Novel Nanotechnology Strategies For Drug Co-delivery And Combined Therapies In The Brain
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,512,250.00
Summary
Key challenges for treating brain diseases include effective delivery of drugs into the brain and targeted delivery to pathogenic areas. I have developed two world-first drug delivery systems that address these challenges. This project will expand their loading and brain delivery capability to deliver a broad range of novel multiple therapeutics to target sites in the brain. Human brain disease models will be used for systematic preclinical evaluation of novel delivery systems and therapeutics.
A Long-Lasting Oral Drug Delivery System Using Spiky Silica Nanoparticles
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
This project aims to develop a novel silica nanoparticle-based delivery system for long-lasting oral drug delivery. The particles will be engineered with a spiky morphology that will increase adhesion to the gastrointestinal tract enabling sustained drug release for days or even weeks. Longer lasting oral drug formulations would make it much easier for patients to adhere to the treatment schedules required in chronic diseases like HIV and increase the effectiveness of therapy.
Quantifying And Reducing The Burden Of New And Emerging Psychoactive Substances In Australia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
The public health threat posed by emerging drugs of concern (e.g., new psychoactive substances (NPS) and crystalline methamphetamine) requires timely and effective public health interventions. This research program will strengthen estimates of the global NPS health burden, enhance the surveillance of unwitting drug consumption, and develop and evaluate novel harm reduction responses. Findings will inform policy and health service delivery, both globally and within Australia.
Systems-based Study, Intervention, Diagnosis And Control Of Gastrointestinal Parasites
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,538,220.00
Summary
Gastrointestinal parasites cause billions of infections and hundreds of thousand of deaths globally each year. Even in developed countries, these parasites remain an important public health risk, through the cost of their control, the acute impacts of infection and their contribution to post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome and chronic fatigue. My team employs cutting-edge methods to improve their diagnosis, surveillance, treatment and control.
Over the next 5 years my team and I plan to study parasite invasion and blood cell enslavement to guide the design of better vaccines and medicines. Malaria as a deadly parasitic disease caused by large-scale infection of the body’s red blood cells. To design more effective vaccines and improved drugs to globally eliminate malaria we need to improve our understanding of how parasites infect and enslave our blood cells so they can grow rapidly and avoid our immune system.
Targeting Iron Piracy From Host Proteins By Neisseria And Haemophilus Spp. For The Development Of Novel Antimicrobials
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
The bacteria that cause the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhoea and meningococcal disease are a serious health concern. In order to cause disease, these bacteria must obtain the nutrient iron from our bodies. This proposed research will use cutting edge technologies to understand on a molecular level how these bacteria obtain iron during infection. It will then apply this knowledge to develop molecules that prevent these bacteria from obtaining iron, as a means of treating these diseases.
Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance In Neonatal Sepsis: Australia And Beyond
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$566,164.00
Summary
This project aims to establish clear data regarding the burden of antibiotic resistance in neonates in Australia & in our local South East Asian region. This will be achieved by establishing systematic data collection for infections with multi-resistant bacteria in Australian neonatal intensive care units, reviewing published literature regarding the cause of infections in South East Asian neonates, and continuing collaborative work to establish a new treatment regimen for neonatal sepsis.
How does timing affect mammalian brain development and evolution? This project aims to generate fundamental knowledge on the origin of diversity in mammalian brain circuits by studying development of marsupials and rodents. The expected outcome is to elucidate how differences in the timing, rate and sequence of development of gene expression, cell differentiation and circuit formation can relate to the origin of key evolutionary innovations in the mammalian brain. The significance of understandi ....How does timing affect mammalian brain development and evolution? This project aims to generate fundamental knowledge on the origin of diversity in mammalian brain circuits by studying development of marsupials and rodents. The expected outcome is to elucidate how differences in the timing, rate and sequence of development of gene expression, cell differentiation and circuit formation can relate to the origin of key evolutionary innovations in the mammalian brain. The significance of understanding the dynamics of developmental systems that shape complex brain traits includes establishing new developmental paradigms in evolutionary theory, generating new tools to investigate and manipulate brain gene expression in vivo, and the potential discovery of the causes of neurodevelopmental dysfunction.Read moreRead less
Multilevel selection and the integrity of mitochondrial DNA. This project aims to investigate the evolutionary conundrum of how and why organelles remain asexual. The widespread occurrence of sexual reproduction suggests that sex is beneficial to organisms. Yet we all carry an ancient genome that never had sex, the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA). Theory predicts that mtDNA should no longer exist, because without sex it accumulates deleterious mutations and cannot accumulate beneficial ones. Yet mt ....Multilevel selection and the integrity of mitochondrial DNA. This project aims to investigate the evolutionary conundrum of how and why organelles remain asexual. The widespread occurrence of sexual reproduction suggests that sex is beneficial to organisms. Yet we all carry an ancient genome that never had sex, the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA). Theory predicts that mtDNA should no longer exist, because without sex it accumulates deleterious mutations and cannot accumulate beneficial ones. Yet mtDNA does not suffer mutational meltdown and is shown to adapt. This project will explain how, proposing that the combination of two traits, uniparental inheritance and multiple genomes per cell, make up for the lack of sex. This project expects to provide an explanation for the evolutionary question of what keeps mitochondria healthy, important as mitochondria affect ageing and health.Read moreRead less
Gene regulation by retroelement encoded natural antisense transcripts. Genetic information underpins all life on earth and is processed to make proteins, which determine the characteristics of an organism. However, only about 2% of our whole genome is made up of genes that encode proteins; the other 98% is non-coding and its function remains poorly understood. Aims and Significance: This proposal aims to utilise cutting edge genomic technologies to generate new knowledge about how the non-coding ....Gene regulation by retroelement encoded natural antisense transcripts. Genetic information underpins all life on earth and is processed to make proteins, which determine the characteristics of an organism. However, only about 2% of our whole genome is made up of genes that encode proteins; the other 98% is non-coding and its function remains poorly understood. Aims and Significance: This proposal aims to utilise cutting edge genomic technologies to generate new knowledge about how the non-coding genome regulates the expression of protein coding genes. Expected Outcomes and Benefits: This proposal will provide novel targets and methodology for gene modulation with broad applications from biology to environmental sciences.Read moreRead less