TeraHertz Cell Cluster Imaging. With this program, Australia will benefit from the interaction between physics, engineering, biology and medicine to develop a new TeraHertz imaging system. The project will identify the factors that contribute to TeraHertz contrast in soft tissue cell cultures, thereby developing a non-invasive imaging system to show contrast between diseased and healthy cells. This is a fundamental step towards a system for diagnosing disease states of skin cells, for example, t ....TeraHertz Cell Cluster Imaging. With this program, Australia will benefit from the interaction between physics, engineering, biology and medicine to develop a new TeraHertz imaging system. The project will identify the factors that contribute to TeraHertz contrast in soft tissue cell cultures, thereby developing a non-invasive imaging system to show contrast between diseased and healthy cells. This is a fundamental step towards a system for diagnosing disease states of skin cells, for example, the early detection of melanoma. Ultimately, Australia will benefit from a new technology, and new diagnostic biomedical techniques, for rapid, non-invasive and reliable skin cancer diagnosis.Read moreRead less
Breaking The Wavelength Barrier: Near-Field T-ray Imaging. Australia will benefit from the interaction between engineering, physics, and biology to develop a new T-ray imaging system that will ultimately be able to probe microstructures, biological single cells or even neurons. The project will exploit a powerful new electrooptical technique for obtaining chemical 'fingerprints' at the cellular level. This breakthrough will be a fundamental step towards a system for probing disease states of sin ....Breaking The Wavelength Barrier: Near-Field T-ray Imaging. Australia will benefit from the interaction between engineering, physics, and biology to develop a new T-ray imaging system that will ultimately be able to probe microstructures, biological single cells or even neurons. The project will exploit a powerful new electrooptical technique for obtaining chemical 'fingerprints' at the cellular level. This breakthrough will be a fundamental step towards a system for probing disease states of single cells and will open up new lines of scientific enquiry. Ultimately, Australia will benefit from a new technology and new diagnostic biomedical techniques. This is potentially an enabling technology for future customised medicine, where rapid biochip sensing becomes foreseeable.Read moreRead less
Towards a miniaturised on-chip terahertz biosensing system. Terahertz (or T-ray) radiation is highly sensitive to minute changes in the molecular structure of many substances. Furthermore most packing materials are transparent to this new form of radiation. This implies enormous potential for T-rays in a range of applications from quality control via non-invasive contact-less chemical fingerprinting through to safety and security applications. A detailed study of the molecular vibrations that gi ....Towards a miniaturised on-chip terahertz biosensing system. Terahertz (or T-ray) radiation is highly sensitive to minute changes in the molecular structure of many substances. Furthermore most packing materials are transparent to this new form of radiation. This implies enormous potential for T-rays in a range of applications from quality control via non-invasive contact-less chemical fingerprinting through to safety and security applications. A detailed study of the molecular vibrations that give rise to these fingerprints will help chemists and biologists to learn more about the underlying molecular binding forces, impacting on wide applications for safe non-invasive sensing in the medical, security, chemical and food industries.Read moreRead less
Interactions of Insulin-like Growth Factors and their Binding Proteins with Vitronectin: a structural basis for antagonist design and development. Tissue Therapies Ltd has shown that a patented combination of three biosynthetic molecules, VitroGroR, can promote tissue repair effectively. This project will use biophysical and biochemical techniques to investigate precisely how these molecules interact, and hence provide a rational basis for future developments and improvements of this exciting n ....Interactions of Insulin-like Growth Factors and their Binding Proteins with Vitronectin: a structural basis for antagonist design and development. Tissue Therapies Ltd has shown that a patented combination of three biosynthetic molecules, VitroGroR, can promote tissue repair effectively. This project will use biophysical and biochemical techniques to investigate precisely how these molecules interact, and hence provide a rational basis for future developments and improvements of this exciting new therapeutic strategy.
