Development of Chemoenzymatic Methods for the Selective Elaboration of Polyfunctionalised Therapeutic Agents to Oligomers with Improved Efficacy. The aims of the project are to screen a novel collection of genetically engineered enzymes for their capacity to selectively manipulate proven therapeutic agents so that, ultimately, much more potent polymeric derivatives of the agent/drug can be obtained. The combined use of enzyme libraries and chemical manipulations to generate more powerful polymer ....Development of Chemoenzymatic Methods for the Selective Elaboration of Polyfunctionalised Therapeutic Agents to Oligomers with Improved Efficacy. The aims of the project are to screen a novel collection of genetically engineered enzymes for their capacity to selectively manipulate proven therapeutic agents so that, ultimately, much more potent polymeric derivatives of the agent/drug can be obtained. The combined use of enzyme libraries and chemical manipulations to generate more powerful polymeric variants of already established drugs has never been undertaken previously in Australia. This approach has the capacity to generate hitherto inaccessible classes of therapeutic entities and to provide a new and unique technology platform for the country's biotechnology industry.Read moreRead less
Chemical Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Analogues of Platencin, a New-generation Antibiotic. The just discovered natural product platencin displays potent and broad spectrum anti-bacterial activity. It may represent the precursor of a new class of drugs to replace current anti-infective agents which are becoming alarmingly less effective as bacterial resistance increases dramatically. For this reason, platencin has been described as a once in a generation discovery. This study will explo ....Chemical Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Analogues of Platencin, a New-generation Antibiotic. The just discovered natural product platencin displays potent and broad spectrum anti-bacterial activity. It may represent the precursor of a new class of drugs to replace current anti-infective agents which are becoming alarmingly less effective as bacterial resistance increases dramatically. For this reason, platencin has been described as a once in a generation discovery. This study will exploit two sophisticated new synthetic techniques for the purposes of making analogues of platencin that will be screened by the industry partner, Biota, for anti-bacterial properties. New drug candidates capable of treating especially dangerous infections such as methicillin resistant staphyllococcus aureus (MRSA) should thus emerge.Read moreRead less
Chemoenzymatic Routes to Novel Dendritic Architectures Suitable for Pharmaceutical Applications. Dendritic molecules incorporating multiple copies of a particular functional group on their periphery allow for attachment of drug-like molecules at each of these sites. The resulting conjugates often have vastly superior therapeutic properties relative to the original single drug molecule. This phenomenon is now revolutionizing drug design. Developments in this area are limited by the range of dendr ....Chemoenzymatic Routes to Novel Dendritic Architectures Suitable for Pharmaceutical Applications. Dendritic molecules incorporating multiple copies of a particular functional group on their periphery allow for attachment of drug-like molecules at each of these sites. The resulting conjugates often have vastly superior therapeutic properties relative to the original single drug molecule. This phenomenon is now revolutionizing drug design. Developments in this area are limited by the range of dendritic molecules currently available. Thus, lack of variation in the three-dimensional architecture and the functionality available at the periphery of such constructs is a serious deficiency. This proposal seeks to redress this through the application of novel chemoenzymatic methods developed by the applicant.Read moreRead less
The Development of New, Non-steroidal Anti-Asthma Drugs with Novel Modes of Action. Asthma represents one of Australia's most significant chronic disease states. It adversely affects the lives of many hundreds of thousands of citizens and represents a growing problem, especially amongst younger members of the population. The start-up biotech company Cryptopharma has recently identified a family of steroid derivatives that deliver, through a novel mode of action, significant anti-asthma activity ....The Development of New, Non-steroidal Anti-Asthma Drugs with Novel Modes of Action. Asthma represents one of Australia's most significant chronic disease states. It adversely affects the lives of many hundreds of thousands of citizens and represents a growing problem, especially amongst younger members of the population. The start-up biotech company Cryptopharma has recently identified a family of steroid derivatives that deliver, through a novel mode of action, significant anti-asthma activity in in-vivo models. The purpose of the present work is to develop, through comprehensive synthetic organic chemistry and medicinal chemistry-type studies, non-steroidal analogues of Cryptopharma's lead compound that can be used clinically in the treatment of asthma.Read moreRead less
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal sex-offenders in Australia: Assessing risk for practice and policy. A key priority of Australian governments is to improve community safety through reducing the risk of sex offenders re-offending after release from prison. This project will assess the validity of tools used to predict the risk of sexual offender recidivism and identify alternate risk assessment tools for Indigenous and non-Indigenous sex offenders.
