Dr Alexandra McCarron

Grant-Funded Researcher (B)

Robinson Research Institute

Division of Research and Innovation

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

My Research
Career
Publications
Grants and Funding
Supervision
Contact

I am a researcher with the Cystic Fibrosis Airway Research Group (CFARG), based in the Department of Respiratory Medicine at the Women's and Children's Hospital.

My research goals

I am passionate about advancing research into cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease treatment and developing innovative airway-directed genetic therapies. Airway gene-addition therapy aims to address the root cause of CF by correcting the underlying genetic defect. By delivering functional copies of the CF gene to airway cells, this therapy can restore normal airway function and preserve lung health.

Despite the promise of genetic therapies for CF, there remain significant challenges, particularly in achieving efficient delivery of these therapies to the target airway cells. My research focuses on developing novel strategies to enhance the uptake and effectiveness of genetic therapies in the airways, with the ultimate goal of overcoming these barriers and advancing treatment options to the clinic.

I also have a strong interest in airway stem cells—exploring their potential as targets for gene therapy and their application in stem-cell transplantation as an alternative approach for treating CF lung disease.

Student projects

I have research projects available for PhD, Masters (MPhil or Masters in Biotechnology) and Honours students.

The skills developed during these projects can include: rodent handling, airway gene delivery techniques, tissue collection, histology, immunohistochemistry, cell culture, flow cytometry, gene vector production, microscopy, data collection, analysis and interpretation.

Education

Date	Institution name	Country	Title
2021	The University of Adelaide	Australia	PhD in Medicine
2015	The University of Adelaide	Australia	Bachelor of Health Science (Honours)
2014	The University of Adelaide	Australia	Bachelor of Science (Animal Science)

