Exploring The Contribution Of The Immunoproteasome To Immunodominance And T Cell Function
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$82,421.00
Summary
The immunoproteasome is a piece of cellular machinery which degrades proteins and has been shown to enhance the body's recognition and response to viruses and cancer cells. This immunoproteasome is made up of various subunits, but it has not yet been assessed how each of these subunits contribute to the overall response. By studying the individual subunits, we will have a better understanding in how to manipulate the immune system for anti-viral and anti-cancer vaccine design.
Modelling The Evolution Of Hepatitis C Virus By Integrating Large Sequence- And Immunological-databases.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$289,980.00
Summary
Two hundred million people are infected with the Hepatitis C virus. There is no vaccine and the rate at which new strains of the virus arise enable it to evade the human immune system. This study aims to decipher how new viral strains are generated and transmitted, thereby enabling the development of new vaccines.
Centrosome Overduplication Contributes To Tumorigenesis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$495,010.00
Summary
Cancer can be simplistically thought of as a disease of cell growth and division. In order to improve current treatment regimes and identify new ones, the underlying mechanisms controlling cell proliferation need to be fully understood. By defining these regulatory mechanisms, targets for current chemotherapeutic agents can be further characterised and new ones identified. This will lead to the targeted developments of new classes of drugs which can be used in the fight against cancer.
The Role Of CYP2E1 In Ethanol-mediated Protein Damage And Its Impact On Proteolytic Processing In The ER
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$179,239.00
Summary
Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is the primary factor leading to mortality in chronic alcohol abusers. Alcoholic patients possess antibodies to damaged proteins in their bloodstreams, which indicates an underlying level of oxidative damage is occurring in their livers. The antibodies to these damaged proteins could trigger the destruction of liver cells. Alternatively, the damaged proteins themselves could result in cell death because of the way they are degraded in a particular compartment of the ....Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is the primary factor leading to mortality in chronic alcohol abusers. Alcoholic patients possess antibodies to damaged proteins in their bloodstreams, which indicates an underlying level of oxidative damage is occurring in their livers. The antibodies to these damaged proteins could trigger the destruction of liver cells. Alternatively, the damaged proteins themselves could result in cell death because of the way they are degraded in a particular compartment of the cell, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). An enzyme, CYP2E1, has been demonstrated to produce the types of chemicals that damage proteins and it is significantly increased in the liver by alcohol consumption. The current scientific proposal is aimed at determining whether CYP2E1 induction by ethanol contributes to ALD by perturbing the normal cellular disposal of damaged proteins in the ER.Read moreRead less