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Pattern Recognition Receptors In Inflammation And Infection
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$622,655.00
Summary
Innate immunity provides our first line of defence against infections, but pathogens can overcome this system. Understanding how microbes disable innate immunity can teach us how to prevent and/or treat infectious diseases. Innate immunity acts by initiating inflammation. Many important acute and chronic diseases develop when this process is dysregulated. Blocking innate immunity thus has potential to treat many diseases. This project aims to understand innate immunity in these contexts.
Dissecting The Role Of NOD-like Receptors (NLRs) In Helicobacter Pylori Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$638,517.00
Summary
Half of the world's 6.5 billion people harbour the bacterium Helicobacter pylori in their stomachs. Approximately 1% of these infections develop into gastric cancer, representing the second leading cause of cancer-related death world-wide. This research project will investigate the role of a family of host defence proteins as mediators of inflammatory and cell survival responses which contribute to the development of gastric cancer disease.
Targeting Glycointeractions To Generate New Opportunities To Treat And Prevent Bacterial Infections.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$774,540.00
Summary
Bacteria and bacterial toxins can interact with complex sugar structures on human cells called glycans. My research team has identified new and important glycan interactions used by bacteria that cause diseases ranging from pneumonia, meningitis and food borne infections to urinary tract and sexually transmitted diseases. Now that these interactions have been discovered, they can be exploited to create drugs and vaccines that may treat and prevent disease by blocking the glycan interactions.
Pathogenesis, Treatment And Prevention Of Bacterial Infectious Diseases
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$852,458.00
Summary
Bacterial infectious diseases remain a serious threat to human health, accounting for over 10 million deaths each year. My research program aims to better understand the dynamic interactions between major disease-causing bacteria and their human hosts, and to directly apply this new knowledge to the development of improved vaccines and novel treatment strategies. These are urgently needed to combat bacterial infectious diseases in the 21st century.
This project uses latest genomic technologies to advance our understanding of how bacteria cause disease and finding new antibiotics/approaches to stop the spread of multi-drug resistant hospital superbugs.
Halting The Spread Multidrug Resistant Uropathogenic E. Coli
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$687,975.00
Summary
Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is a major cause of urinary tract infection (UTI) and increasingly associated with resistance to multiple antibiotics. This project will study the virulence of multidrug resistant UPEC and use this knowledge to develop new approaches to treat and prevent UTI. The outcomes will be applicable to one of the most common infectious diseases of humans and have broad-reaching impact on our understanding of other infections caused by Gram-negative pathogens.
I am a biochemist focussed on understanding how the structures of proteins determine their functions. I intend to apply this understanding to medically relevant questions by working collaboratively and using a range of complementary structural, computational and cell biology techniques. In particular, I will focus on proteins involved in infection and immunity, to understand how they work, and contribute to the development of drugs and vaccines.
Many bacterial pathogens invade host cells to replicate and avoid detection by the host. These pathogens interact with the host and by manipulating it to its benefit they establish an environment to survive in. A detailed understanding of the targeted hosts pathways and which are essential for pathogen survival is knowledge that will allow future development of therapeutic intervention strategies.
Structural Biology And Therapeutic Targeting Of Proteins Involved In Infection And Immunity
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$753,300.00
Summary
Structural biology plays an essential role in uncovering how proteins function at the molecular level, and further facilitates strategies to develop therapeutics targeting the diseases these proteins are involved in. In the proposed work, I will focus on bacterial virulence factors, to develop new antibiotics and vaccination strategies, and proteins involved in innate immunity pathways, to develop therapeutics against a number of associated disorders including chronic inflammatory diseases.
New Antibiotics And Treatment Methods Against Drug-resistant Bacteria
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$766,468.00
Summary
Infectious disease is a leading cause of death, and the emergence of "superbugs" in the community and hospitals is of grave concern. We are developing new, powerful antibiotics that can kill superbugs using ‘forgotten’ drugs from the 1970s. These will combat bacteria that cause pneumonia, skin and urinary track infections; diseases that cause death and discomfort for thousands of Australians today. We will also develop methods to directly remove bacteria from blood infections.