The Australian stillbirth rate has remained unchanged for 20 year. Current approaches to identify fetuses at risk of stillbirth is unsuccessful. Women who had stillborn commonly reported on abnormal baby movements prior to the loss. Unfortunately, there are no robust way to assess fetal movements. This project aims to develop a low-cost, lightweight, soft, conformal and non-intrusive wearable fetal movement monitor AI system to understand and reduce stillbirth nationally and globally.
Biosensor Based Clinical-decision Support For Patients With Heart Failure
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$691,933.00
Summary
Heart Failure (HF) is a progressive disease and a major global public health concern. HF accounts for a substantial number of hospitalisations, major healthcare resource utilisation and costs. We aim to engineer biosensor platform to stratify the risk in HF patients will revolutionise current management of HF by providing the cardiologist information to risk stratify patients based on protein signature. This will lead to a substantial paradigm shift in clinical practice.
In this fellowship I will develop methods to improve the way drugs are delivered through the use of nanotechnology. Nanoparticles can be used to protect delicate drugs from degrading, and to make sure drugs are delivered where they are required. This helps to lower side effects and improve efficacy of a range of drugs. I lead a multi-disciplinary research team dedicated to understanding of how nanoparticles interact with biological systems, so we can engineer better drug delivery systems.
Development of planar patch-clamp electrophysiology to investigate liposome-based artificial nanosensor devices. This project aims to characterise the interaction of transport proteins with unsupported lipid bilayer membranes. This will provide the basis for a novel biosensor utilising mechanosensitive ion channels incorporated into an artificial lipid bilayer membrane. To support this outcome, the project will develop the planar patch-clamp electrophysiology recording techniques suitable for l ....Development of planar patch-clamp electrophysiology to investigate liposome-based artificial nanosensor devices. This project aims to characterise the interaction of transport proteins with unsupported lipid bilayer membranes. This will provide the basis for a novel biosensor utilising mechanosensitive ion channels incorporated into an artificial lipid bilayer membrane. To support this outcome, the project will develop the planar patch-clamp electrophysiology recording techniques suitable for liposomes. This provides a significant PhD training opportunity and brings an international focus to the development of planar patch-clamp electrophysiology in Australia. The project has significant commercial potential by developing both the planar patch-clamp electrophysiology techniques for liposomes and producing a novel biomimetic mechanosensitive biosensor.Read moreRead less
Location, Location, Location: Sub-cellular Specific Targeting Of JNK As A Novel Therapy In Breast Cancer.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$633,755.00
Summary
The ‘triple negative’ breast cancer subtype is the most aggressive form of breast cancer, and unlike other subtypes, there are no drugs to specifically this subtype. While many potential drug targets have been identified, they cannot be utilised clinically because of other beneficial roles within the body. We are now deploying our innovative experimental platforms to specifically target the tumour promoting functions of a protein known as ‘JNK’, whilst retaining its beneficial functions.
Novel Carbon Nanotube Composite Materials: Elucidation of key properties for device development. As the former co-director of CSIRO Nanotechnology indicated to the Sydney Morning Herald in 2003, 'Nanotechnology will lead us into a very different future.' The proposed research on nanomaterial interactions and biomolecular incorporation protocols will provide a foundation for future bioelectronic devices. Imagine healthcare of human diseases when nanocomponents enable the design of new platforms f ....Novel Carbon Nanotube Composite Materials: Elucidation of key properties for device development. As the former co-director of CSIRO Nanotechnology indicated to the Sydney Morning Herald in 2003, 'Nanotechnology will lead us into a very different future.' The proposed research on nanomaterial interactions and biomolecular incorporation protocols will provide a foundation for future bioelectronic devices. Imagine healthcare of human diseases when nanocomponents enable the design of new platforms for devices that give point-of-care diagnosis, or the impact on the semiconductor industry with the creation of flexible electronics. Educational outreach is an important aim of the project, providing effective research training for early career researchers.Read moreRead less
Understanding The Cellular Processing Of Targeted Nanoparticles For Improved Therapeutic Outcomes
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$625,477.00
Summary
Nanotechnology has the potential to transform the way we treat many diseases. This project will investigate how nanoengineered particles can be used to improve the effectiveness of vaccines. Nanoparticles can protect the delicate vaccine cargo from degradation, and will be targeted specifically to the cells in the body that most effectively induce the maximum theraputic response. This study will improve our understanding of how nanovaccines work and develop new ways of delivering vaccines.
Novel Microdevices For Controlled Blood And Skin Extraction
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$314,644.00
Summary
Current blood sampling devices only create a puncture in the skin but have no capacity to collect blood while current tissue biopsies are not capable of repeated sampling in patients without the need for local anaesthesia or sutures. There is a need for clinically feasible devices to enable preventive strategies in the area of skin cancer and communicable diseases through facilitation of early detection, particularly in rural/remote areas where medical resources are limited.
A Sweet Therapeutic For Vascular Disease In Pregnancy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$685,453.00
Summary
This project will advance a new drug to treat pregnant women diagnosed with the disease preeclampsia, and prevent them and their baby from becoming seriously ill. It will investigate how a novel sugar compound acts directly on the mother's blood vessels to restore normal vascular function, and provide the necessary preclinical proof-of-concept data to proceed to clinical trials.
Viewing The Cellular Responses In Huntington’s Disease Through An Aggreomics Framework
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$363,218.00
Summary
Huntington disease results from a mutation that causes the Htt protein to form abnormal toxic clusters in neurons that eventually leads to cell death. This project will develop and apply new technology to identify how the clustering process damages cells and will measure all the gene expression changes that occur during the clustering process. The project offers much potential for revealing new therapeutic targets to this incurable disease.