Mechanisms Of Cell Death Driven Inflammation In The Skin
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
Inflammatory skin conditions are a leading cause of disease. Current therapies treat symptoms not causes of inflammation. Skin cells constantly interact with cells of the immune system, and with a diverse array of helpful and harmful microorganisms. My data suggest a role of the skin flora and resident immune cells in the initiation and progression of skin disease. I will investigate how the microbiota and immune cells can initiate cell death and drive excessive immune responses in the skin.
Melanoma Genetics: Clinical Translation Of The Germline-somatic Continuum
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,231,372.00
Summary
While new targeted and immune therapies can improve prognosis from metastatic melanoma, long-term survival for most patients remains elusive due to drug resistance or failure of the immune system to kill the tumour. There thus remains a significant need to improve early detection, monitoring of relapse, and treatment strategies, to increase survival and provide cures. My research vision addresses these three pillars of cancer research using innovative and cutting edge genetic approaches.
Understanding The Development And Spread Of Pan Resistance In Acinetobacter Baumannii
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,339,215.00
Summary
Resistance to all antibiotics available for treatment of bacterial infections is a cause for global concern (Word Health Organization, US Centres for Disease Control) as it also compromises therapies relying on antibiotics such as transplantation and cancer chemotherapy. Extensively antibiotic resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, mainly causes hospital-acquired infections. This project will seek to track different types of these bacteria as they repeatedly spread around the world.
Embedding Economics For Cost-effective Melanoma Prevention, Diagnosis And Treatment
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,074,900.00
Summary
Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer, and it is on the rise in Australia. However, the rapidly increasing costs of treatment are not sustainable for the health system or patients who pay out of pocket. Using health economic evaluation, this program of work will focus on improving: the (1) prevention, (2) diagnosis, and (3) treatment of melanoma, to ensure better, more sustainable healthcare.
This program directly addresses the major threat of antimicrobial resistance , bringing together the power of modern genomics and the promise of novel positive therapies to eradicate AMR organisms and AMR genes from individuals at risk from severe infection.
Is The Excess Mortality Amongst Tuberculosis Survivors Explained By Chronic Pulmonary Aspergillosis? Investigating Burden, Diagnosis, And Therapy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) is a serious lung infection due to the mould Aspergillus. It affects people with damaged lungs, such as those who have had tuberculosis. In Vietnam, TB is extremely common, and there should be many cases of CPA. However, because diagnostic facilities are poor, CPA is often wrongly labelled as failed TB treatment, and patients receive the wrong therapy. My research will determine the size of the problem in Vietnam and how best to address it.
Overcoming The Barriers To Treatment Of Multi-drug Resistant Gram-negative Bloodstream Infections In Australian Children
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$447,603.00
Summary
There is a critical need to develop new treatments for children with antibiotic resistant infections. The most important bacteria causing resistant infections are known as Gram-negative bacteria. Doctors treating children with resistant Gram-negative infections are faced with few antibiotic options. This project will discover the most important resistant infections in Australian children, and trial a new antibiotic to help doctors to use it in the right children and at the right dose.
Roadblocks To DNA Replication And Implications For Antimicrobial Resistance
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,050,000.00
Summary
Antimicrobial drugs have revolutionised modern medicine in their ability to specifically target microbial infections. However, overuse of these drugs is resulting in more and more infectious microbes becoming resistant to them. This program aims to use molecular imaging techniques to visualise how microbes respond to antimicrobials and how they evolve to become resistant. The outcomes of this program will enable the identification of drug targets and the development of diagnostics.
Optimising Treatment And Prevention Strategies To Accelerate Malaria Elimination
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,163,220.00
Summary
Elimination of malaria requires the assessment of interventions that not only treat individual infections successfully but also prevent disease at a population level. My proposal brings together data science approaches and mathematical modelling to develop new methods to assess antimalarial treatments and radical population interventions, and identify markers of drug resistance, accelerating malaria elimination efforts and building capacity in this emerging cross-disciplinary field.
Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance In Neonatal Sepsis: Australia And Beyond
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$566,164.00
Summary
This project aims to establish clear data regarding the burden of antibiotic resistance in neonates in Australia & in our local South East Asian region. This will be achieved by establishing systematic data collection for infections with multi-resistant bacteria in Australian neonatal intensive care units, reviewing published literature regarding the cause of infections in South East Asian neonates, and continuing collaborative work to establish a new treatment regimen for neonatal sepsis.