Journals

Year	Citation
2025	Rout-Pitt, N., Boog, B., McCarron, A., Reyne, N., Parsons, D., & Donnelley, M. (2025). Insights into epithelial-mesenchymal transition from cystic fibrosis rat models.. J Cyst Fibros, 24(1), 149-156. DOI Scopus1
2025	Feizi, S., Cooksley, C. M., Reyne, N., Boog, B., Finnie, J., Shaghayegh, G., . . . Vreugde, S. (2025). An immunocompetent rat model of Mycobacterium abscessus multinodular granulomatous lung infection. Tuberculosis, 152, 8 pages. DOI
2024	McCarron, A., Surolia, R., & Ruffini, L. (2024). Editorial: Model organisms in respiratory pharmacology 2023. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 15. DOI
2024	Ousingsawat, J., Centeio, R., Reyne, N., McCarron, A., Cmielewski, P., Schreiber, R., . . . Kunzelmann, K. (2024). Inhibition of mucus secretion by niclosamide and benzbromarone in airways and intestine. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 1464-1-1464-12. DOI Scopus4 Europe PMC1
2024	Reyne, N., Cmielewski, P., McCarron, A., Smith, R., Eikelis, N., Pirakalathanan, P., . . . Donnelley, M. (2024). Effect of elexacaftor-tezacaftor-ivacaftor on nasal potential difference and lung function in Phe508del rats. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 15, 1-7. DOI Scopus4 Europe PMC6
2024	McCarron, A., Ling, K. -M., Montgomery, S. T., Martinovich, K. M., Cmielewski, P., Rout-Pitt, N., . . . Donnelley, M. (2024). Lentiviral vector gene therapy and CFTR modulators show comparable effectiveness in cystic fibrosis rat airway models. Gene Therapy, 31(11-12), 553-559. DOI
2024	Smith, R., Morgan, K. S., McCarron, A., Cmielewski, P., Reyne, N., Parsons, D., & Donnelley, M. (2024). Ultra-fastin-vivodirectional dark-field x-ray imaging for visualising magnetic control of particles for airway gene delivery. Phys Med Biol, 69(10), 105025-1-105025-11. DOI Scopus1 Europe PMC1
2024	Reyne, N., Cmielewski, P., McCarron, A., Smith, R., Schneider-Futschik, E., Eikelis, N., . . . Donnelley, M. (2024). Corrigendum: Effect of elexacaftor-tezacaftor-ivacaftor on nasal potential difference and lung function in Phe508del rats(Front. Pharmacol., (2024), 15, (1362325), 10.3389/fphar.2024.1362325). Frontiers in Pharmacology, 15, 1428213. DOI
2023	Reyne, N., McCarron, A., Cmielewski, P., Parsons, D., & Donnelley, M. (2023). To bead or not to bead: A review of Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infection models for cystic fibrosis. FRONTIERS IN PHYSIOLOGY, 14, 13 pages. DOI Scopus16 WoS2 Europe PMC12
2023	Shrestha, N., Rout-Pitt, N., McCarron, A., Jackson, C. A., Bulmer, A. C., McAinch, A. J., . . . Hryciw, D. H. (2023). Changes in Essential Fatty Acids and Ileal Genes Associated with Metabolizing Enzymes and Fatty Acid Transporters in Rodent Models of Cystic Fibrosis. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 24(8), 7194-1-7194-10. DOI Scopus3 Europe PMC2
2023	Donnelley, M., Cmielewski, P., Knight, E., Carpentieri, C., McCarron, A., Rout-Pitt, N., . . . Farrow, N. (2023). Repeat or single-dose lentiviral vector administration to mouse lungs? It’s all about the timing. Gene Therapy, 30(9), 1-8. DOI Scopus4 Europe PMC1
2023	McCarron, A. (2023). Slow and steady wins the race: Optimizing lentiviral vector production for efficient clinical-scale manufacturing. Molecular Therapy - Methods and Clinical Development, 30, 484-485. DOI
2023	McCarron, A., Cmielewski, P., Drysdale, V., Parsons, D., & Donnelley, M. (2023). Effective viral-mediated lung gene therapy: is airway surface preparation necessary?. Gene Therapy, 30(6), 469-477. DOI Scopus19 WoS8 Europe PMC21
2022	Donnelley, M., Cmielewski, P., Morgan, K., Delhove, J., Reyne, N., McCarron, A., . . . Parsons, D. (2022). Improved in-vivo airway gene transfer via magnetic-guidance, with protocol development informed by synchrotron imaging. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 9000-1-9000-14. DOI Scopus2 Europe PMC1
