Development of a topical treatment to replace surgical mulesing in sheep. 10,800 farms in Australia are sheep farms and a further 30,000 have sheep. Exports of wool earn over $2 billion annually. The animal rights campaign to ban mulesing has forced the industry to outlaw mulesing by 2010. Mulesing is largely confined to Australian Merino sheep and requires Australian research. If practical alternatives are not found costs will rise compromising the economic viability of many sheep farms. C ....Development of a topical treatment to replace surgical mulesing in sheep. 10,800 farms in Australia are sheep farms and a further 30,000 have sheep. Exports of wool earn over $2 billion annually. The animal rights campaign to ban mulesing has forced the industry to outlaw mulesing by 2010. Mulesing is largely confined to Australian Merino sheep and requires Australian research. If practical alternatives are not found costs will rise compromising the economic viability of many sheep farms. Chemical use on the breech will increase causing environmental contamination. A simple topical alternative to mulesing will allow farmers to economically manage flies and satisfy welfare imperatives. This will support rural communities and sustain Australia's export income from wool.Read moreRead less
New Bayesian methodology for understanding complex systems using hidden Markov models and expert opinion, environmental, robotics and genomics applications. This project aims to merge four areas of intense international interest in describing complex systems: hidden Markov models and mixtures, semi-parametric and nonparametric approaches, true combination of expert opinion with data, and new Bayesian computational methods based on perfect sampling and particle sampling. The project will signific ....New Bayesian methodology for understanding complex systems using hidden Markov models and expert opinion, environmental, robotics and genomics applications. This project aims to merge four areas of intense international interest in describing complex systems: hidden Markov models and mixtures, semi-parametric and nonparametric approaches, true combination of expert opinion with data, and new Bayesian computational methods based on perfect sampling and particle sampling. The project will significantly contribute to statistical methodology and its ability to inform about real-world problems. A strong focus on applications to genomics, robotics and environmental modelling will bring immediate research and monetary benefit for industry. Expected outcomes include enhanced cross-disciplinary and international linkages, publications, industry-funded projects and highly trained graduates.Read moreRead less
Development of a proto-type vaccine against gastrointestinal nematode larvae. Gastrointestinal parasites are the major cause of production losses in the Australian sheep and wool industries. Drug treatment is predominantly used to control infections but drug resistance has reached critical levels and is threatening the viability of sheep production in many rural areas. In collaboration with an international Animal Health company, we aim to develop vaccines against these parasites and provide a c ....Development of a proto-type vaccine against gastrointestinal nematode larvae. Gastrointestinal parasites are the major cause of production losses in the Australian sheep and wool industries. Drug treatment is predominantly used to control infections but drug resistance has reached critical levels and is threatening the viability of sheep production in many rural areas. In collaboration with an international Animal Health company, we aim to develop vaccines against these parasites and provide a clean, non-toxic alternative to drug treatment. The groundbreaking research involved in this project will also keep Australian animal scientists at the forefront of vaccine research and increase their capacity to attract further support from Industry.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0560987
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$156,697.00
Summary
Robust High Resolution Gene and Protein Expression Analysis Facilities in WA. Biological research is playing an increasingly important role in keeping agriculture internationally competitive and helping to unravel the basic mechanisms underpinning plant and animal health. This collaborative research equipment will greatly enhance and extend our existing functional genomic facilities in WA, allowing robust pre-fractionation of samples for directed proteomic analysis within complex systems and al ....Robust High Resolution Gene and Protein Expression Analysis Facilities in WA. Biological research is playing an increasingly important role in keeping agriculture internationally competitive and helping to unravel the basic mechanisms underpinning plant and animal health. This collaborative research equipment will greatly enhance and extend our existing functional genomic facilities in WA, allowing robust pre-fractionation of samples for directed proteomic analysis within complex systems and allowing accurate and sensitive measurement of gene expression. Both of these are critical for analysis of low abundance components involved in signalling and regulatory functions in biological samples.Read moreRead less
Brain temperature regulation in mammals: mechanisms and consequences. Mammals detect increases in body temperature predominantly in the brain. Counterintuitively many mammals selectively cool the brain during heat stress, which appears to defeat the mechanism for inducing cooling responses. We intend to investigate this apparent anomaly which we believe is concerned with optimizing water use in hot conditions. We will further investigate the source of water for evaporative cooling by panting and ....Brain temperature regulation in mammals: mechanisms and consequences. Mammals detect increases in body temperature predominantly in the brain. Counterintuitively many mammals selectively cool the brain during heat stress, which appears to defeat the mechanism for inducing cooling responses. We intend to investigate this apparent anomaly which we believe is concerned with optimizing water use in hot conditions. We will further investigate the source of water for evaporative cooling by panting and discover if there has been convergent evolution in thermoregulatory strategies in the eutherian and marsupial lineages. The data we collect will be used to support a new model for thermoregulation in mammals.
