Breaching membrane barriers. This project will endeavour to develop novel molecular transporters to deliver macromolecules inside cells or microorganisms. Cell membranes are barriers to macromolecules. The ability to cross these barriers and deliver biological macromolecules into cells represents a major achievement with endless opportunities to modulate pathways and to introduce biomarkers, therapeutics and research tools. The project’s novel platform technology would be based on stable cyclic ....Breaching membrane barriers. This project will endeavour to develop novel molecular transporters to deliver macromolecules inside cells or microorganisms. Cell membranes are barriers to macromolecules. The ability to cross these barriers and deliver biological macromolecules into cells represents a major achievement with endless opportunities to modulate pathways and to introduce biomarkers, therapeutics and research tools. The project’s novel platform technology would be based on stable cyclic peptides to deliver genes, proteins, probes or biomarkers into distinct cell types that can monitor or modulate specific pathways and be translated into new knowledge and specific industrial applications.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101196
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$403,536.00
Summary
Elucidation and characterisation of the misfolded protein interactome. Correct expression, folding, and clearance of proteins are critical for all cell functions. However, cell stresses and aging can cause protein balance mechanisms to become overloaded, resulting in the misfolding and aggregation of proteins. Understanding the mechanisms by which protein aggregation occurs and how to prevent the process have become major scientific challenges. This project aims to gain unprecedented insights in ....Elucidation and characterisation of the misfolded protein interactome. Correct expression, folding, and clearance of proteins are critical for all cell functions. However, cell stresses and aging can cause protein balance mechanisms to become overloaded, resulting in the misfolding and aggregation of proteins. Understanding the mechanisms by which protein aggregation occurs and how to prevent the process have become major scientific challenges. This project aims to gain unprecedented insights into the interactors, effectors and fate of misfolded protein aggregates within cells, using new, cutting-edge, catalytic-tagging biochemical tools. Critical interactions will be investigated for their roles in protein aggregation cell death, and in whether modulation of the interaction can also mitigate or reverse the process.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE170100192
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$450,000.00
Summary
Deep Protein Sequencing, Structure and Quantification Facility. This project aims to establish state-of-the-art complementary mass spectrometers to help research into molecular structure and interactions, post-translational modifications, compound stability and availability within complex biological samples. The facility’s complementary mass spectrometers combine high specificity with high sensitivity and ultrafast scanning, and are expected to rapidly discover, identify and characterise biomole ....Deep Protein Sequencing, Structure and Quantification Facility. This project aims to establish state-of-the-art complementary mass spectrometers to help research into molecular structure and interactions, post-translational modifications, compound stability and availability within complex biological samples. The facility’s complementary mass spectrometers combine high specificity with high sensitivity and ultrafast scanning, and are expected to rapidly discover, identify and characterise biomolecules including peptides, proteins and small molecules. The discovery of unknown compounds is expected to improve fundamental understanding of molecular structure and function, provide opportunities for new bio-industries in health and the environment, and generate commercial opportunities through spin-off companies, patents and licensing.Read moreRead less
Australian Sea Anemone Venoms: Bioprospecting & Evolution. Australian sea anemones are a highly promising and largely unexplored source of peptides and proteins with potential therapeutic and diagnostic applications. This project aims to evaluate this potential by undertaking transcriptomic analyses of a number species of anemones from Australian waters and identifying peptides and proteins in their venoms by mass spectrometry. It will also demonstrate the value of transcriptomics in informing t ....Australian Sea Anemone Venoms: Bioprospecting & Evolution. Australian sea anemones are a highly promising and largely unexplored source of peptides and proteins with potential therapeutic and diagnostic applications. This project aims to evaluate this potential by undertaking transcriptomic analyses of a number species of anemones from Australian waters and identifying peptides and proteins in their venoms by mass spectrometry. It will also demonstrate the value of transcriptomics in informing taxonomic classification of anemones. In addition this project will assess toxin diversity within and between species based on nematocyst function from specific tissue sources and provide a clearer understanding of the evolution of venoms in Australian Actiniaria.Read moreRead less
Development of Insulin-like peptide 5 (INSL5) peptide analogues as novel therapeutics. Insulin-like peptide 5 (INSL5) is a naturally-occurring hormone in the body that likely plays a role in the control of appetite. This project aims to develop new molecules based on INSL5 that could be suitable for use as drugs to treat various appetite-related disorders, such as obesity (where patients eat too much) or anorexia (where patients eat too little).
Vortex fluidic mediated chemical transformations. This project aims to develop a continuous flow vortex fluidic device (VFD) for chemical and biochemical transformations. Vortex fluidic devices should lead to cleaner and faster ways of preparing complex molecules. Depending on the VFD’s operating parameters, including applying field effects such as Faraday waves, plasmas and light sources, reactions could have higher yields and selectivity than traditional batch processing. This will be translat ....Vortex fluidic mediated chemical transformations. This project aims to develop a continuous flow vortex fluidic device (VFD) for chemical and biochemical transformations. Vortex fluidic devices should lead to cleaner and faster ways of preparing complex molecules. Depending on the VFD’s operating parameters, including applying field effects such as Faraday waves, plasmas and light sources, reactions could have higher yields and selectivity than traditional batch processing. This will be translated into molecular assembly line syntheses in a single unit or a series. Such syntheses should provide a versatile toolbox for molecular transformations, under continuous flow conditions where scalability is addressed upfront. This will be attractive to industry and minimise effects on the environment.Read moreRead less
Biosynthetic LEGO: enzymatic redesign to produce new vancomycin analogues. This project aims to uncover the reengineering potential of the biosynthetic machinery that produces glycopeptide antibiotics by advancing our understanding of how the core peptide production line functions. Natural product biosynthesis often produces complex peptide structures, with one important example being the glycopeptide antibiotics. This project expects to generate new knowledge about enzymatic peptide biosynthesi ....Biosynthetic LEGO: enzymatic redesign to produce new vancomycin analogues. This project aims to uncover the reengineering potential of the biosynthetic machinery that produces glycopeptide antibiotics by advancing our understanding of how the core peptide production line functions. Natural product biosynthesis often produces complex peptide structures, with one important example being the glycopeptide antibiotics. This project expects to generate new knowledge about enzymatic peptide biosynthesis using a highly interdisciplinary approach and previously developed tools. The anticipated outcomes of this project will be an enhanced understanding of how such complex peptide biosynthesis is performed, which is knowledge vital for future efforts to reengineer such biosynthetic peptide assembly lines as a series of modular LEGO blocks to produce new bioactive peptides.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE120100015
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$630,000.00
Summary
High-resolution and high-throughput Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) facility. This facility will provide researchers at James Cook University and The University of Queensland with a nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscope with a cryogenically cooled probe which will enable the structures of novel biomolecules from spiders, hookworms, plants and synthetic drugs to be revealed. These studies have the potential to lead to new drugs for cancer, pain, inflammatory and tropical diseases.
Venoms To Drugs: Translating Venom Peptides Into Human Therapeutics
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$774,540.00
Summary
Many disorders of the nervous system, including chronic pain, epilepsy and the neuronal degeneration suffered following a stroke, result from malfunction of channels that ferry ions across neuronal cell membranes. There are very few drugs available for treating these disorders and they often have debilitating side-effects. We are developing potent and selective modulators of these ion channels as the next-generation of safe and effective analgesic, anti-epileptic, and neuroprotective drugs.
Development of a multicomponent delivery system for oligonucleotides. Gene therapy has the ability to prevent faulty genes from causing disease, however the ability to deliver genetic material into specific cells remains a major barrier. Our research will overcome this hurdle by generating systems that are superior to existing technologies.