Strengthening Australia's national integrity system. Strengthening Australia's national integrity system. This project aims to equip governments and civil society stakeholders with evidence-based options to improve the structure and operations of integrity institutions, by undertaking a second National Integrity System Assessment. Public integrity is vital to social and economic prosperity and the quality of democracy. This project intends to identify new, more effective strategies to prevent co ....Strengthening Australia's national integrity system. Strengthening Australia's national integrity system. This project aims to equip governments and civil society stakeholders with evidence-based options to improve the structure and operations of integrity institutions, by undertaking a second National Integrity System Assessment. Public integrity is vital to social and economic prosperity and the quality of democracy. This project intends to identify new, more effective strategies to prevent corruption and other integrity violations; coordinate the work of integrity institutions; ensure their accountability; and measure the effectiveness of integrity and anti-corruption policy settings. This research is expected to contribute to better evaluation of integrity policies worldwide.Read moreRead less
Missing girls: From childhood runaways to criminalised women. This study examines the link between girls declared ‘missing’ and their trajectory into the criminal justice system, expanding the Australian knowledge base along with providing a clear, tangible practice framework to prevent the drift into youth and adult criminal justice systems. By addressing concerns of practitioners and policy makers this significant research increases the visibility of a marginalised groups, exploring individual ....Missing girls: From childhood runaways to criminalised women. This study examines the link between girls declared ‘missing’ and their trajectory into the criminal justice system, expanding the Australian knowledge base along with providing a clear, tangible practice framework to prevent the drift into youth and adult criminal justice systems. By addressing concerns of practitioners and policy makers this significant research increases the visibility of a marginalised groups, exploring individual and systemic impacts of missing girls entering the criminal justice and welfare systems. Findings of this research will detail opportunities for early intervention for service providers in addition to rich empirical data to better inform policy makers and service developers targeting at risk young people. Read moreRead less
Optimising illicit dark net marketplace interventions. Optimising illicit dark net marketplace interventions. This project aims to develop and test a series of interventions to disrupt identify theft activities, and design an operational risk framework that will aid law enforcement agencies and organisations to timely and appropriately intervene in cyber space. The buying and selling of identity credentials via dark net forums is a significant and growing problem. This research— based on systems ....Optimising illicit dark net marketplace interventions. Optimising illicit dark net marketplace interventions. This project aims to develop and test a series of interventions to disrupt identify theft activities, and design an operational risk framework that will aid law enforcement agencies and organisations to timely and appropriately intervene in cyber space. The buying and selling of identity credentials via dark net forums is a significant and growing problem. This research— based on systems analyses of dark net forums, and bringing together researchers, practitioners, theories and methods from human factors, sociotechnical systems, criminology, and cyber security—is expected to increase understanding of the dark net and improve ways of disrupting identity theft and trading.Read moreRead less
Building an integrated system for Australian bushfire prevention. Building an integrated system for Australian bushfire prevention. This project aims to develop a comprehensive approach to prevent arson. Bushfires are a serious issue in Australia, made worse by climate change; since most of these fires are started by people, it is important to prevent arson. Building on previous work, this project intends to improve community responses, and build a model to predict risk and improve data sharing. ....Building an integrated system for Australian bushfire prevention. Building an integrated system for Australian bushfire prevention. This project aims to develop a comprehensive approach to prevent arson. Bushfires are a serious issue in Australia, made worse by climate change; since most of these fires are started by people, it is important to prevent arson. Building on previous work, this project intends to improve community responses, and build a model to predict risk and improve data sharing. The intended outcome is an all-risks approach to arson prevention and community engagement. This research should reduce the incidence of arson in Australia, and also be useful overseas.Read moreRead less
Targeted crime: policing and social inclusion. This project will undertake a criminological study of the policing of targeted incidents and crime, that is, incidents and crimes motivated by bias, prejudice or hatred towards members of particular groups, communities and individuals. It will develop a best practice policing framework for targeted crimes and incidents.