Using Chromosome Rearrangements As Tumour-specific Markers For Disease Monitoring In Lung Cancer Using Droplet Digital PCR
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,081,335.00
Summary
There are no useful markers apart from CT scans to determine the effectiveness of therapy in patients with lung cancer. We plan to assess highly sensitive methods that can examine the blood to determine whether DNA from the patient’s tumour is present. This will allow more responsive modulation of therapy to enable better management of the cancer.
The True Burden Of Nosocomial Staphylococcal Disease: Genomic Markers Of Transmission Of Methicillin-sensitive And –resistant Staphylococcus Aureus
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$830,092.00
Summary
Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of hospital infection, but previous studies have only focused on the 30% caused by resistant strains (MRSA). We will trace the spread of all Staphylococcus strains in hospitals using DNA fingerprinting. This will enable us to determine why patients catch this infection, permitting interventions to reduce hospital infection. We will also examine the genomes of these bacteria to look for markers of transmission and adaptation to the hospital environment.
Novel Microdevices For Controlled Blood And Skin Extraction
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$314,644.00
Summary
Current blood sampling devices only create a puncture in the skin but have no capacity to collect blood while current tissue biopsies are not capable of repeated sampling in patients without the need for local anaesthesia or sutures. There is a need for clinically feasible devices to enable preventive strategies in the area of skin cancer and communicable diseases through facilitation of early detection, particularly in rural/remote areas where medical resources are limited.
Many cancers shed small amounts of DNA (circulating tumour DNA or ctDNA) into the patient’s bloodstream. Recent technological advances now allow levels of ctDNA to be accurately measured in the blood. Changes in ctDNA levels have potential to be used as specific markers of disease progression and/or response to cancer therapy. This research will advance the use of ctDNA to serially follow patients and individualise treatment decisions in cancer management across several cancer types.
CLOSING THE GAP IN EARLY DIAGNOSTIC CAPABILITIES FOR MYCOSES - DNA BARCODING TO COMBAT AN EMERGING GLOBAL HEALTH PROBLEM
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$753,447.00
Summary
Fungal infections are a major health threat with high mortality and costs. Fast identification of a causative agent is required to initiate correct treatment to maximise disease outcome. Short DNA sequences – DNA barcodes – offer a fast accurate identification. This grant sets out to establish a dual-locus barcode scheme, build a reference database, adapt the scheme to new sequencing technologies and to facilitate sequence-based fungal identification in the routine diagnostic laboratory.
Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification(LAMP): A Novel Tool For The Diagnosis Of Mixed Malaria Infections In Elimination Settings
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$101,877.00
Summary
The malaria elimination agenda will require the development of novel, field applicable diagnostic tools to detect asymptomatic carriers of P.falciparum and non-falciparum malaria infections. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) has been demonstrated to be a novel, sensitive, specific nucleic acid amplification technique. My project aims to optimise LAMP into a high-throughput field applicable molecular diagnostic tool capable of diagnosing malaria in elimination settings
Chimeric Insect-specific Flaviviruses: A New Generation Of Diagnostics And Vaccines Against Mosquito-borne Viral Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$549,937.00
Summary
Dengue, Zika and West Nile are mosquito-borne viruses that cause disease outbreaks world-wide. We will develop safe, cheap and authentic diagnostics and vaccines against these diseases based on novel viruses that only infect mosquitoes. This is a timely paradigm shift for vaccine and diagnostic development. This innovative strategy will have high impact in the field of vector-borne viral diseases and provide a blueprint to develop safe diagnostics and vaccines for other mosquito-borne diseases.
Advanced Technologies For Improved Molecular Diagnostic And Prognostic Of Gastrointestinal Cancers
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$473,477.00
Summary
The aim of this interdisciplinary research is to develop innovative and clinically relevant technologies for improved molecular diagnostic of gastrointestinal cancers. It integrates technological advances in physics, bioengineering and nanoscience with state-of-the-art molecular technologies towards the delivery of both fundamental and translational outcomes. These technologies will be applied to address important fundamental questions such as the role of circulating tumour cells.
Discovering New Biomarkers In Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$122,714.00
Summary
Liver cancer is a leading cause of cancer death with increasing rates and a high mortality. The project will develop new methods to predict liver cancer risk and outcomes using circulating samples rather than invasive biopsies. Our data shows that tissue and cells shed specific blebs into the circulation and these can contain unique information about the tissue of origin. We propose a series of experiments to show that these circulating samples are able to predict risk and outcomes with liver
I am a scientist aiming to improve health outcomes by facilitating the collection and unification of data on human genetic variation together with its clinical impact on human health.