Novel Fluorescent Probes Of Cellular Microenvironments To Study The Mechanism Of Action Of Endoperoxide Antimalarials
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$983,305.00
Summary
Malaria is responsible for the deaths of about two million children each year. As current drugs become increasingly useless due to the development of parasite resistance, there is an urgent need for new antimalarials. Artemisinin, an ancient Chinese drug that is extracted from wormwood, is now a front-line antimalarial, however its mechanism of action is not clear. Information about how artemisinin works is needed to help design cheap synthetic drugs that work in the same way.
Pharmacological Targeting Of Arylamine N-Acetyltransferase I
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$474,653.00
Summary
This project will investigate a novel approach to controlling how cancer cells grow and spread. It plans to study whether a protein termed N-acetyltransferase is a key to determining whether cancer cells can change thier characteristics, allowing them to invade other tissues. In addition, novel approaches to target this protein are proposed. If successful, the work outlined in this project will open new avenues to understanding and trerating cancers.
The Na+-H+ Exchanger And H+-pumping Pyrophosphatases Of The Malaria Parasite
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$664,604.00
Summary
Malaria is an infectious disease caused by a single-celled parasite. The disease kills up to 2 million people each year and the parasite is becoming increasingly resistant to available drugs. This work focuses on the mechanisms by which the parasite controls its internal ion concentrations. These mechanisms may be new drug targets, and they may also play a role in antimalarial drug resistance. For both of these reasons it is important that we understand them.
A Novel Tumour-targeting Nanoliposome Drug Delivery System For The Treatment Of Malignant Gliomas
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$445,097.00
Summary
Most patients with malignant brain tumours die within a year after diagnosis due to the difficulty in effectively delivering drugs to the tumour cells. We aim to develop a safe and novel drug delivery system to effectively deliver anticancer drugs and novel anticancer agents to brain tumour cells that remain in normal brain after surgery. The success of this project will bring us a step forward in our efforts to significantly improve the survival rate and quality of life of such patients.
Destructive bone loss is a serious complication of many common inflammatory diseases. Three important examples are are, periodontal disease, rheumatoid arthritis and peri-implant osteolysis. The mechanism of osteoclast formation in these diseases is distinctly different from physiologic osteoclast formation. Despite the prevalence of these diseases until recently little is known about how bone erosion occurs However, recent advances in the understanding of these diseases has allow us to better i ....Destructive bone loss is a serious complication of many common inflammatory diseases. Three important examples are are, periodontal disease, rheumatoid arthritis and peri-implant osteolysis. The mechanism of osteoclast formation in these diseases is distinctly different from physiologic osteoclast formation. Despite the prevalence of these diseases until recently little is known about how bone erosion occurs However, recent advances in the understanding of these diseases has allow us to better investigate the mechanisms of the bone loss. Drugs to stop the loss of bone have only recently been available to patients and many new treatments are being developed. While most of these drugs are proving useful to treat osteoporosis, their suitability for the treatment of bone loss in diseases such as periodontal disease, rheumatoid arthritis and peri-implant osteolysis is largely unknown. As the way bone is lost in these inflammatory diseases quite different from osteoporosis different treatments are needed. This project aims to better understand bone loss in these diseases and identify new treatments to prevent the debilitating bone loss associated with inflammation in disease.Read moreRead less
Antibody-directed Delivery Of Anti-restenotic Agents Using Inorganic Nanoparticles
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$327,151.00
Summary
Arteries that have been surgically treated to remove fatty lesions that block blood flow frequently become re-blocked (restenosed), and drugs to prevent this re-blockage often have bad side-effects. We propose to prevent these complications by target-delivering the drugs directly and only to the required site using a single injection at the time of surgery. This will limit systemic side-effects, treatment costs and incidence of reblocking and bleeding complications.
Investigating The Mechanisms Of Regulation Of Mycobacterial Cell Wall Biosynthesis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$597,349.00
Summary
Tuberculosis (TB) kills around two million people each year while the causative bacterial species, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, infects one-third of the entire human population. An alarmingly high rate of TB exists in Australia's indigenous population. This proposal aims to identify and characterise essential processes involved in synthesis of the outer coat of the bacterium which are potential targets for new drugs for the treatment of this devastating disease.
IMMUNOTARGETED NANOPARTICLES TO IMPROVE TUMOUR DELIVERY OF CHEMOSENSITISING CYTOTOXIC DRUGS AND B-RADIATION
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$548,985.00
Summary
This project aims to develop nano-bullets for advanced cancer therapy and nano-probes for the early assessment of cancer treatment responses, improved patient outcomes and reducing drug development time. Specially engineered, antibody-coated nanoparticles are targeted to dead cancer cells, present in untreated cancer but increased after therapy, for (1) tumour site specific delivery of increased drug or radiation dose than currently achieved and (2) monitoring the tumour response to therapy.