Advanced New Therapeutics And Diagnostics In Retinal Diseases And Glaucoma
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,550,944.00
Summary
This program proposal targets the most common blinding diseases in clinical ophthalmology. The applicant team includes research and clinical ophthalmologists and basic scientists. The team have an internationally established reputation in bringing basic science discoveries to the point where they can impact directly on clinical diagnosis and therapy. The proposed research includes new treatment therapies for diabetic retinopathy, age related macular degeneration, and retinal vascular diseases. A ....This program proposal targets the most common blinding diseases in clinical ophthalmology. The applicant team includes research and clinical ophthalmologists and basic scientists. The team have an internationally established reputation in bringing basic science discoveries to the point where they can impact directly on clinical diagnosis and therapy. The proposed research includes new treatment therapies for diabetic retinopathy, age related macular degeneration, and retinal vascular diseases. A new diagnostic technique for glaucoma and new instrumentation for detecting areas of poor blood flow and oxygen supply in the eye are also to be developed. Past successes in our current program grant make us confident that we can produce clinically useful outcomes from this new proposal.Read moreRead less
Atherosclerosis: Lipoproteins, Cell Biology And Vascular Physiology
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,461,682.00
Summary
The world is confronting a major new epidemic of premature heart disease that is being driven by a global increase in obesity. There are several factors that contribute to the increased risk of heart disease in overweight and obese people. One is a low blood level of the “good” HDL cholesterol that normally protects against heart disease. Another relates to a decreased ability to remove cholesterol from the walls of arteries where it builds up to cause heart disease. A third is the fact that obe ....The world is confronting a major new epidemic of premature heart disease that is being driven by a global increase in obesity. There are several factors that contribute to the increased risk of heart disease in overweight and obese people. One is a low blood level of the “good” HDL cholesterol that normally protects against heart disease. Another relates to a decreased ability to remove cholesterol from the walls of arteries where it builds up to cause heart disease. A third is the fact that obesity is associated with a state of chronic inflammation of the blood vessels. This inflammation not only accelerates the development of heart disease but also makes people who have cholesterol accumulated in their arteries more likely to actually have a heart attack. And a fourth is the fact that the lining of blood vessels does not function normally in overweight and obese people. This loss of normal function is a very early sign of future heart disease. These factors are closely inter-related, with the “good” HDL playing a central role in removing cholesterol from arteries, inhibiting arterial inflammation and promoting normal function and repair of the lining of blood vessels. HDL is complex, consisting of a mixture of several subpopulations of particles that vary in shape, size and composition. Furthermore, these HDL subpopulations are continually remodelled as they circulate in blood in reactions promoted by a number of blood factors that change their size and composition. A major component of the research to be conducted in this program relates to understanding how the HDL subpopulations in human blood are regulated and how they protect against heart disease. The applicants have already made major contributions to understanding the functions of the “good” HDLs, how they take cholesterol out of cells in the artery wall, how they inhibit inflammation of the arteries and how they improve the function of the artery lining. We propose to extend these studies to establish how these protective functions can be enhanced, to find out which of the HDL subpopulations are most protective, and to identify how to increase the most protective HDLs in people at risk of heart disease.Read moreRead less
Improved Respiratory Support And Outcomes For Very Preterm Babies
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$9,185,907.00
Summary
Premature babies are born with lungs that are not developed enough to sustain their breathing needs after birth. As a result, they need intensive care which is the most costly and challenging problem in newborn medicine as these infants can suffer life-long diseases because of their early birth. This programs study will help to understand the causes of lung disease in premature babies and develop better ways of caring for them to improve their chances of survival without ongoing illness and disa ....Premature babies are born with lungs that are not developed enough to sustain their breathing needs after birth. As a result, they need intensive care which is the most costly and challenging problem in newborn medicine as these infants can suffer life-long diseases because of their early birth. This programs study will help to understand the causes of lung disease in premature babies and develop better ways of caring for them to improve their chances of survival without ongoing illness and disabilityRead moreRead less
This Program Grant investigates a number of important reproductive problems that affect the fertility of men, prostate cancer and the way the mother nurtures and protects the baby during pregnancy. The successful development of sperm requires the proper function of a number of biological processes. This grant investigates the way in which sperm are produced, the genes that are needed to control their development, and the way sperm propel themselves and fertilize the egg. The research also invest ....This Program Grant investigates a number of important reproductive problems that affect the fertility of men, prostate cancer and the way the mother nurtures and protects the baby during pregnancy. The successful development of sperm requires the proper function of a number of biological processes. This grant investigates the way in which sperm are produced, the genes that are needed to control their development, and the way sperm propel themselves and fertilize the egg. The research also investigates how sperm are protected during their development from infection and immunological rejection, achieved in part by a special environment within the tubes in the testis where they grow. It appears that the general mechanisms that the body uses to combat infections are modified within the testis and the way in which this occurs may provide clues that could be applied to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs in general. Some of the substances that control these processes appear to play an important role in the body�s defense against infection. The grant also investigates the processes that are involved in the development of prostate cancer. These changes can occur over many years and the grant will study some substances that appear to be involved. The work will provide new knowledge that may assist in new tests to identify whether a cancer is slow or fast growing, thereby helping each man to decide the most sensible form of treatment. The grant will investigate how a group of proteins, that also are involved in the control of processes discussed above, assist the mother in protecting her baby during pregnancy. The outcomes will assist in the management of disturbances of pregnancy that may put the fetus at risk of survival.Read moreRead less