2022	Drysdale, V., Cmielewski, P., Donnelley, M., Reyne, N., Parsons, D., & McCarron, A. (2022). Comparison of physical perturbation devices for enhancing lentiviral vector-mediated gene transfer to the airway epithelium.. Human gene therapy, 33(19-20), 1062-1072. DOI
2022	Shrestha, N., McCarron, A., Rout-Pitt, N., Donnelley, M., Parsons, D. W., & Hryciw, D. H. (2022). Essential Fatty Acid Deficiency in Cystic Fibrosis Disease Progression: Role of Genotype and Sex. Nutrients, 14(21), 4666. DOI Scopus8 WoS2 Europe PMC9
2021	Mc Carron, A., Parsons, D., & Donnelley, M. (2021). Animal and cell culture models for cystic fibrosis: which model is right for your application?. American Journal of Pathology, 191(2), 228-242. DOI Scopus57 WoS27 Europe PMC49
2021	Carpentieri, C. L., Farrow, N. R., Cmielewski, P., Rout-Pitt, N., Mc Carron, A., Knight, E., . . . Donnelley, M. (2021). The effects of conditioning and lentiviral vector pseudotype on short- and long-term airway reporter gene expression in mice.. Human gene therapy, 32(15-16), 817-827. DOI Scopus4 WoS4 Europe PMC3
2021	Mc Carron, A., Farrow, N., Cmielewski, P., Knight, E., Donnelley, M., & Parsons, D. (2021). Breaching the delivery barrier: Chemical and physical airway epithelium disruption strategies for enhancing lentiviral-mediated gene therapy. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 12, 669635-1-669635-11. DOI Scopus6 WoS5 Europe PMC5
2021	Reyne, N., Cmielewski, P., Mc Carron, A., Delhove, J., Parsons, D., & Donnelley, M. (2021). Single-dose lentiviral mediated gene therapy recovers CFTR function in cystic fibrosis knockout rats. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 12, 682299-1-682299-8. DOI Scopus11 WoS6 Europe PMC10
2020	Gardner, M., Parsons, D., Morgan, K. S., McCarron, A., Cmielewski, P., Gradl, R., & Donnelley, M. (2020). Towards automated <i>in vivo</i> tracheal mucociliary transport measurement: detecting and tracking particle movement in synchrotron phase-contrast X-ray images. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 65(14), 145012-1-145012-17. DOI Scopus6 Europe PMC2
2020	McCarron, A., Cmielewski, P., Reyne, N., McIntyre, C., Finnie, J., Craig, F., . . . Donnelley, M. (2020). Phenotypic characterization and comparison of Phe508del and cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) knockout rat models of cystic fibrosis generated by CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing. The American Journal of Pathology, 190(5), 977-993. DOI Scopus34 WoS20 Europe PMC29
2020	Morgan, K. S., Parsons, D., Cmielewski, P., McCarron, A., Gradl, R., Farrow, N., . . . Donnelley, M. (2020). Methods for dynamic synchrotron X-ray respiratory imaging in live animals. Journal of synchrotron radiation, 27(Pt 1), 164-175. DOI Scopus25 WoS16 Europe PMC14
2019	McCarron, A., Donnelley, M., McIntyre, C., & Parsons, D. (2019). Transient lentiviral vector production using a packed-bed bioreactor system. Human Gene Therapy Methods, 30(3), 93-101. DOI Scopus23 WoS17 Europe PMC18
2019	Gardner, M. T., McCarron, A., Morgan, K., Parsons, D., & Donnelley, M. (2019). Particle coating alters mucociliary transit in excised rat trachea: A synchrotron X-ray imaging study. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 10983-1-10983-10. DOI Scopus6 WoS2 Europe PMC1
2018	Rout-Pitt, N. B., McCarron, A., McIntyre, C., Parsons, D., & Donnelley, M. (2018). Large-scale production of lentiviral vectors using multilayer cell factories. Journal of Biological Methods, 5(2), e90-1-e90-9. DOI Europe PMC15
2018	McCarron, A., Donnelley, M., & Parsons, D. (2018). Airway disease phenotypes in animal models of cystic fibrosis. Respiratory Research, 19(1), 54-1-54-12. DOI Scopus66 WoS48 Europe PMC56
2017	McCarron, A., Donnelley, M., & Parsons, D. (2017). Scale-up of lentiviral vectors for gene therapy: advances and challenges. Cell and Gene Therapy Insights, 3(9), 719-729. DOI
2016	McCarron, A., Donnelley, M., McIntyre, C., & Parsons, D. (2016). Challenges of up-scaling lentivirus production and processing. Journal of Biotechnology, 240, 23-30. DOI Scopus93 WoS63 Europe PMC63

