The Ongoing Evolution Of Class 1 Integrons And The Recruitment Of New Resistance And Virulence Genes Into Pathogens
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$526,878.00
Summary
Bacteria are remarkably adaptive and evolve in ways that plants and animals do not. One of these ways is Lateral Gene Transfer (LGT), a process allowing one bacterial cell in a community to give genes that have been developed or acquired to other members of the community. This is a process that has led to the problem of multi drug resistance. This project aims to understand and thereby limit the movement of resistance genes from harmless bacteria into those that cause disease in humans.
Integrons, Mobile Gene Cassettes And Pathogencity In Vibrio Cholerae
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$550,285.00
Summary
Bacteria are remarkably adaptive and evolve in ways that plants and animals do not. One of these ways is Lateral Gene Transfer or LGT, which is a process allowing bacterial cells to share genes. Such mobile genes can greatly influence the extent to which pathogenic bacteria can cause disease. One notable example is Vibrio cholerae where many strains can be benign but some can give rise to cholera pandemics. Here, we will investigate this phenomenon in this important bacterium.
Role Of IS26 In Antibiotic Resistance Gene Recruitment, Dissemination And Expression
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$457,879.00
Summary
Antibiotic resistance is increasing, compromising the efficacy of front-line antibiotics. Untreatable infections due to bacteria that are resistant to all available antibiotics are being seen more often. To control the spread of resistance, an understanding of how resistance arises and is spread among bacteria is needed. This requires information about how the genetic elements that mobilize them work. This project will study one of the most important of these elements.
Directed Evolution Of AAV Capsid Variants For Enhanced Targeted Genome Editing In The Human Liver
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$386,012.00
Summary
Liver transplantation is often the only treatment option available for patients with severe liver disease, and is complicated by a shortage of donor organs and the need for life-long drug therapy to prevent rejection. Repair of a patient’s own liver by gene therapy is a promising alternative. This project focuses on developing the technology required to undertake precise correction of genetic spelling errors in diseased liver cells without the need to first remove them from the body.
Targeted Knockdown Of Human SOD1 Genes By Non-viral Gene Delivery To Delay Onset And Progression Of ALS
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$504,097.00
Summary
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an illness of nerves resulting in a creeping paralysis and death; there is no effective treatment. We have developed immunogenes consisting of an antibody to target specific nerves and a gene that can affect it. Our immunogene will deliver genes that inhibit a mutant protein causing disease in an ALS mouse model. Successful outcomes of this research will be to encourage development of treatments both before and after the disease has developed.
Solving Delivery Of Gene Therapy For Control Of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$765,439.00
Summary
Antiretroviral therapy free control of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection requires control of the viral reservoir. We have a unique approach, aimed at enforcing HIV latency by targeting highly conserved regions in the viral promoter. These constructs completely silence viral transcription for long periods of time. We intend to develop & assess vectors that are specifically targeted to the reservoir and which can enforce viral latency despite immune activation or viral variation.
Interactions Between Integrative Genomic Islands And Plasmids; Role In The Spread And Loss Of Antibiotic Resistance And Pathogenicity Determinants
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$776,465.00
Summary
Mobile elements that integrate into bacterial chromosomes at a specific site contribute pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance determinants to their bacterial host but only a few are able to move themselves into new hosts. Some plasmids and some elements can help certain others. In this project, genetic approaches will be used to investigate how plasmids and integrative elements help one another move into a new bacterium or compete with one another to stay in the same cell.
We have designed novel gene therapy agents to treat MND. This therapeutic approach uniquely combines gene therapy agents with antibodies which stimulate motor neuron health and connections to muscle. This project will comprehensively characterise the therapeutic effects of our novel gene therapy agents in MND mice. We predict that our gene therapy complexes will improve motor neuron survival,motor function and lifespan in MND mice.
Non-invasive Gene Delivery For Expression Of Therapeutic Genes In Oligodendrocytes: A New Strategy To Treat Myelin Diseases.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$594,393.00
Summary
White matter diseases are debilitating childhood disorders caused by defects in the insulating myelin sheath normally covering and protecting the nerve fibres from damage. There is currently no effective treatment but the delivery of a genetic medicine to the diseased myelin forming cells in the brain could be curative. This project aims at establishing the safe, efficient and non-invasive delivery of therapeutic genes to myelin forming cells as a gene therapy for white matter disorders.