Development And Refinement Of Neural Connections In The Adult Brain In Health And Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$8,061,596.00
Summary
Our group will use innovative approaches such as advanced imaging and cell-sorting and development of animal models to determine how new neurons are generated, how they travel to different parts of the brain and how they integrate into the existing brain circuitry. These discoveries will point to new ways in which to treat brain damage both during ageing and during pathology. Since team members have previously been involved in progressing molecular discovery to clinical trials, we are also in a ....Our group will use innovative approaches such as advanced imaging and cell-sorting and development of animal models to determine how new neurons are generated, how they travel to different parts of the brain and how they integrate into the existing brain circuitry. These discoveries will point to new ways in which to treat brain damage both during ageing and during pathology. Since team members have previously been involved in progressing molecular discovery to clinical trials, we are also in a good position to exploit these discoveries in partnership with the biopharmaceutical industry.Read moreRead less
To understand the genetic basis of two of the most important cancers in women, breast and ovarian cancer. The team has already identified one gene that confers a very high risk of breast cancer and may account for a large proportion of 'familial' breast cancer. Their aim is to identify additional predisposition genes and to determine their normal function in the cell, as well as the way in which they contribute to the development of cancer
Proteases, Their Inhibitors And Receptors In Degenerative Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$5,843,388.00
Summary
Many of the themes of this program are aimed at understanding the molecular basis of several important degenerative diseases that in particular affect the ageing population. These include osteoporosis, arthritis, periodontal disease, wasting diseases of muscle and inherited disorders such as antitrypsin deficiency. The five CI’s on this application have formed a collaborative network since 1996. Dr Whisstock is a bioinformatician and structural biologist with a research focus on the serpin super ....Many of the themes of this program are aimed at understanding the molecular basis of several important degenerative diseases that in particular affect the ageing population. These include osteoporosis, arthritis, periodontal disease, wasting diseases of muscle and inherited disorders such as antitrypsin deficiency. The five CI’s on this application have formed a collaborative network since 1996. Dr Whisstock is a bioinformatician and structural biologist with a research focus on the serpin superfamily of protease inhibitors and their protease partners. He is currently the scientific director of the Victorian Bioinformatics Consortium and an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow. Dr Bird is an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow who discovered the intracellular branch of the serpin superfamily and formulated the hypothesis that describes their function. A-Prof Mackie is a world expert in the field of musculoskeletal biology and pathology. Dr Bottomley is a Senior Logan Fellow and RD Wright Fellow whose research focuses upon how proteins misfold and lead to disease. Dr Pike is an enzymologist whose research area encompasses a wide range of bacterial and mammalian proteases involved in the pathology of human disease. Each individual in this team brings different skills which makes this a very important and powerful collaboration. The research is extensive and involves protein folding, enzyme kinetics, molecular modelling, structural biology, bioinformatics, cell biology and pathology, enzyme kinetics and drug design. Collectively the CI’s have a total of 154 papers since 1998, of which a third include two or more of the CI’s as co-authors. Currently the team holds over >$5 million in grant funding. The team is augmented by four P.I.s: Dr Buckle is a talented structural biologist; Dr Scott is a molecular cell biologist who holds an NHMRC CJ Martin Fellow; Dr Garcia de la Banda is a computer scientist based at Monash and Dr Grigoryev is a world expert in chromatin condensation based at Penn State University (USA).Read moreRead less
Tropical Infectious Diseases - Pathogenisis And Vaccine Research
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$7,311,989.00
Summary
The diseases on which three themes of the work proposed centre, malaria, streptococcal diseases and scabies are infectious diseases largely affecting indigenous people in various parts of the world on a massive scale, for which there are no vaccines. The aim of the work is to develop vaccines or other biological prevention measures against each of these diseases and the problems that need to be solved are similar. The team includes senior experts on thebiology of infectious diseases with long hi ....The diseases on which three themes of the work proposed centre, malaria, streptococcal diseases and scabies are infectious diseases largely affecting indigenous people in various parts of the world on a massive scale, for which there are no vaccines. The aim of the work is to develop vaccines or other biological prevention measures against each of these diseases and the problems that need to be solved are similar. The team includes senior experts on thebiology of infectious diseases with long histories of collaboration as well as younger members with impressive credentials that are new to the collaboration. The fourth theme of the work proposed is concerned with inventive new ways of making such vaccines by novelchemical methods. It has already been the subject of published collaborative work onstreptococcal disease and is equally applicable to the other themes.Read moreRead less