The Interaction Between The Host And Pathogen Genetics In Susceptibility To Pulmonary Tuberculosis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$390,294.00
Summary
People infected with the bacteria causing tuberculosis (TB) have different clinical fates. Some people remain well with dormant infections, some get lung disease and survive, others die. We are investigating the interplay between the human host and the bacteria causing disease by identifying genetic variants in both. This will enable us to determine what is important in the defence against this disease. Knowledge of the different TB disease processes is critical for future rational design of new ....People infected with the bacteria causing tuberculosis (TB) have different clinical fates. Some people remain well with dormant infections, some get lung disease and survive, others die. We are investigating the interplay between the human host and the bacteria causing disease by identifying genetic variants in both. This will enable us to determine what is important in the defence against this disease. Knowledge of the different TB disease processes is critical for future rational design of new TB vaccines and treatments.Read moreRead less
This proposal uses the zebra fish system, which it is uniquely suited to investigate the regulation of disease genes. In all of these diseases preliminary work has already been performed and screening assays have been developed in a previous project (ZF-MODELS). In addition, the project will investigate genetic abnormalities of the eye and visual processing, genetic pathways underlying tissue regeneration and repair, and homologs of human genes related to diabetes and obesity, as well as infecti ....This proposal uses the zebra fish system, which it is uniquely suited to investigate the regulation of disease genes. In all of these diseases preliminary work has already been performed and screening assays have been developed in a previous project (ZF-MODELS). In addition, the project will investigate genetic abnormalities of the eye and visual processing, genetic pathways underlying tissue regeneration and repair, and homologs of human genes related to diabetes and obesity, as well as infectious disease and cancer. The Australian component will perform a systematic characterisation of enhancer elements of potential disease genes. This characterisation will build on the concept of genomic regulatory blocks (GRBs) which contain highly conserved non-coding elements (HCNEs) acting as long-range enhancers of developmental genes (recently discovered by T. Becker in the ZF-MODELS project).Read moreRead less