Small Starter Grant supported James Shemilt to attend ERS

James Shemilt is in the third year of his mathematics PhD programme at The University of Manchester, UK. After a competitive funding round, James successfully secured a BIOREME Small Starter Grant to attend the European Respiratory Congress 2022 and has written a short blog on his experiences,

“I presented work on modelling the motion of the mucus layer in a small airway, with particular emphasis on how the complex rheology of mucus affects the likelihood of mucus plugging. Our results from this theoretical study suggested that application of an inhaled therapy, such as a mucolytic, could trigger plugging by suddenly altering the properties of the mucus. I also spoke about my ongoing work developing a whole-lung model of inhaled particle deposition for use in understanding the effect of cystic fibrosis disease on the distribution of a deposited drug throughout the lung.

I talked in a session focused on advances in cystic fibrosis research, where most other speakers were presenting clinical research. This proved to be a great opportunity to raise awareness of my work and the potential uses of taking a theoretical approach to doing research in respiratory medicine. Attending the conference gave me the chance to listen to talks from researchers in various fields and learn more about cystic fibrosis and other airway diseases.

The differences in style between how research was presented there and how I am used to research in mathematics being presented impressed on me the importance of effective, accessible communication when working across disciplines. I was able to meet and network with other researchers and clinicians, and also with representatives of pharmaceutical companies working in fields related to my research. Attending ERS was a valuable experience which I continue to draw on during my PhD and which has given me new enthusiasm for doing inter-disciplinary research.”

The work James presented has been recently published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics. We are delighted BIOREME was able to support him in taking his mathematical modelling research to a respiratory audience.

If you’d like to find out more about the Small Starter Grant funding opportunities with BIOREME, please visit our funding page.