Copper Radiopharmaceuticals for Molecular Imaging of Alzheimer's Disease. The expected outcome of this research is to develop molecular agents to allow non-invasive diagnostic imaging of senile plaques associated with the onset of Alzheimer's disease. This will contribute to a better understanding of the disease, assist in early diagnosis and help assess new intervention strategies. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and affects over 160,000 Australians. The imaging agent ma ....Copper Radiopharmaceuticals for Molecular Imaging of Alzheimer's Disease. The expected outcome of this research is to develop molecular agents to allow non-invasive diagnostic imaging of senile plaques associated with the onset of Alzheimer's disease. This will contribute to a better understanding of the disease, assist in early diagnosis and help assess new intervention strategies. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and affects over 160,000 Australians. The imaging agent market is a niche biotechnology industry in which Australia already has an international presence. The proposed research will lead to innovations to ensure Australia remains internationally competitive in this area. This research has potential social and economic benefits for the nation.Read moreRead less
Functionalised MMP Inhibitors as Radiodiagnostic, Radiotherapeutic, and Radiation-Sensitising Agents for Metastatic Cancer. Identifying and treating malignant cancers is one of the major challenges facing the scientific and medical communities. In order to minimise side effects that accompany most treatments of cancer it is necessary to find ways of targeting the therapy to tumours and away from healthy organs. A difference between tumours and healthy tissues is the amount of the proteins (calle ....Functionalised MMP Inhibitors as Radiodiagnostic, Radiotherapeutic, and Radiation-Sensitising Agents for Metastatic Cancer. Identifying and treating malignant cancers is one of the major challenges facing the scientific and medical communities. In order to minimise side effects that accompany most treatments of cancer it is necessary to find ways of targeting the therapy to tumours and away from healthy organs. A difference between tumours and healthy tissues is the amount of the proteins (called MMPs) that tumours use to break out of their surroundings, to break into and out of the blood system, and to establish new colonies of cancer cells or metastases. This difference also distinguishes the most aggressive cancers. The purpose of this project is to develop means of identifying and targeting cancers using molecules that bind to these MMP proteins.Read moreRead less
Nanotherapeutics: nanoparticles with high specificity for the delivery and controlled release of drugs. This technology will deliver therapeutic drugs and/or MRI contrast agents to individual diseased cells with very high specificity and selectivity. The cells can be interogated to determine when they are "loaded" and the site of the "loaded" cells precisely determined. Drugs can be released photochemically. The administered dosage can be decreased with no loss of efficacy, and side effects re ....Nanotherapeutics: nanoparticles with high specificity for the delivery and controlled release of drugs. This technology will deliver therapeutic drugs and/or MRI contrast agents to individual diseased cells with very high specificity and selectivity. The cells can be interogated to determine when they are "loaded" and the site of the "loaded" cells precisely determined. Drugs can be released photochemically. The administered dosage can be decreased with no loss of efficacy, and side effects reduced. Read moreRead less
Amplifying light emission with metal-fluorophore nanostructures for ultrasensitive biosensing. This proposal focuses on translating nanotechnology to ultrasensitive molecular monitoring for biomedicine. We will apply a new tool, amplified fluorophores to proteomics where they will provide an improved method for early detection and understanding of diseases through molecular fingerprints. The project will also generate an ultra-sensitive, rapid technology that can be used for personalized point ....Amplifying light emission with metal-fluorophore nanostructures for ultrasensitive biosensing. This proposal focuses on translating nanotechnology to ultrasensitive molecular monitoring for biomedicine. We will apply a new tool, amplified fluorophores to proteomics where they will provide an improved method for early detection and understanding of diseases through molecular fingerprints. The project will also generate an ultra-sensitive, rapid technology that can be used for personalized point-of-care diagnostics. The applications can include the detection of disease markers, pathogens or the determination of protein content in a clinical sample. These technologies will be applicable across a spectrum or of diseases all of which will benefit the broader community.Read moreRead less
Investigations into the Versatility of Peptide Nucleic Acid Conjugates. Neurodegeneration and cancer are two of the greatest frontiers in modern medicine. They impose significant medical, financial and social burdens on sufferers, carers and the wider community. Novel technologies with the ability to help diagnosis, enlighten researchers to the biological principles governing the disease and that can make a contribution to prevention, quality of life issues and survival of sufferers are of utmos ....Investigations into the Versatility of Peptide Nucleic Acid Conjugates. Neurodegeneration and cancer are two of the greatest frontiers in modern medicine. They impose significant medical, financial and social burdens on sufferers, carers and the wider community. Novel technologies with the ability to help diagnosis, enlighten researchers to the biological principles governing the disease and that can make a contribution to prevention, quality of life issues and survival of sufferers are of utmost importance. This project aims to make a significant contribution to these areas using antisense technologies against some previously studied targets.Read moreRead less
