The Guest Editors
U. Frey P.J.F.M. Merkus
U. Frey is Professor of Paediatric Pulmonology and Head of Department at the Division of
Paediatric Respiratory Medicine, Dept of Paediatrics, at the University Hospital of Bern,
Inselspital, Bern, Switzerland. After completing his MD degree in Bern, he achieved his PhD in
Biomedical Engineering at the University of Leicester, UK. His current research interests are in
infant physiology, with particular focus on physiology of wheezing disorders in the developing
lung, early detection of bronchial asthma and inflammatory markers, the influence of genetic and
environmental factors on lung growth in infants, and lung and airway growth in chronic lung
disease of prematurity. He is interested in the complex analysis of fluctuation of physiological
signals, the monitoring of asthma, the development of noninvasive infant lung function techniques
for unsedated infants and the standardisation of infant lung function techniques and equipment.
U. Frey is a member of the editorial board for the European Respiratory Journal and a member of
the Swiss National Science Foundation board.
P.J.F.M. Merkus developed a special interest in paediatric lung physiology during his PhD studies
in children with and without asthma. He published papers and a thesis on the growth of lungs and
airways in children with asthma, at Leiden University, the Netherlands, in 1993. Thereafter, he
specialised in paediatrics and paediatric pulmonology at the Sophia Children’s Hospital,
Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Subsequently, his research focus shifted to studies into the clinical
application of infant lung function testing in children with chronic lung disease, cystic fibrosis and
wheeze. At the same time, he initiated several multicentre trials into the off-label use of
recombinant human DNase, which were conducted in the Netherlands. In 2007, P.J.F.M. Merkus
became Associate Professor at the Dept of Paediatrics, Division of Respiratory Medicine at
Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, the Netherlands. His current research activities
relate to new diagnostic techniques and treatment modalities of respiratory infections in asthma
and cystic fibrosis, asthma management, and psychosocial aspects, adherence to treatment and
quality of life in children with chronic lung disease. He has been collaborating with U. Frey for
over 6 yrs and, until recently, they have chaired the European Respiratory Society scientific group
7.01, on Paediatric Respiratory Physiology.
Eur Respir Mon, 2010, 47, vii. Printed in UK - all rights reserved. Copyright ERS Journals Ltd 2010; European Respiratory Monograph;
ISSN 1025-448x.
vii
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