Investigation Of The Roles Of Foxn1, Wnts And Autophagy In The Development And Function Of Thymic Epithelial Cells.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$220,222.00
Summary
The immune system usually protects the body from infections. Occasionally, the immune system mistakenly recognises components of the body as foreign and attacks them, resulting in autoimmune diseases such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis and arthritis. An organ called the thymus is responsible for educating the immune system, and preventing autoimmune diseases. The proposed project will explore how the thymus develops, and how it teaches the immune system to ignore normal components of the body.
Immunopathogenesis Of Organ-specific Autoimmune Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$284,638.00
Summary
The immune system normally protects against invasion by pathogens such as harmful viruses and bacteria. In autoimmune diseases the same mechanisms that are used to protect us are erroneously targeted to our own tissues. Our studies will employ state-of-the art technologies to further our knowledge of this class of diseases and to uncover the normal mechanisms that allow the immune system to differentiate foreign and self components.
The Role Of Post-translationally Modified Antigen In Rheumatoid Arthritis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$609,535.00
Summary
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory disease of joints. People who get RA often develop antibodies which react against proteins found in inflamed joints. We will investigate why cells of the immune system react against these proteins in RA, and identify which joint proteins, especially abnormal proteins, are targeted. This will allow us to design new approaches to treat RA in a way that just targets the response to these abnormal proteins, rather than the entire immune system.