Chemical synthesis of cancer-associated glycoproteins. Glycosylation of proteins is an extremely common event which plays an important role in a variety of biological processes. Aberrant glycosylation and over-production of glycoproteins is associated with numerous cancer types (including breast, prostate, ovarian and small lung) and are recognised as promising agents for disease diagnosis and vaccine development. A range of cancer-associated glycoproteins will be synthesised in this research p ....Chemical synthesis of cancer-associated glycoproteins. Glycosylation of proteins is an extremely common event which plays an important role in a variety of biological processes. Aberrant glycosylation and over-production of glycoproteins is associated with numerous cancer types (including breast, prostate, ovarian and small lung) and are recognised as promising agents for disease diagnosis and vaccine development. A range of cancer-associated glycoproteins will be synthesised in this research program using a number of novel chemical technologies. These glycoproteins will be used to develop cancer vaccines and diagnostics. Cancer is a severe burden on the Australian community and on the economy, therefore this research will be of significant benefit to Australia.Read moreRead less
In-situ Scanning Probe Microscopy of biological redox processes: nanoscale structure and morphology. The science behind this project underpins the development of nanobiotechnology. Immediate applications foreseen, are the development of biosensors and diagnostic devices based on our intimate knowledge of the nature of the protein attachment to a surface. Use of synthetic membranes to create biomimetic surfaces will impact significantly on our understanding of the role and contribution membranes ....In-situ Scanning Probe Microscopy of biological redox processes: nanoscale structure and morphology. The science behind this project underpins the development of nanobiotechnology. Immediate applications foreseen, are the development of biosensors and diagnostic devices based on our intimate knowledge of the nature of the protein attachment to a surface. Use of synthetic membranes to create biomimetic surfaces will impact significantly on our understanding of the role and contribution membranes have on protein structure, function hence disease.Read moreRead less
Making Silicon Even More Useful: Functionalising Silicon to Produce Stable Electronic Devices in Aqueous Environments. Silicon is the wonder material of our time, being the foundation upon which our electronics and device industries are based. Silicon however would be even more useful if it could be stabilised so the surface did not oxidise in air and water. If this oxidation could be prevented silicon could be used in a whole range of new devices related to biotechnology, molecular electronics ....Making Silicon Even More Useful: Functionalising Silicon to Produce Stable Electronic Devices in Aqueous Environments. Silicon is the wonder material of our time, being the foundation upon which our electronics and device industries are based. Silicon however would be even more useful if it could be stabilised so the surface did not oxidise in air and water. If this oxidation could be prevented silicon could be used in a whole range of new devices related to biotechnology, molecular electronics and sensing. The project will develop a viable surface chemistry strategy for achieving this stabilisation and hence will greatly expand the scope of devices which can be fabricated from silicon. This will have significant scientific and economic benefits for Australia. We will exploit this new capability for cancer detection, cell engineering and biosensing.Read moreRead less
Development of therapeutic agents that target carbonic anhydrase enzymes. This research will discover new chemical entities (compounds) that may lead to therapies for the treatment of cancer, glaucoma and malaria. The research underpins a mechanism to add value to our compounds before partnering with industry to transform the discoveries made here to deliverable therapies that could benefit the health of millions, thus offering a potentially high value contribution to the Australian economy. The ....Development of therapeutic agents that target carbonic anhydrase enzymes. This research will discover new chemical entities (compounds) that may lead to therapies for the treatment of cancer, glaucoma and malaria. The research underpins a mechanism to add value to our compounds before partnering with industry to transform the discoveries made here to deliverable therapies that could benefit the health of millions, thus offering a potentially high value contribution to the Australian economy. The experience and commitment of the multi-disciplinary network of researchers offers exceptional training and employment opportunities for tomorrow's scientists in techniques for discovery and characterisation of novel chemicals, and their interaction with disease targets.Read moreRead less
Construction and Use of Yoctowells as Vessels for Catalysis, Sensing and Artificial Photosynthesis. Yoctowell recognition systems are likely to form the basis of a new generation of biosensors, high throughput screening systems for identification of nucleotides and as energy transduction systems. As a result, this research will be relevant to technological advances in the areas of biotechnology and nanotechnology. Researching functional yoctowells containing photoactive and redox-active componen ....Construction and Use of Yoctowells as Vessels for Catalysis, Sensing and Artificial Photosynthesis. Yoctowell recognition systems are likely to form the basis of a new generation of biosensors, high throughput screening systems for identification of nucleotides and as energy transduction systems. As a result, this research will be relevant to technological advances in the areas of biotechnology and nanotechnology. Researching functional yoctowells containing photoactive and redox-active components will contribute to the major effort in basic research on smart optoelectric that are needed today to meet tomorrow's energy demands in a sustainable way. Read moreRead less