Martyn Biddiscombe trained as a Medical Physicist at Aberdeen University and worked for his PhD at University College Hospital and UCL, London. He investigated drug delivery to the lungs using several key inhaler devices and came to a number of important conclusions as to efficiency of these devices to deliver sufficient dose to the relevant sites in the lungs. Dr Biddiscombe has 22 years (15 years at NHLI) of clinical research experience in drug delivery to the lungs, gamma scintigraphy imaging and measurement of respiratory function (small and large airways) using multiple breath nitrogen washout tests. He has made leading contributions to the field of targeting and imaging regional deposition within the lungs. His role has been the senior Medical Physicist in partnership with clinicians in more than 15 clinical studies at NHLI and previously UCL. This has required extensive in vitro validation and he has devised a number of experiments in order to do this. More specifically he has expertise in radiolabelling commercial and novel inhaler devices such that his group are able to produce gamma scintigraphic images of deposition in the lungs in order to make assessments of total and regional deposition. He is currently focusing on the particle size effect of therapeutic delivery to the lungs using monodisperse aerosols in several disease states including asthma, COPD and ILD. Current research includes a collaborative study with the University of Bristol investigating the potential link between Coronal ions discharged from high voltage overhead powerlines and childhood leukaemia.

Leukaemia, Lung disorders