Early Career Industry Fellowships - Grant ID: IE230100263
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$477,037.00
Summary
Improve genomic testing tools for fertility traits in beef cattle. Fertility is a key driver of productivity and profitability for beef industry; however, a substantial industry challenge is poor fertility and the difficulty and expense of measuring fertility in remote Australia. By integrating multiple omics datasets and fifty thousand fertility phenotypes recorded on beef cattle, the project will identify sequence variation, including structural variants, that underpin genetic variation in cat ....Improve genomic testing tools for fertility traits in beef cattle. Fertility is a key driver of productivity and profitability for beef industry; however, a substantial industry challenge is poor fertility and the difficulty and expense of measuring fertility in remote Australia. By integrating multiple omics datasets and fifty thousand fertility phenotypes recorded on beef cattle, the project will identify sequence variation, including structural variants, that underpin genetic variation in cattle fertility. Our industry partner, which genotypes hundreds of thousands of cattle a year, will produce new genotype arrays and novel low-cost sequencing approaches including these variants, enabling selection that could potentially increase herd reproductive rate by 4%, returning $40M per annum to the farmers.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100036
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$465,803.00
Summary
Tracing the epigenetic life-history of cells. Each cell of the human body contains identical genetic information that is activated in different ways to form varied cell types. This research aims to develop novel single-cell genomic technologies to explain the origins of different cell types. This project expects to discover the molecular mechanisms through which specialised cell types are formed, which has been difficult to decipher using existing methods. My novel approach will elucidate how a ....Tracing the epigenetic life-history of cells. Each cell of the human body contains identical genetic information that is activated in different ways to form varied cell types. This research aims to develop novel single-cell genomic technologies to explain the origins of different cell types. This project expects to discover the molecular mechanisms through which specialised cell types are formed, which has been difficult to decipher using existing methods. My novel approach will elucidate how a small population of seemingly homogenous cells can give rise to a myriad of types of cells. Tracing the life histories of cells across time should lead to broad applications including in developmental biology, neuroscience and immunology.Read moreRead less
What drives the Anterior Expansion of the Central Nervous System? A striking and highly conserved feature of the central nervous system is that the brain is larger than the spinal cord. Despite the manifest implications this has for nervous system function, the underlying drivers are largely unknown. This project aims to investigate the mechanisms controlling anterior expansion of the central nervous system, and will generate new knowledge in the areas of nervous system development and evolution ....What drives the Anterior Expansion of the Central Nervous System? A striking and highly conserved feature of the central nervous system is that the brain is larger than the spinal cord. Despite the manifest implications this has for nervous system function, the underlying drivers are largely unknown. This project aims to investigate the mechanisms controlling anterior expansion of the central nervous system, and will generate new knowledge in the areas of nervous system development and evolution. This project aims to impact on our understanding of nervous system function, develop bioinformatics tools with broad utility within the biosciences field, strengthen Australia’s international standing in the developmental neuroscience, and enhance the capacity for interdisciplinary international collaborations.Read moreRead less
Synthetic genes as reference standards for biology and biomanufacture. Reference standards are needed to improve the measurement of biology and the reliability of biomanufacturing processes. This project aims to engineer synthetic genes capable of acting as reference standards for DNA, RNA and protein. The synthetic genes can be transcribed into mRNA standards, and translated into protein standards, and be further integrated into living cells to measure internal cellular processes.
The outcomes ....Synthetic genes as reference standards for biology and biomanufacture. Reference standards are needed to improve the measurement of biology and the reliability of biomanufacturing processes. This project aims to engineer synthetic genes capable of acting as reference standards for DNA, RNA and protein. The synthetic genes can be transcribed into mRNA standards, and translated into protein standards, and be further integrated into living cells to measure internal cellular processes.
The outcomes include a unified understanding of gene expression and more accurate next-generation sequencing and mass-spectrophotometry technologies. The synthetic genes also allow standardisation and optimisation of biomanufacturing processes that will produce mRNA and biologics products at a higher purity and lower cost.Read moreRead less
Novel genomic technologies to improve fertility in northern beef cattle. This project aims to develop new genomic technologies to enable accelerated improvement of cow fertility. Increased global demand for beef is driving northern Australian beef enterprises to develop innovative ways to increase productivity. A substantial industry challenge is poor fertility of cows, with weaning rates frequently less than 40%. The expected outcomes of this project are an improvement in weaning rates to enabl ....Novel genomic technologies to improve fertility in northern beef cattle. This project aims to develop new genomic technologies to enable accelerated improvement of cow fertility. Increased global demand for beef is driving northern Australian beef enterprises to develop innovative ways to increase productivity. A substantial industry challenge is poor fertility of cows, with weaning rates frequently less than 40%. The expected outcomes of this project are an improvement in weaning rates to enable accelerated genetic gain for fertility in these enterprises by delivering a low cost array, which assays thousands of DNA variants affecting fertility simultaneously. This should provide significant benefits such as a new genomic prediction method informed by gene expression data from a unique resource of Brahman cattle with exceptionally high fertility, generating significant industry benefits.Read moreRead less
Deciphering The Role Of Atypical DNA Methylation In Neuronal Genome Regulation And Neurological Disorders
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$773,484.00
Summary
This research will use a combination of genomic, biochemical and functional genomics approaches to investigate the role of the atypical mCH form of DNA methylation in neuronal genome regulation and function, and provide new insights into the role of the epigenome in healthy brain function and neural pathologies.
Identifying Resistance Mechanisms Of Targeted BRAF Inhibitors In Metastatic Melanoma
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$379,015.00
Summary
Late-stage melanoma is an aggressive skin cancer for which traditional treatment strategies such as chemotherapy are ineffective. Recently, a new class of targeted drugs (BRAF inhibitors) has become the standard of care for a subset of melanoma patients; however, long term treatment success is complicated by drug resistance. This study will identify the causes of resistance with the purpose to improve targeted drug strategies and increase survival rates for late-stage melanoma patients.
Strabismus is the pathological misalignment of the eyes associated with loss of binocular vision and is one of the most common human ophthalmological disorders. Patients with comitant strabismus have full eye movements, whereas patients with incomitant strabismus have limited eye movements, which causes the angle of strabismus to vary with gaze direction. This project aims to define genetic contributors to comitant congenital strabismus.
The genetics of four ancient 'Kings' of Sahul and Sunda. This project aims to recover all the genetic information from four ancient humans. Two of these iconic specimens come from Australia and two from Malaysia. We will sequence the entire DNA (genomes) and proteins (proteome) of Mungo Man (Willandra), the Yidinji King (Cairns), the Deep Skull (Borneo) and the Bewah specimen (Malaysian Peninsula). This will provide a better understanding of the settlement of Australia and new knowledge about th ....The genetics of four ancient 'Kings' of Sahul and Sunda. This project aims to recover all the genetic information from four ancient humans. Two of these iconic specimens come from Australia and two from Malaysia. We will sequence the entire DNA (genomes) and proteins (proteome) of Mungo Man (Willandra), the Yidinji King (Cairns), the Deep Skull (Borneo) and the Bewah specimen (Malaysian Peninsula). This will provide a better understanding of the settlement of Australia and new knowledge about the ancient people of Australasia and their relationship to other human populations worldwide. The research will use cutting-edge methods of DNA and protein sequencing of ancient human material and will provide critical reference genomes / proteomes that will anchor future research.Read moreRead less