Conference Papers

Year	Citation
2019	Morgan, K. S., Gradl, R., Dierolf, M., Jud, C., Günther, B., Werdiger, F., . . . Donnelley, M. W. (2019). In vivo x-ray imaging of the respiratory system using synchrotron sources and a compact light source. In B. Müller, & G. Wang (Eds.), Developments in X-Ray Tomography XII Vol. 11113 (pp. 111130G-1-111130G-12). online: Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers. DOI Scopus1
2019	Li, J., Quirk, B. C., Delhove, J., Kirk, R., Mc Carron, A., Cmielewski, P., . . . McLaughlin, R. A. (2019). Imaging genetically-modified cells with a miniaturised multimodal optical coherence tomography + fluorescence probem. In Proceedings of the 2019 IEEE Photonics Conference (IPC) (pp. 1-2). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE. DOI
2019	McCarron, A., Donnelley, M., Cmielewski, P., McIntyre, C., & Parsons, D. (2019). Transient Lentiviral Vector Production Using a Packed-Bed Bioreactor System. In MOLECULAR THERAPY Vol. 27 (pp. 209). Washington, DC: CELL PRESS.

Conference Items

Year	Citation
2023	Rout-Pitt, N., Mc Carron, A., Boog, B., Parsons, D., & Donnelley, M. (2023). A twist in the cystic fibrosis story—TGF-β1 treatment affects epithelialmesenchymal transition differentially in two cystic fibrosis rat airway cell models. Poster session presented at the meeting of North American Cystic Fibrosis Conference.

Preprint

Year	Citation
2024	McCarron, A., Ling, K. -M., Montgomery, S., Martinovich, K., Cmielewski, P., Rout-Pitt, N., . . . Donnelley, M. (2024). Lentiviral vector gene therapy and CFTR modulators show comparable effectiveness in cystic fibrosis rat airway models. DOI

2024 N. Rout-Pitt, A. McCarron, N. Reyne, D. Parsons. M. Donnelley. Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, "Unravelling the Role of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) in Cystic Fibrosis Lung Disease: Insights, Challenges, and Therapeutic Prospects", $175,000.

2024 P. Asare, C. A Foakwah, B. Ahinkorah, A. McCarron, S. Sterling. Medical Research Future Fund, “Effectiveness of Zinc Supplementation in Respiratory Infections in COPD patients: A randomised control trial”, $990,064.

2024 A. McCarron, R. Smith, K. Morgan, D. Parsons, M. Donnelley. Cystic Fibrosis Geelong Genetic Therapies Innovation Grant, “Harnessing the power of magnets: Improved effectiveness of airway gene therapy for the treatment of cystic fibrosis lung disease”, $80,000.

2023 E. Schneider-Futschik, J. Bourke, D. Parsons, H. Chinnery. J. Taylor-Cousar, P. Middleton, A. McCarron and N. Reyne. Cystic Fibrosis Foundation “Delaying the onset of cystic fibrosis pathologies” $282,000

2023 A. McCarron, N. Reyne. P. Cmielewski, M. Donnelley, D. Parsons. Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation. “Does the presence of lung infection impact the efficacy of cystic fibrosis airway gene therapy?” $40,060.

2022 M. Donnelley, D. Parsons, A. McCarron, C. Christou, T. Goddard. Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. “Effective delivery of genetic therapeutics for cystic fibrosis airway disease”, $307,512 USD (~$462,000 AUD).

2020 A. McCarron, P. Cmielewski, M. Donnelley, D. Parsons. Women’s and Children’s Hospital Foundation. “Airway gene correction in neonatal cystic fibrosis rats”, $100,000.

2017 M. Donnelley, N. Farrow, P Cmielewski, A. McCarron, D. Parsons. Women’s and Children’s Hospital Foundation. “Effective re-dosing protocols for lasting cystic fibrosis lentiviral airway gene therapy”, $75,240.

2017 M. Donnelley, C. McIntyre, N. Rout-Pitt, A. McCarron, D. Parsons. Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation. “Improving the efficiency of cystic fibrosis airway gene therapy”, $74,213.

Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

Date	Role	Research Topic	Program	Degree Type	Student Load	Student Name
2024	Co-Supervisor	Developing an effective airway stem cell therapy for the treatment of Cystic Fibrosis lung disease	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Ms Stuti Saini
2023	Co-Supervisor	Understanding and improving gene vector targeting with lentiviral magnetic nanoparticles	Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with	Doctorate	Part Time	Ms Madison Michelle Davis

Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

Date	Role	Research Topic	Program	Degree Type	Student Load	Student Name
2021 - 2024	Co-Supervisor	Novel Tools and Models for In-vivo Assessment of Lung Health in Cystic Fibrosis	Doctor of Philosophy	Doctorate	Full Time	Mrs Nikki Reyne

Position: Grant-Funded Researcher (B)
Phone: 0881619182
Email: alexandra.mccarron@adelaide.edu.au
Campus: North Terrace
Building: Women's and Children's Hospital, floor 6
Org Unit: Women's and Children's Health