Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0346895
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$450,000.00
Summary
A Mass Directed Molecular Resolution Laboratory. The proposed "Mass Directed Molecular Resolution Laboratory" combines an integrated suite of instrumentation housed in purpose built laboratories with technical expertise to provide an unique "one stop shop" to meet the burgeoning mass spectrometry needs of the chemical community in the Melbourne area. This truly collaborative effort will service the needs of 17 research groups with 92 PhD students and post doctoral researchers and will enhance ex ....A Mass Directed Molecular Resolution Laboratory. The proposed "Mass Directed Molecular Resolution Laboratory" combines an integrated suite of instrumentation housed in purpose built laboratories with technical expertise to provide an unique "one stop shop" to meet the burgeoning mass spectrometry needs of the chemical community in the Melbourne area. This truly collaborative effort will service the needs of 17 research groups with 92 PhD students and post doctoral researchers and will enhance existing excellence in a range of areas. Finally, the laboratory will provide opportunities to: collaborate and consult with industry; train postgraduate students in instrumentation used at the cutting edge of chemical and biochemical sciences.Read moreRead less
Allosteric Enhancers: Leads for the Therapy of Cardiovascular Disease. Cardiovascular disease (CVD - heart, stroke and blood vessel disease) kills more people each year than cancer, AIDS and traffic accidents combined. Coronary heart disease (CHD), followed by stroke, is the largest single cause of death in Australia. Allosteric enhancers are particularly attractive drug targets for the prevention of CVD due to their ability to limit injury associated with ischaemic tissue trauma selectively ....Allosteric Enhancers: Leads for the Therapy of Cardiovascular Disease. Cardiovascular disease (CVD - heart, stroke and blood vessel disease) kills more people each year than cancer, AIDS and traffic accidents combined. Coronary heart disease (CHD), followed by stroke, is the largest single cause of death in Australia. Allosteric enhancers are particularly attractive drug targets for the prevention of CVD due to their ability to limit injury associated with ischaemic tissue trauma selectively in tissues where adenosine is elevated. Whilst the development of drugs that protect against heart attack and stroke is a difficult and long term objective, any advances toward this goal would clearly be of great benefit to the community.Read moreRead less
To gain insight into the molecular mechanisms involved in antibiotic resistance shown by Gram-negative bacteria. Bacterial infections can strike anyone and usually the body's immune system, which is designed to fight infection, defeats the invading bacteria. Sometimes however, the burden of infection proves too great, so these infections can prove fatal. For 50 years, we have relied on antibiotics to successfully treat the majority of common bacterial infections. As a result, emphasis must be pl ....To gain insight into the molecular mechanisms involved in antibiotic resistance shown by Gram-negative bacteria. Bacterial infections can strike anyone and usually the body's immune system, which is designed to fight infection, defeats the invading bacteria. Sometimes however, the burden of infection proves too great, so these infections can prove fatal. For 50 years, we have relied on antibiotics to successfully treat the majority of common bacterial infections. As a result, emphasis must be placed on the disquieting reality whilst enjoy the use of antibiotics, an inescapable cost is the development of bacterial resistance. The increasing prevalence of bacterial tolerance against beta-lactams is a problem and as a result is a most pressing health issue. Read moreRead less
Antibiotic resistance is a looming public health crisis. New antibiotics with new mechanisms of action are desperately needed. The long-term goal of this research is to develop new drugs that disarm bacteria to overcome the problem of antibiotic resistance.
DYRK1A As A Novel Target For Glioblastoma Therapies
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$620,294.00
Summary
Glioblastoma is a form of brain cancer that is currently incurable. We have discovered that switching-off an enzyme called DYRK1A (using ‘DYRK1A inhibitors’) kills glioblastoma cells. This therapeutic advantage is even greater when combined with drugs approved for other cancers. This project will develop new DYRK1A inhibitors and examine a novel combination treatment for glioblastoma patients. This could initiate a novel therapy that could significantly extend patients’ lives.
Inhibition of membrane-bound carbonic anhydrases with small molecules as a novel approach to target a safe and effective treatment for solid tumours. Over 85 per cent of human cancers are solid tumours and the prognosis for patients with advanced solid tumours is extremely poor owing to resistance to conventional chemo- and radio- therapies. Our research will underpin the development of new, safe and effective drug treatment options for cancer patients with solid tumours.
Lymphotropic prodrugs: a novel mechanism for targeted drug delivery. This project aims to design chemically modified drugs that target drug delivery specifically to white blood cells. This approach promises to maximise drug action and simultaneously reduce toxicity for diseases where lymphocytes are the major drug target. These include autoimmune disease, leukaemia, lymphoma, HIV, transplant rejection and diabetes.
Malaria is a major global health problem. The protein AMA1 plays a key role in the invasion of host cells by malaria parasites, and agents that inhibit this interaction prevent host cell invasion and thus represent leads for the development of anti-malarial drugs. We have identified a number of chemical scaffolds that target a key site on AMA1. In this project we will optimize these leads to generate potent ligands for this site and evaluate the efficacy of these ligands as anti-malarial agents.
Structure-based design of inhibitors of HIV-1 integrase. This project will produce compounds that block human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication. These compounds will benefit the 17000 Australians and more than 34 million people worldwide who are currently suffering with this terrible disease.
Mid-Career Industry Fellowships - Grant ID: IM230100534
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$874,096.00
Summary
NOVEL MASS-SCALE BIOSYNTHESIS: TAILORING CHEMICAL LOGIC & BIOSYNTHESIS. No new antibiotics against Gram-negative ‘superbugs’ are expected to be available in the near future. We have exhausted the chemical space from the natural product pool and lack a fundamental understanding of antibiotics in nature, this is a major hurdle for antibiotic design targeting bacterial resistance. This proposal aims to engineer unique chemo-enzymatic platforms for the synthesis of new lipopeptide scaffolds which wi ....NOVEL MASS-SCALE BIOSYNTHESIS: TAILORING CHEMICAL LOGIC & BIOSYNTHESIS. No new antibiotics against Gram-negative ‘superbugs’ are expected to be available in the near future. We have exhausted the chemical space from the natural product pool and lack a fundamental understanding of antibiotics in nature, this is a major hurdle for antibiotic design targeting bacterial resistance. This proposal aims to engineer unique chemo-enzymatic platforms for the synthesis of new lipopeptide scaffolds which will significantly expand the chemical space available for novel antibiotic discovery. The development of these unique platforms will greatly expand our inventory of natural product antibiotics and will represent a major technological break-through for Australia's biotechnology and pharmaceutical manufacturing sectors.Read moreRead less