The Clinical Value Of Serology And Molecular Tests For Diagnosing Invasive Aspergillosis In At-risk Hematology Patients
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,095,500.00
Summary
Aspergillus is a fungus found in soil, on farms and on construction sites. In those whose immune system is impaired it causes severe infection. The people who are particularly at high-risk of Aspergillus infection (called Invasive Aspergillosis) are those with acute leukaemia on chemotherapy or post bone marrow transplantation. Currently 15% of those at high-risk get Invasive Aspergillosis and 58-93% of those infected die. The main reason for this high death rate is that our current diagnostic t ....Aspergillus is a fungus found in soil, on farms and on construction sites. In those whose immune system is impaired it causes severe infection. The people who are particularly at high-risk of Aspergillus infection (called Invasive Aspergillosis) are those with acute leukaemia on chemotherapy or post bone marrow transplantation. Currently 15% of those at high-risk get Invasive Aspergillosis and 58-93% of those infected die. The main reason for this high death rate is that our current diagnostic tests are not good at detecting infection or often only detect the infection at advanced stages when treatment is ineffective. Because of the limitations of current diagnostic tests the current practice is to give empiric antifungal therapy (EAFT) early to treat Invasive Aspergillosis. However studies have demonstrated that this therapy has only resulted in a minor reduction in the mortality rates and it causes significant drug toxicity. It is a suboptimal treatment modality. New tests have been developed to diagnose Invasive Aspergillosis. These tests are for the detection of an Aspergillus protein in blood and for the detection of Aspergillus DNA in the blood. Available data suggests that these new tests are sensitive in the detection of Invasive Aspergillosis. Also other studies suggest that these new tests make an early diagnosis and seem to be able to monitor responses to treatment. However no study has been performed to date which demonstrates that the use of these tests can impact on important patient outcomes. This trial is designed to determine whether the use of the new tests to guide therapy will help improve treatment of Invasive Aspergillosis, reduce drug toxicity and reduce the death rate in the high-risk patients as compared with the current standard method of diagnosis and treatment with EAFT. If the trial is successful then this represents a significant advancement in the treatment and survival of leukaemic and bone marrow transplantation patients.Read moreRead less
Development Of Genomic Tools For Precision Medicine In Infectious Disease And Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$470,144.00
Summary
I will develop tools for precision medicine in cancer and infectious disease. In infectious disease, these tools will provide rapid diagnosis of bacterial infection as well as the characterization of drug resistance, which will mean clinicians can give the correct antibiotic the first time. In cancer, it will provide tools for identifying the type of cancer present in a patient, and for identifying the likely response to different treatment options on the basis of which genes are switched-on
Acute Vertigo In Emergency Departments: Distinguishing Between Central And Peripheral Causes By Objective Measure Of Oculomotor Examination (HINTS)
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$181,065.00
Summary
The goal of this work is to provide a quantitative objective measure of HINTS for developing an automatic diagnostic decision tool to differentiate vestibular neuritis (peripheral) and stroke (central) in patients presenting in emergency department for acute vestibular syndrome. Video oculography makes interpretation of the results more reliable. Video oculography goggles will be used as part of a systematic training program to enhance frontline clinician skills in eye movement examination.
Predicting Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Using 3D Craniofacial Photography
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$424,715.00
Summary
Sleep Apnoea is a common medical condition associated with snoring and collapse of the throat during sleep. Diagnosis of sleep apnoea involves an overnight sleep study in a specialised laboratory, which is expensive and time consuming. It is possible that sleep apnea could be diagnosed from a 3-dimensional photograph of the face. This study will define the relationships between sleep apnea and 3D face photographs in 956 young adults and 1,200 of their parents, and 3,000 sleep clinic patients.
In Vitro Diagnostic For First Trimester Risk Assignment Of Gestational Diabetes
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$580,983.00
Summary
Pregnancy associated diabetes is a significant complication of pregnancy that has adverse health effects for both mother and baby. We have developed a multivariate algorithm to identify women during their first trimester of pregnancy who will subsequently develop gestational diabetes. The test requires further clinical validation to develop a commercial product and to implement it into clinical practice.
