Exploring Roles For MicroRNAs In Cancer Using Bioinformatics And Gene Expression Tools.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$292,639.00
Summary
microRNAs are newly discovered chemicals that were the subject of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine. These chemicals decrease the amount of specific molecular ‘targets’ in cells, and play an important role in cancer. Currently we do not understand how these chemicals choose their targets, and we propose to use a computer-based approach to discover how they affect genes in cancer. This will improve our understanding of cancer and thereby lead to the discovery of novel anti-cancer therapies.
Does Teriparatide Reverse Osteonecrosis Of The Jaw In Patients With Cancer? A Randomised, Controlled Trial
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$357,412.00
Summary
Osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) is debilitating and associated with drugs that increase bone strength and reduce the bone remodeling rate (bisphosphonates or denosumab). Up to 15% of patients with bone marrow cancer and 1 out of 952 patients with osteoporosis treated with bisphosphonates may get ONJ. This 8-week trial of subcutaneous teriparatide (a hormone that forms new bone) or placebo injections aims to promote resolution of ONJ, measured clinically and by x-ray, and improve quality of life.
Sclerostin: A Key Regulator Of Bone Mineralisation And Bone Catabolism
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$536,653.00
Summary
The regulation of bone mass is critical for many areas of human disease including osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, inflammatory bone loss conditions, e.g. rheumatoid arthritis, cancers of bone and problems relating to orthopaedic prosthesis failure. The osteocyte, the most abundant bone cell, plays a central role in normal bone biology and is likely key to these diseases. Sclerostin is one osteocyte product that may be a key to understanding how boneÍs mass and composition is controlled locally.