Conversely, this information would also facilitate the development of antagonists to VitroGroR complexes would provide novel opportunities to treat diseases such as cancer and atherosclerosis that involve excessive production of its component molecules.Read moreRead less
Molecular, genetic and cellular analysis of melanisation in human pigmentation. This investigation examines variations in the genes that determine human skin pigmentation and are likely to be associated with skin cancer risk. Our research program will form the basis of future diagnostics based on major genes that determine a persons skin type. Current skin cancer prevention strategies rely predominantly on broad spectrum campaigns that are aimed at increasing the general community awareness of ....Molecular, genetic and cellular analysis of melanisation in human pigmentation. This investigation examines variations in the genes that determine human skin pigmentation and are likely to be associated with skin cancer risk. Our research program will form the basis of future diagnostics based on major genes that determine a persons skin type. Current skin cancer prevention strategies rely predominantly on broad spectrum campaigns that are aimed at increasing the general community awareness of the damaging effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation. A better understanding of the genetic basis of UV-sensitive skin types will greatly enhance the targeting of such skin cancer-prevention campaigns, provide an understanding of changes that occur in skin pathology, and the mechanisms of sun induced tanning.Read moreRead less
Biochemistry of tropoelastin and elastin. Elastin is the main protein responsible for the elasticity of vertebrate tissues. The Weiss Lab makes large quantities of full-length tropoelastin, which is crosslinked to make elastin. We want to examine the biochemistry of tropoelastin, learn how its domains participate in elastin structure and assembly, and explore cellular responses to our synthetic elastin biomaterial. Remarkably little is known of this biochemistry because elastin is a highly cross ....Biochemistry of tropoelastin and elastin. Elastin is the main protein responsible for the elasticity of vertebrate tissues. The Weiss Lab makes large quantities of full-length tropoelastin, which is crosslinked to make elastin. We want to examine the biochemistry of tropoelastin, learn how its domains participate in elastin structure and assembly, and explore cellular responses to our synthetic elastin biomaterial. Remarkably little is known of this biochemistry because elastin is a highly cross-linked and substantially insoluble macroscopic network of tropoelastin multimers. Our availability of tropoelastin and synthetic elastin now makes these studies possible.Read moreRead less
Biochemistry of tropoelastin and elastin: the molecular architecture of elastic fibre assembly. Elastin destruction drives the progression of emphysema, a major component of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease which is a major cause of death. Loss of elastin leads to profound blockage of arteries. If we are to treat these problems we need to know how to make and repair elastin. This research will enable us to discover how elastin is constructed and define its interacting partners. We will lear ....Biochemistry of tropoelastin and elastin: the molecular architecture of elastic fibre assembly. Elastin destruction drives the progression of emphysema, a major component of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease which is a major cause of death. Loss of elastin leads to profound blockage of arteries. If we are to treat these problems we need to know how to make and repair elastin. This research will enable us to discover how elastin is constructed and define its interacting partners. We will learn how to make tissue components found in parts of the body that expand and contract such as the arteries, lung and skin. We will learn about the molecular mechanisms of elastin assembly and cell interactions, which gives us the core molecular toolkit to repair elastin tissue.Read moreRead less
Combined genetic and cellular analysis of melanisation to study variation in human pigmentation. This investigation examines variations in the genes that are important determinants of human skin pigmentation and are likely to be associated with skin cancer risk. Our research program will form the basis of future diagnostics based on major genes that determine a persons skin type. Current skin cancer prevention strategies rely predominantly on broad spectrum campaigns that are aimed at increasi ....Combined genetic and cellular analysis of melanisation to study variation in human pigmentation. This investigation examines variations in the genes that are important determinants of human skin pigmentation and are likely to be associated with skin cancer risk. Our research program will form the basis of future diagnostics based on major genes that determine a persons skin type. Current skin cancer prevention strategies rely predominantly on broad spectrum campaigns that are aimed at increasing the general community awareness of the damaging effects of UV radiation. A better understanding of the genetic basis of UV-sensitive skin types will greatly enhance the targeting of such skin cancer-prevention campaigns, provide an understanding of changes that occur in skin pathology, and the mechanisms of sun induced tanning.Read moreRead less
Parallel genetic and cellular analysis of melanogensis: A new paradigm to study variation in pigmentation. This is the first attempt to characterise the differences in human pigmentation using a combined genetic and cellular analysis of melanogenesis. We have the ability to culture the pigmenting cells of the human epidermis and hair follicles called melanocytes from individuals of defined genotype. This will allow us to correlate mutations in melanosomal proteins with functional defects withi ....Parallel genetic and cellular analysis of melanogensis: A new paradigm to study variation in pigmentation. This is the first attempt to characterise the differences in human pigmentation using a combined genetic and cellular analysis of melanogenesis. We have the ability to culture the pigmenting cells of the human epidermis and hair follicles called melanocytes from individuals of defined genotype. This will allow us to correlate mutations in melanosomal proteins with functional defects within the cells in culture using live cell imaging, electron microscopy and biochemical analysis. This will provide a molecular basis to explain the pigmentary characteristics of individuals allowing prediction and diagnosis of their photosensitivity with important implications for skin cancer risk.Read moreRead less
The role of palmitoylation in hair follicle and epidermal stem cell biology. A proteins activity can be shaped by sugar, phosphate and lipid modifications. This proposal will investigate the effects of the lipid modification called palmitoylation, about which we know very little. Our preliminary experiments suggest that palmitoylation is crucial for normal skin biology. We will explore its effects on the biology of the proteins which are modified, the cells in which they are found and the tis ....The role of palmitoylation in hair follicle and epidermal stem cell biology. A proteins activity can be shaped by sugar, phosphate and lipid modifications. This proposal will investigate the effects of the lipid modification called palmitoylation, about which we know very little. Our preliminary experiments suggest that palmitoylation is crucial for normal skin biology. We will explore its effects on the biology of the proteins which are modified, the cells in which they are found and the tissues in which they reside. Understanding more about these modifications will help us to learn more about the biology of our skin and will help us to understand diseases which affect our largest organ.Read moreRead less