News & Events

Webinar series
In the 7th instalment of our Advanced Therapeutics Webinar series we focused on ethical considerations in rare disease clinical trials. As new treatments become available, and in populations without prior access, concerns around equity and suitability arise. Physicians, patients and their families can be faced with a situation where there are more patients than clinical trial spots. So, who...
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Pandemic trends
The number of teenage girls who presented to NSW Emergency Departments (ED) for self-harm or suicidal ideation has dramatically escalated during the pandemic, following a steady increase over the past decade. A new study has investigated whether the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened trends in self-harm presentations in children and young people, which have increased globally over the last 10 year...
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Clinical Trials Day
There has been a dramatic rise in the number of children diagnosed with food allergies over the last two decades, with three in 10 children now developing a food-related allergy or eczema. Food Technology teacher Jessica Bales has witnessed this increase firsthand and says despite taking every precaution, the possible risk factor to the safety of her students induces stress and anxiety. “...
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World NF Awareness Day
A new research project aimed at finding a cure for the genetic disorder Neurofibromatosis (NF) has been given a flicker of hope. The project underway at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead (CHW) has received $350,000 in funding from the Flicker of Hope Foundation delivered through the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation. This boost will go towards a gene therapy approach to NF, led...
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SIDS breakthrough
Researchers at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead (CHW) have made a ground-breaking discovery, identifying the first biochemical marker that could help detect babies more at risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) while they are alive. In a study published by eBioMedicine, researchers found the activity of a specific enzyme, Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), was significantly lower in ba...
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Gene therapy
At four months of age Sophia is reaching all her developmental milestones. She demonstrates good head control while sitting supported and can even roll from her tummy to her back. Her parents Kaitlin and Max have not witnessed any decline in Sophia’s physical development and for this they are extremely grateful to the Paediatric Neurology team at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick (SCH)....
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Webinar series
Our Advanced Therapeutics Webinar has returned in 2022 with "Who you gonna call? Drug busters!". In this 6th episode of the series we focused on pharmacy considerations for working with Advanced Therapeutics. Hosted by Acting Director of Research, Dr Paula Bray and Advanced Therapeutics Medical Lead at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, Dr Laura Fawcett, we heard from three senior phar...
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Purple Day
At just 12 months old, Bronte had her first seizure. It was a febrile convulsion with a very high fever, which isn’t uncommon for babies. However, from that time on she continued having seizures and some would go for over an hour. At five years old Bronte was diagnosed with a severe form of epilepsy called Dravet syndrome. Dravet Syndrome starts in early infancy and is characterised by frequen...
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Purple Day
With over 50 subtypes and 400 known genes, epilepsy is one of the most genetically studied disorders. It affects one in 200 children in Australia and one in 20 children will have at least one seizure during their childhood. Currently, there is no cure. Dedicated to delivering hopeful outcomes for these children are the teams across Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network (SCHN). It’s an effort nee...
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Grant Success
Kids Research would like to congratulate Dr Michelle Lorentzos, Clinical Trials Lead at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, for receiving a Pfizer Global Medical Grant. The grant has been awarded for her project “Multidisciplinary Gene Therapy Education - Recombinant Adeno-Associated Virus (rAAV)” which is a multidisciplinary approach to education regarding AAV gene therapy in Australia. “...
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