Supporting Early Career Research

Rethinking how we treat inflammation of the respiratory system has given early career researcher and Flinders University graduate Dr James McEvoy-May an idea that may help reduce the severity of lung injury – an innovation likely to become increasingly important in the era of COVID-19.

Dr McEvoy-May (BMedSc ’13, BSc(Hons) ’15, PhD(Med) ’20), from the Flinders Medical and Health Research Institute (FMHRI), has been considering how to reduce excess inflammation present during lung disease. While necessary as part of the healing process, inflammation in excess or appearing too quickly can turn a sophisticated defence mechanism into a powerful damage-causing threat.

Understanding how to manage and reduce inflammation at the right time is critical in reducing, and not worsening, disease severity.

With support from Flinders University’s Impact Seed Funding for Early Career Researchers, Dr McEvoy-May is assessing whether a low-to-moderate dose of ionising radiation, typically used during diagnostic X-rays or CT scans, could be a potential therapeutic tool for clinicians to use in their arsenal against inflammation – particularly for respiratory inflammation such as pneumonia or coronavirus disease.

‘The immunomodulatory properties of ionising radiation have been well demonstrated in chronic inflammatory diseases. Now comes the time to assess its possibility in acute situations,’ says Dr McEvoy-May.

Early career researcher Dr James McEvoy-May aims to fight excess inflammation with ionising radiation.