Senior Research Fellow
BSc (hons), PhD, MBiostat
Dr Foong is a Senior Research Fellow at the Telethon Kids Institute and Curtin University. She previously held a Research Fellow position from 2016-2017 at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada.
She has expertise in molecular biology, respiratory physiology and biostatistics and her research focuses on identifying environmental exposures, including air pollution and chemicals in plastic, that are risk factors for chronic lung diseases such as asthma. She also currently leads the Many Healthy Lungs project, conducted in partnership with Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service Aboriginal Corporation and Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Services, which aims to improve Aboriginal lung health through lung function testing.
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Projects
In partnership with Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service and the Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service, we aim to improve Aboriginal lung health by determining for the first time the baseline lung function of Aboriginal Australians.
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Publications
April 2023
No association between in utero exposure to emissions from a coalmine fire and post-natal lung function
Studies linking early life exposure to air pollution and subsequent impaired lung health have focused on chronic, low-level exposures in urban settings. We aimed to determine whether in utero exposure to an acute, high-intensity air pollution episode impaired lung function 7-years later.
Published research Children's Lung Health Respiratory viral infectionsMarch 2023Multi-ancestry genome-wide association analyses improve resolution of genes and pathways influencing lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease risk
Lung-function impairment underlies chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and predicts mortality. In the largest multi-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of lung function to date, comprising 580,869 participants, we identified 1,020 independent association signals implicating 559 genes supported by ≥2 criteria from a systematic variant-to-gene mapping framework. These genes were enriched in 29 pathways. Individual variants showed heterogeneity across ancestries, age and smoking groups, and collectively as a genetic risk score showed strong association with COPD across ancestry groups.
Published research Children's Lung HealthMarch 2022Characterisation of lung function trajectories and associated early-life predictors in an Australian birth cohort study
There is growing evidence that lung function in early-life predicts later lung function. Adverse events over the lifespan might influence an individual’s lung function trajectory, resulting in poor respiratory health. The aim of this study is to identify early-life risk factors and their impact on lung function trajectories to prevent long-term lung impairments.
Asthma Published research Children's Lung Health Subsite: WalyanFebruary 2022Associations of early-life pet ownership with asthma and allergic sensitization: A meta-analysis of more than 77,000 children from the EU Child Cohort Network
Studies examining associations of early-life cat and dog ownership with childhood asthma have reported inconsistent results. Several factors could explain these inconsistencies, including type of pet, timing, and degree of exposure. Our aim was to study associations of early-life cat and dog ownership with asthma in school-aged children, including the role of type (cat vs dog), timing (never, prenatal, or early childhood), and degree of ownership (number of pets owned), and the role of allergic sensitization.
Asthma Published research Diabetes and Obesity Children's Lung Health AllergyJanuary 2022Exacerbation of chronic cigarette-smoke induced lung disease by rhinovirus in mice
A significant proportion of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations are strongly associated with rhinovirus infection (HRV). In this study, we combined long-term cigarette smoke exposure with HRV infection in a mouse model.
Published research Pregnancy and Early Life Immunology Airway Epithelial Research Children's Lung Health P4 Respiratory Health for Kids Respiratory Environmental Health Respiratory viral infectionsOctober 2022Normative data for multiple breath washout outcomes in school-aged Caucasian children
The multiple breath nitrogen washout (N2MBW) technique is increasingly used to assess the degree of ventilation inhomogeneity in school-aged children with lung disease. However, reference values for healthy children are currently not available.
Published research Early Childhood Development Children's Lung HealthOctober 2022Longitudinal effects of prenatal exposure to plastic-derived chemicals and their metabolites on asthma and lung function from childhood into adulthood
Environmental exposure to phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA), chemicals used in the production of plastics, may increase risk for asthma and allergies. However, little is known about the long-term effects of early life exposure to these compounds.
