New Fluorescent Probes to Elucidate Complex Oxidation Mechanisms. From medicine to manufacturing, polymers ("plastics") are a major component in the materials we use in our modern society, yet the manner by which they degrade and break down is often not well understood. Controlling the lifetime of polymers by either accelerating degradation on the one hand or preventing, or limiting, it on the other, will have significant benefits to society but this can only be achieved by reaching a thorough u ....New Fluorescent Probes to Elucidate Complex Oxidation Mechanisms. From medicine to manufacturing, polymers ("plastics") are a major component in the materials we use in our modern society, yet the manner by which they degrade and break down is often not well understood. Controlling the lifetime of polymers by either accelerating degradation on the one hand or preventing, or limiting, it on the other, will have significant benefits to society but this can only be achieved by reaching a thorough understanding of the degradation process. This project makes use of a unique, Australian-designed additive which stabilises polymeric materials, provides a marker for degradation levels and also provides information about the nature of the degradation processes occurring within polymers.Read moreRead less
Structural studies of plant disease resistance proteins. Plant cells have evolved a gene-for-gene disease resistance mechanism, involving an interaction of a plant-derived receptor with a specific pathogen-derived molecule. Currently, plant breeders are restricted to the resistance genes available in particular crop species or sexually compatible relatives. In the last few years, several plant disease resistance genes have been identified, providing a foundation for studying the molecular basis ....Structural studies of plant disease resistance proteins. Plant cells have evolved a gene-for-gene disease resistance mechanism, involving an interaction of a plant-derived receptor with a specific pathogen-derived molecule. Currently, plant breeders are restricted to the resistance genes available in particular crop species or sexually compatible relatives. In the last few years, several plant disease resistance genes have been identified, providing a foundation for studying the molecular basis of the resistance process. We propose to obtain three-dimensional structural information on representative R proteins and their ligand complexes. This will form the basis for modifying existing resistance genes to confer resistance to new diseases, resulting in large economic benefits.Read moreRead less
Synthesis and Characterisation of Encoded Hybrid Polymer/Gold Nanoparticles for Application in Bioassays. Bioassays are the cornerstone of in vitro diagnostic and biomedical research. This proposal will significantly contribute to these areas, by targeting an emerging technology that is crucial for their future development. The hybrid nanoparticles described in this project have the potential to replace conventional detection strategies that are currently used for bioassays. In doing so, they sh ....Synthesis and Characterisation of Encoded Hybrid Polymer/Gold Nanoparticles for Application in Bioassays. Bioassays are the cornerstone of in vitro diagnostic and biomedical research. This proposal will significantly contribute to these areas, by targeting an emerging technology that is crucial for their future development. The hybrid nanoparticles described in this project have the potential to replace conventional detection strategies that are currently used for bioassays. In doing so, they should provide significant advantages over conventional detection strategies. These advantages include increased sample throughput and conservation of biological samples, which makes possible the acceleration of patient diagnosis and drug discovery. Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0668038
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$175,000.00
Summary
From Fundamentals to Complex Architecture in Free-Radical Polymerisation: Designing Future Generations of Macromolecular Materials. This research will help maintain the profile of Australia as a serious player in the important field of polymer chemistry. It will lay the groundwork for the preparation of novel materials of commercial value. These materials will enable more effective use of Australia's natural resources, support the development of high value-added Australian manufacturing industri ....From Fundamentals to Complex Architecture in Free-Radical Polymerisation: Designing Future Generations of Macromolecular Materials. This research will help maintain the profile of Australia as a serious player in the important field of polymer chemistry. It will lay the groundwork for the preparation of novel materials of commercial value. These materials will enable more effective use of Australia's natural resources, support the development of high value-added Australian manufacturing industries, and find application in human and animal medicine. They will enhance the health and well-being of the Australian community and engender a sense of wonder in susceptible members of this community.Read moreRead less
Self organization in (bio)molecular systems: Simulating the folding and aggregation of peptides, proteins and lipids. Molecular self-assembly is a basic property of living systems. Most proteins fold spontaneously and then further self-organize into functional complexes, effectively biological machines. Understanding how this occurs is a fundamental theoretical challenge with widespread application. Work will focus on developing methodology to simulate, computationally, the folding and aggrega ....Self organization in (bio)molecular systems: Simulating the folding and aggregation of peptides, proteins and lipids. Molecular self-assembly is a basic property of living systems. Most proteins fold spontaneously and then further self-organize into functional complexes, effectively biological machines. Understanding how this occurs is a fundamental theoretical challenge with widespread application. Work will focus on developing methodology to simulate, computationally, the folding and aggregation of peptides, proteins, and lipids. The aim is to accurately predict the structures of small peptides in solution and to refine crude models of larger molecules (complexes). This will facilitate the development of peptide based therapeutics and is essential in exploiting the growing volume of genetic information in biology and medicine.Read moreRead less
