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Inflammasome Function In Protection Against Infectious Disease And Autoimmunity
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$631,010.00
Summary
Inflammation, characterised by swelling, heat, pain and redness, is a normal response to injury and infection. Many human diseases such as gout, athersclerosis, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease involve some inflammation, mediated through a common pathway termed the inflammasome. This project will investigate the proteins involved in this pathway and how they interact in their normal role of combatting infections, as well as a possible defect in this pathway in autoimmune patients.
I am an immunologist focusing on understanding how can we combat chronic infections while preventing autoimmunity. This proposal aims to investigate how a poorly understood subset of lymphocytes called Tfh cells are regulated to promote the formation of protective antibodies, and prevent development of harmful antibodies that go on to cause or exacerbate diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes. Our discoveries will illuminate novel drug targets for these diseases and hel ....I am an immunologist focusing on understanding how can we combat chronic infections while preventing autoimmunity. This proposal aims to investigate how a poorly understood subset of lymphocytes called Tfh cells are regulated to promote the formation of protective antibodies, and prevent development of harmful antibodies that go on to cause or exacerbate diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes. Our discoveries will illuminate novel drug targets for these diseases and help generate more potent vaccines.Read moreRead less
Understanding Determinant Selection In Autoimmune Diseases
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$686,656.00
Summary
Understanding what the immune system perceives during infection or in autoimmunity is key to the development of improved vaccines and therapies for a variety of human diseases. This proposal builds on leading research into the definition of targets of immunity in autoimmune diseases using cutting edge proteomic technologies. The proposal focuses on type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and will delineate candidate therapeutic molecules.
I am the leading scientist studying a factor named BAFF and discovered its role in autoimmunity. BAFF inhibitors are effective in late stage clinical trials treating lupus patients. Our new work shows that BAFF has other fascinating roles, in particular the ability to control effects from some microbes capable of activating autoimmune and inflammatory reactions. This new work is leading us to the development of an entirely new generation of therapeutics treating autoimmunity and inflammation.
In autoimmune diseases the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues. Although we know that both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the risk of disease, identifying these genes and the environmental factors involved is very difficult. Furthermore, we have almost no idea how these factors interact with each other, something we need to understand in order to predict the risk of disease and reliably identify possible therapies. These are the aims of this fellowship.