Asthma Published research Children's Lung Health Subsite: Walyan Geospatial Health and Development AllergyOctober 2022Development of a Symptom-Based Tool for Screening of Children at High Risk of Preschool Asthma
Despite advances in asthma therapeutics, the burden remains highest in preschool children; therefore, it is critical to identify primary care tools that distinguish preschool children at high risk for burdensome disease for further evaluation.
Asthma Published research Children's Lung Health Subsite: WalyanSeptember 2022Prevalence of chronic respiratory diseases in Aboriginal children: A whole population study
The burden of bronchiectasis is disproportionately high in Aboriginal adults, with early mortality. Bronchiectasis precursors, that is, protracted bacterial bronchitis and chronic suppurative lung disease, often commence in early childhood.
Aboriginal Health & Wellbeing Academic Biostatistics Aboriginal Health Children's Lung Health Subsite: Walyan BREATH Respiratory viral infectionsNovember 2021Quality of life is poorly correlated to lung disease severity in school-aged children with cystic fibrosis
There is no data exclusively on the relationship between health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL) and lung disease severity in early school-aged children with cystic fibrosis (CF). Using data from the Australian Respiratory Early Surveillance Team for Cystic Fibrosis (AREST CF) we assessed the relationships between HRQOL, lung function and structure.
Cystic Fibrosis Published research Children's Lung HealthAugust 2021Associations between respiratory and vascular function in early childhood
The link between respiratory and vascular health is well documented in adult populations. Impaired lung function is consistently associated with thicker arteries and higher incidence of cardiovascular disease. However, there are limited data on this relationship in young children and the studies that exist have focussed on populations at high risk of cardiorespiratory morbidity.
Published research Children's Lung Health Subsite: WalyanJune 2021Does machine learning have a role in the prediction of asthma in children?
Asthma is the most common chronic lung disease in childhood. There has been a significant worldwide effort to develop tools/methods to identify children's risk for asthma as early as possible for preventative and early management strategies. Unfortunately, most childhood asthma prediction tools using conventional statistical models have modest accuracy, sensitivity, and positive predictive value.
Asthma Published research Children's Lung Health Subsite: Walyan BREATHMay 2021Variants associated with HHIP expression have sexdifferential effects on lung function
Lung function is highly heritable and differs between the sexes throughout life. However, little is known about sexdifferential genetic effects on lung function. We aimed to conduct the first genome-wide genotype-by-sex interaction study on lung function to identify genetic effects that differ between males and females.
Published research Early Childhood Development Children's Lung HealthApril 2021The EU Child Cohort Network’s core data: establishing a set of findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable (FAIR) variables
The Horizon2020 LifeCycle Project is a cross-cohort collaboration which brings together data from multiple birth cohorts from across Europe and Australia to facilitate studies on the influence of early-life exposures on later health outcomes. A major product of this collaboration has been the establishment of a FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) data resource known as the EU Child Cohort Network. Here we focus on the EU Child Cohort Network's core variables.
Published research Early Childhood Development Diabetes and Obesity Children's Lung HealthJune 2020Variants associated with HHIP expression have sex-differential effects on lung function
Lung function is highly heritable and differs between the sexes throughout life. However, little is known about sex-differential genetic effects on lung function. We aimed to conduct the first genome-wide genotype-by-sex interaction study on lung function to identify genetic effects that differ between males and females.
Published research Children's Lung HealthFebruary 2020Early life exposure to coal mine fire smoke emissions and altered lung function in young children
Infant exposure to coal mine fire emissions could be associated with long-term impairment of lung reactance
Published research Children's Lung HealthJanuary 2018The clinical utility of lung clearance index in early cystic fibrosis lung disease is not impacted by the number of multiple-breath washout trials
This study aimed to determine if relationships between LCI and clinical outcomes of CF lung disease differ when only two acceptable MBW trials are assessed.
Published research Children's Lung Health -
Awards/honours
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Education & Qualifications
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Active collaborations