Next-generation technology for determining fitness-for-use of starches in cereal grains. The project will deliver a new methodology to characterize starch-containing materials such as grains. This will provide the first tools to readily measure the full size distribution of starch in industry laboratories, giving far more information than is currently accessible. The data will be extremely sensitive to structural characteristics associated with desirable end-use properties. The new process will ....Next-generation technology for determining fitness-for-use of starches in cereal grains. The project will deliver a new methodology to characterize starch-containing materials such as grains. This will provide the first tools to readily measure the full size distribution of starch in industry laboratories, giving far more information than is currently accessible. The data will be extremely sensitive to structural characteristics associated with desirable end-use properties. The new process will enable conventional instrumentation methodology to be re-engineered to better select starch-containing materials. This will enable superior targeting and processing of materials for improved products in human nutrition, animal feed and manufactured goods such as biodegradable plastics.Read moreRead less
High resolution single particle analysis of biological macromolecules. One of the great challenges of cell biology is to increase the rate of atomic resolution structure determination, particularly of membrane proteins and macromolecular assemblies. The current rate-limiting step is high quality crystal production. Our goal is to prove that protein structures can be determined to atomic resolution by single-particle analysis. 3D structures will be produced by computationally aligning high-resolu ....High resolution single particle analysis of biological macromolecules. One of the great challenges of cell biology is to increase the rate of atomic resolution structure determination, particularly of membrane proteins and macromolecular assemblies. The current rate-limiting step is high quality crystal production. Our goal is to prove that protein structures can be determined to atomic resolution by single-particle analysis. 3D structures will be produced by computationally aligning high-resolution electron microscope images of individual, randomly oriented molecules. The importance of this project is highlighted by the fact over 120,000 protein sequences are already databased, a number set to increase rapidly as new genome sequencing projects are completed.
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Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0775592
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$388,000.00
Summary
A High Resolution Analytical Scanning Electron Microscope for South-East Queensland. Scanning electron microscopy is the major visualization tool for a diverse range of research disciplines. This new generation of instrument will be able to image features close to atomic resolution and obtain quantitative analytical information from regions only a few atoms across. Because of the nature of the way the electron beam is produced, the new instrument will be able to examine particularly sensitive ma ....A High Resolution Analytical Scanning Electron Microscope for South-East Queensland. Scanning electron microscopy is the major visualization tool for a diverse range of research disciplines. This new generation of instrument will be able to image features close to atomic resolution and obtain quantitative analytical information from regions only a few atoms across. Because of the nature of the way the electron beam is produced, the new instrument will be able to examine particularly sensitive materials, such as soft bio-materials, without any loss in resolving power. This machine will be unique in Australia and be available to researchers from diverse fields of study working towards building and transforming Australian Industries and underpinning scientific discovery in nanotechnology, materials science and bioengineering.Read moreRead less
Molecular archaeology: new knowledge from molecular weight distributions of synthetic and natural polymers. This project will lead to new understanding of how natural and synthetic polymers are formed. Examples are the enzymatic processes that produce the subtle architecture of rice grains, and the processes that pose problems for developing new techniques for making novel polymer-based materials. The fundamental scientific knowledge from this project will provide a platform for the future devel ....Molecular archaeology: new knowledge from molecular weight distributions of synthetic and natural polymers. This project will lead to new understanding of how natural and synthetic polymers are formed. Examples are the enzymatic processes that produce the subtle architecture of rice grains, and the processes that pose problems for developing new techniques for making novel polymer-based materials. The fundamental scientific knowledge from this project will provide a platform for the future development of improved materials, and for superior grain varieties for food and industrial use. These advances will be of significant benefit to Australian industry and consumers.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0211003
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$125,000.00
Summary
A Facility for Probing Nanostructure in Polymers. The properties of a polymer are only partly determined by its molecular structure. It is now clear that the organization of molecular structure and phase morphology on a nano-scale has an equally important role in determining material behaviour. Increasingly this can be manipulated by judicious choice of formulation and processing variables. The polymer Nano-Structure Facility will bring together Australia's principal polymer experts in this a ....A Facility for Probing Nanostructure in Polymers. The properties of a polymer are only partly determined by its molecular structure. It is now clear that the organization of molecular structure and phase morphology on a nano-scale has an equally important role in determining material behaviour. Increasingly this can be manipulated by judicious choice of formulation and processing variables. The polymer Nano-Structure Facility will bring together Australia's principal polymer experts in this area of structure-property relations and provide them with shared access to the appropriate, modern analytical tools required to probe the nano-structure of such new materials with enhanced properties.Read moreRead less