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Bayesian methodology for analysis of genome data with focus on the livestock industry. The aim is to develop statistical methods for the design and analysis of genome data with focus on the special needs of the livestock industry. This will significantly contribute to profitability, quality, genetic improvement and genetic knowledge in a key national industry, improve Australia's international and national profile in the key research area of bioinformatics, and encourage optimisation of current ....Bayesian methodology for analysis of genome data with focus on the livestock industry. The aim is to develop statistical methods for the design and analysis of genome data with focus on the special needs of the livestock industry. This will significantly contribute to profitability, quality, genetic improvement and genetic knowledge in a key national industry, improve Australia's international and national profile in the key research area of bioinformatics, and encourage optimisation of current information. Outcomes include a toolkit of applicable statistical methods, statistically valid algorithms, marketable methods for gene discovery, technology transfer, training and publications.Read moreRead less
Epigenetic Regulation of Fetal and Placental Development. Perturbations of the environment of the early embryo can alter fetal and placental growth. The mechanisms by which the early environment alters development of the fetal adrenal-placental axis are unknown. This axis coordinates fetal growth and development to ensure a successful transition from intra- to extrauterine life. We propose a novel role for the epigenetic regulation of imprinted genes in the activation of the fetal adrenal and in ....Epigenetic Regulation of Fetal and Placental Development. Perturbations of the environment of the early embryo can alter fetal and placental growth. The mechanisms by which the early environment alters development of the fetal adrenal-placental axis are unknown. This axis coordinates fetal growth and development to ensure a successful transition from intra- to extrauterine life. We propose a novel role for the epigenetic regulation of imprinted genes in the activation of the fetal adrenal and in placental growth and differentiation. This proposal extends the 'genetic conflict' hypothesis of the role of imprinted genes beyond its current focus on the regulation of fetal nutrient supply and demand.Read moreRead less
The routes of infection with sheep scrapie and agents that cause related prion diseases. We will define the routes by which the infective agents for scrapie, a debilitating disease of sheep, reach the nervous system after being consumed with food. Scrapie is from the same disease group (prion diseases) as mad cow disease. There would be a large economic cost were prion diseases to infect agricultural animals in Australia, through bioterrorism or accident. An outbreak in sheep could ruin the indu ....The routes of infection with sheep scrapie and agents that cause related prion diseases. We will define the routes by which the infective agents for scrapie, a debilitating disease of sheep, reach the nervous system after being consumed with food. Scrapie is from the same disease group (prion diseases) as mad cow disease. There would be a large economic cost were prion diseases to infect agricultural animals in Australia, through bioterrorism or accident. An outbreak in sheep could ruin the industry, as our export markets would be immediately blocked, and thousands of animals would be killed to stop disease spread. The benefit of clearly understanding how the infective agents reach the nervous system is that this may lead to strategies to intervene, and thus limit the spread and seriousness of infection.Read moreRead less
Stimulation of the mammalian reproductive system by olfactory pathways. This project answers fundamental questions about mammalian reproductive biology but, because we work with the sheep model, our findings can be applied to two of Australia's biggest export industries, wool and sheepmeat. Understanding the reproductive responses of our production animals to exteroceptive factors such as socio-sexual signals, photoperiod and nutrition is an important first step towards refining the management ....Stimulation of the mammalian reproductive system by olfactory pathways. This project answers fundamental questions about mammalian reproductive biology but, because we work with the sheep model, our findings can be applied to two of Australia's biggest export industries, wool and sheepmeat. Understanding the reproductive responses of our production animals to exteroceptive factors such as socio-sexual signals, photoperiod and nutrition is an important first step towards refining the management of breeding programs. It has been argued that this approach will also minimise, and perhaps even remove the need for, exogenous hormones and drugs for controlling the reproductive process.Read moreRead less
Investigation of the immunological properties of a novel adjuvant in sheep. The induction of strong immune responses without side effects is a highly desirable goal in vaccine R&D. The recently developed adjuvant DCtag utilises unique properties of dendritic cells to boost both cellular and humoral immune responses without tissue damage. This project will identify the mechanisms of immune induction of DCtag using unique properties of our sheep cannulation model. This will allow further optimisat ....Investigation of the immunological properties of a novel adjuvant in sheep. The induction of strong immune responses without side effects is a highly desirable goal in vaccine R&D. The recently developed adjuvant DCtag utilises unique properties of dendritic cells to boost both cellular and humoral immune responses without tissue damage. This project will identify the mechanisms of immune induction of DCtag using unique properties of our sheep cannulation model. This will allow further optimisation of DCtag adjuvanticity in sheep, which will then be applied to the delivery of a prototype peptide based vaccine against foot and mouth disease virus, a veterinary disease of global importance, hereby increasing Australia's leadership in biotechnology.Read moreRead less