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Ena Respiratory is a biotechnology company spun out of the University of Melbourne that is developing novel, synthetic Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists that have been shown to activate the innate immune system in the respiratory tract and prevent viral and bacterial dissemination to the lungs.  It is based on research by Professor David Jackson and his team at the Department of Immunology / Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, and also by Dr Nathan Bartlett, a world expert on in vivo models of respiratory viral infections based at the Hunter Medical Research Institute.  Key potential uses for Ena Respiratory’s new agents include the prevention of respiratory infection in hospital settings and in at-risk populations in the community including patients with pre-existing lung disease such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cystic fibrosis as well as infants and young children, the elderly and patients with immune suppression.