Biobank Networks, Medical Research And The Challenge Of Globalisation
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$790,698.00
Summary
Medical research increasingly relies on large-scale biobanks that store tissue samples from healthy donors or patients. Over the past decade, international networks of biobanks have been established. These are scientifically valuable but raise numerous legal and ethical challenges. In this project we will generate evidence to inform the development of ethically rigorous strategies to ensure that Australian donors and biobanks contribute to, and benefit from, international biobank networks.
VACCINE SAFETY RESEARCH In Understudied And At Risk Groups: Critical Knowledge To Inform Practice And Policy.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$290,041.00
Summary
Vaccines are typically given to healthy individuals and therefore safety issues loom high on the list of public concerns. Vaccine hesitancy due to safety concerns is an issue of increasing global interest and threatens to lower vaccine uptake. My research aims to understand why some people experience adverse reactions to vaccines, do genetic markers exist?, what are the long term outcomes of a vaccine reaction and how best to communicate vaccine risk/safety to the Australian community.
QTL Linkage Analysis For Complex Human Traits In Twin Families
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,000,000.00
Summary
This project will focus on finding genes for common human diseases. Now that the human genome has been sequenced, the race is on to find out what the estimated 38,000 human genes do and which ones are associated with which diseases. Scattered throughout the genome are small variations in DNA sequence, some of which increase the odds of disease while others are protective.
Epigenetic Biomarker Discovery For Cardiovascular Disease Risk Stratification Of Women Following Preeclampsia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,275,101.00
Summary
Those women whom have suffered from severe complications during pregnancy have an increased risk of developing heart disease. This increased risk may be due to epigenetic changes during pregnancy that alter the expression of specific genes. These epigenetic changes persist after birth and increase heart disease risk for these women. This project seeks to evaluate those epigenetic changes associated with severe pregnancy complications predicting heart disease in a large group of Australian women.
A Multi-ethnic Cohort And Intervention Trial To Identify Early Biomarkers For Type 2 Diabetes And Customise Individualized Environments For Disease Prevention
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$597,376.00
Summary
Diabetes is often called a lifestyle disease, however, large clinical studies have shown that diabetes cannot always be prevented through lifestyle modification. This collaborative study between Shanghai Institutes of Biological Science and Sydney University will identify biomarkers that predict the development of type 2 diabetes. Using this knowledge, the best interventions (including diet, exercise and medications) to improve an individual’s risk profile for type 2 diabetes will be identified.
Constructing Control Samples For The Australian And Other Populations: Improving Power And False Positive Rates In The Next Generation Of Genetic Association Studies With A Focus On Controlling For Fine-scale Population Structure In DNA Sequence Data
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$283,447.00
Summary
Individuals who live near each other tend to be more similar genetically than individuals who live in different parts of the world. One reason is that they share more of their genetic ancestry. There can be very subtle differences in patterns of genetic variation even within countries. Accounting for these subtle differences can be important for studies of the genetic basis of diseases. We will develop novel statistical methods to control for these genetic differences in disease studies.
The first kernels of cardiovascular disease begin very early in life; in the womb and early infancy. These early indications are known to track into adulthood, eventually resulting in diseases such as heart attacks. Dr Huang has found that childhood obesity, high blood pressure, cholesterol and a "prediabetes" profile, cluster together and additionally are associated with many factors in the womb and first few years of life. She investigates how to give babies the optimal healthy start.
Human Malarial Immunity And Assessment Of Emerging Artemisinin Resistance
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$312,570.00
Summary
Resistance to antimalarial drugs is a major global threat for malaria treatment, control and elimination. Assessment of the spread of resistance is severely impeded by the presence of host immunity. This project will identify population biomarkers of immunity during antimalarial treatment to include in studies of antimalarial resistance. These findings will facilitate the correct assessment of the global spread of antimalarial resistance.