Next-generation Smart Wound Dressings For Real-time, Non-invasive Monitoring Of Infection And Neovascularisation In Burns
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$899,877.00
Summary
Real-time assessment of infection and wound progression in burns is critical to reduce complications and improve long-term recovery. We propose a smart dressing that can assess a wound without needing to remove the dressing. It consists of a biocompatible silk membrane enriched with nanodiamonds and pH-sensitive fluorophores to detect infection, and allow optical assessment of blood vessel regrowth. This project will prototype and validate the smart dressing in preparation for human trials.
Serial Imaging Of Molecular And Microstructural Changes In Atherosclerosis: Tracking Plaques Towards Destabilisation
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$992,112.00
Summary
Most heart attacks are caused by high-risk plaques in coronary arteries. A significant unmet need in cardiology is to reliably detect high-risk plaques before they are life-threatening. This project will generate unique insights into plaque pathogenesis over time to see how plaques become high-risk and cause heart attacks. This project will also develop a clinically applicable tool to detect high-risk plaques, leading to significantly reduced complications and cost in heart disease.
Developing Smart Nanomedicine To Enable Advanced Diagnosis And Stimuli-responsive Treatment For Atherosclerosis And Thrombosis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$523,342.00
Summary
The early detection and accurate characterization of life-threatening diseases such as cardiovascular diseases are critical to the design of treatment. A therapeutic approach that provides an efficient treatment with minimal side-effects is highly desired by both patients and healthcare systems. This project aims to develop smart nanomedicine with incorporated diagnostic sensor and external stimuli-responsive treatment mechanisms for cardiovascular diseases.
Imaging, Fluid And Genetic Markers Of Alzheimer's Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,519,004.00
Summary
Markers of pathology and inflammation are useful tools for the diagnosis and staging of neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. This approach will deepen our basic understanding of this disease, improving early detection and prediction of cognitive impairment. This work will make possible more accurate diagnosis, and improved monitoring of therapeutic interventions.
Uncovering The Neural Mechanisms Of Obsessive-compulsive Disorder Using Brain Modelling
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$581,628.00
Summary
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an incurable mental illness and current therapies only mitigate its symptoms for a portion of individuals. Thus, there is a need to identify the neural causes of OCD to develop personalised therapies. We will combine mathematical modelling, computer simulations, and clinical and neuroimaging data to develop the first model of OCD. Outcomes from this study will enable targeted OCD research and the discovery of brain mechanisms supporting treatment response.
Targeting Nerves In Tumours To Enhance Anti-cancer Immunity
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,090,190.00
Summary
The cancer journey is an incredibly stressful experience for patients. We discovered that stress stops immune cells and helps cancer spread. The goal of this study is to reveal how stress signals alter anti-cancer immunity and impacts cancer treatments. We will use elegant tools from neuroscience and immunology to define if blocking stress helps the immune cells that kill cancer and explore how blocking stress can improve standard anti-cancer drugs, including chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
Neural Circuits Which Limit Alcohol And Soft Drink Intake
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$523,949.00
Summary
Alcohol and soft drinks are ubiquitous, and often harmful, particularly in excess. This project will examine the specific roles of fluid and food satiation neural circuits in suppressing intake, to determine whether either or both could be therapeutic targets for alcohol/soft drink overconsumption, especially as cessation aids for binge-drinking behaviour.
Advancing The Spatial Analysis Of Cells In Tissues To Profile The Tumour Microenvironment
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$187,918.00
Summary
Tumours are composed of a mix of different cells, including cancer cells, immune cells and other cells supporting tumour growth. These cells are not organised randomly, but rather are distributed in specific patterns. Here we will develop computational methods to detect these patterns and determine what statistical tests should be used to compare samples. This project will give us the tools to investigate how the location of cells in tissues relates to treatment response and survival.
Unraveling the variability in the protein expression in tissues or cell populations is critical to understand how cells respond to their environment. For example, this can provide details about the cellular response to an infection or to a chemoterapic. As of today, single cell protein analyses has become at reach, but its application is still cumbersome and its throughput is low. This proposal aims to develop and deploy a simple and robust method to analyse the protein content in single cells.
Biomechanics Meets Phenomics: Towards Understanding And Predicting Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) Disease Progression
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,324,897.00
Summary
The criterion used to decide whether to operate on an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), based on the maximum diameter, does not take into consideration the rupture risk for a given patient. By combining imaging, computational biomechanics and metabolic phenotyping, we will assess the structural integrity of an AAA and local structural changes of systemic response. These will allow improved differentiation of rupture risk, leading to better outcomes for patients and savings for the health system.