical properties of materials used in pharmaceutical sciences and relating those to in-vitro and subsequent in-vivo performance, and in the respiratory group, focuses on drug delivery science.

The advanced drug delivery research facilities are state of the art, and cover all aspects of physical-chemical characterisation, computational and in-vitro characterisation. In addition, the group has formed an Australasian €˜inhalation€™ consortium with the Victorian College of Pharmacy (Melbourne), greatly enhancing total infrastructure and research output.

Cancer

Cancer is a common major health issue in Australia today. The Cancer Council of Australia expects that (at current rates) by the age of 85 one in two men, and one in three women will be diagnosed with cancer. Faculty research projects are tackling this disease from many angles, from personalised anti-cancer therapy to drug resistance to using honey-bee propolis and herbal medicines to design new therapies.

Up to 50% of cancer patients are either under-dosed or experience toxicity at standard doses of oncology drugs. These problems are due largely to different rates of drug elimination, which are controlled by liver enzymes and transporters. One of the current research projects being undertaken by the group evaluates how inter-individual variation in the genes encoding these proteins influence the outcomes of therapy. This pharmacogenomic information may help to tailor therapy to individual cancer patients.

Research Strengths

• Human pharmacogenetics and personalised anticancer drug therapy
• Drug resistance in cancer
• UV induced skin damage treatment
• Regulation of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptors (EGFR)/Ras pathway in breast cancer
• Molecular mechanisms of the tumour microenvironment.

Cardiovascular and Diabetes

Faculty research covers a range of cardiovascular diseases and problems from atherosclerosis and thromboembolism, to cardiac infarction and stroke. Researchers are looking at several key aspects of diabetes: management, treatment, and prevention using computational modelling, herbal medicines in metabolic syndrome management, and have developed a new pharmacy diabetes management model.

The Faculty has secured funding for improving cardiovascular medication adherence and is developing an evidence-based training package to educate and up-skill health professionals, GPs, pharmacists and nurses, in understanding current issues with adherence to medications and how they can implement strategies to improve management of patients with cardiovascular disease.

Research Strengths

• Ras signalling and stimulation of cholesterol efflux in atherosclerosis
• Design, synthesis and pharmacology of new diabetic drugs
• Optimisation of anti-thrombotic therapy for stroke prevention
• Herbal medicines for the management of metabolic syndrome: hyperlipidemia and diabetes.

Mental Health

Mental illness is a national health priority in Australia with one in five adults in Australia having an episode of mental illness in any one-year period. Drugs play a major part in the treatment of mental illness, giving pharmacists the potential to play a significant role in delivering treatment and services to mental health patients. Many therapies to date are not optimal and thus increasing the diversity of agents for treating neurological diseases and to investigate these at their targets is also an important aspect of mental health research.

The research group has expertise in the development of specific agents for specific receptors and evaluate the behavioural aspects of these on anxiety, and memory and learning and plans to focus further research into the mechanism of action of sedatives, hypnotics, stimulants and drugs of abuse. Other areas of research include inter-professional collaboration between pharmacists and medical practitioners in medication review and mental health services.

Research Strengths

• Dementia
• Schizophrenia
• Anxiety and Depression

Healthy Ageing

Research at the Faculty aims to support healthy ageing of Australians and to promote their quality of life. Many patients in an ageing population are taking complex medication regimens, and medication adherence and the quality use of medicines are important aspects of their management. The complexity of healthcare and reforms to the health system provide opportunities through collaborative research to maximise the potential benefits and to minimise potential harm from medicines.

Understanding the causes and consequences of variability in response to medicines and how this informs their quality use is another key focus of healthy ageing research in special patient populations such as older people, very young and critically ill.

The team is also exploring associated issues such as information required about medicines; ways of optimising care delivery through a more collaborative approach; decreased mobility with age and the need to access services and information through the internet; a public health approach to obesity in the general public; over the counter pharmacy services; as well as ethics of professional services in community pharmacy.

Research Strengths
The researchers who operate within this theme have experience and expertise in methodologies that span investigations at the molecular, cellular, organ, species and population levels. Their interests range from drug discovery and design through to evaluating the impact of health policy and models of care on health outcomes. Their techniques are experimental and observational. Some specific current research programs involve:

• Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) and medication safety
• adherence to therapy
• enhancing pharmacist and pharmacy services for an ageing population
• impact of ageing on drug disposition and response to medicines
• ethnic and genetic determinants of drug response
• quantitative structure-toxicity relationships and mechanisms
• issues in paediatric pharmacotherapeutics
• medicine access, health records and health policy
• drug delivery
• drug formulation design
• collaborations in primary health care.