Improving Rapid Decision-Making In The Face Of Uncertainty: A Randomised Trial Of A 1-hour Troponin Protocol In Suspected Acute Coronary Syndromes
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,095,320.00
Summary
Chest pain patients are a large burden of emergency department demand. Their effective care requires timely risk assessment. High-sensitivity assays for heart muscle damage (troponin) increases the ability to detect patients at low risk for heart attack but treatment rules based on these tests have not been fully validated. This randomised trial of clinical decision making based on new troponin tests will provide a guidelines for their efficient and effective use in emergency department care.
Statistical Methods And Algorithms For Analysis Of High-throughput Genetics And Genomics Platforms
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,557,500.00
Summary
Through rapid advances in high-throughput -omics technologies, the number of phenotypes and the number of genotypes in gene mapping studies are or will be orders of magnitudes larger than in previous studies. Current algorithms and analysis methods have not kept up with the speed of data collection, nor has the training of qualified researchers. We will develop quantitative trait loci (fine) mapping analysis methods and bioinformatics algorithms and train (post)graduates in these research areas.
Cryptographic Protocols: Proofs and Designs. Cryptographic protocols are the foundation for protection of the critical electronic communications infrastructure on which much of commerce and industry rely. They will increasingly be required in emerging technologies such as ad-hoc wireless networks and sensor networks. This project will provide the ability to design new and efficient protocols with a mathematical guarantee of security. The resulting practical protocols will benefit all users of el ....Cryptographic Protocols: Proofs and Designs. Cryptographic protocols are the foundation for protection of the critical electronic communications infrastructure on which much of commerce and industry rely. They will increasingly be required in emerging technologies such as ad-hoc wireless networks and sensor networks. This project will provide the ability to design new and efficient protocols with a mathematical guarantee of security. The resulting practical protocols will benefit all users of electronic communications who require security for their information. This includes the financial industries, government, commerce and domestic users.Read moreRead less
Cryptographic Protocols from Pairings: Proofs and Designs. Modern society has become critically dependent on information and communications infrastructures. At the same time, the development of e-commerce is being slowed by lack of confidence in its security. By providing increased assurance and enhanced cryptographic security protocols this research will improve the dependability of the nation's information and communications infrastructure, as well as encourage the growth of e-commerce. Throu ....Cryptographic Protocols from Pairings: Proofs and Designs. Modern society has become critically dependent on information and communications infrastructures. At the same time, the development of e-commerce is being slowed by lack of confidence in its security. By providing increased assurance and enhanced cryptographic security protocols this research will improve the dependability of the nation's information and communications infrastructure, as well as encourage the growth of e-commerce. Through the expertise and experience gained with this project, Australia's excellence in information security research will be reinforced. The training of PhD and Honours students will provide a much needed source of highly trained information security professionals.Read moreRead less
Fast effective clustering technologies for highly dynamic massive networks. Clustering is a fundamental data mining and analysis task. In an interconnected evolving world, friendships and information flows are modelled as large dynamic networks. Structural clustering and correlation clustering are important and well-studied approaches for static networks; for evolving networks, where links appear and disappear over time, we lack efficient techniques. Anticipated outcomes are new practical cluste ....Fast effective clustering technologies for highly dynamic massive networks. Clustering is a fundamental data mining and analysis task. In an interconnected evolving world, friendships and information flows are modelled as large dynamic networks. Structural clustering and correlation clustering are important and well-studied approaches for static networks; for evolving networks, where links appear and disappear over time, we lack efficient techniques. Anticipated outcomes are new practical clustering algorithms for dynamic networks – with performance guarantees of efficiency and clustering quality – and prototype software, guiding us to pick a good clustering. Expected benefits include better understanding of spread in evolving social networks, accelerating the software testing cycle, and improved topic detection.Read moreRead less