We have entered an era where it is now possible to sequence an individual's genetic blueprint. In the case of cancer this can be used to determine the genetic damage that has occurred in cancer cells. This fellowship seeks to carry out large scale sequencing of cancer patient and map out the genetic damage that is common to get a handle on what drives the disease. It will also investigate how personalized mutation detection might improve cancer treatment selection for individual patients.
Cancer remains a significant clinical problem and causes considerable morbidity and mortality in society. Prof Maria Kavallaris is an international leader in cancer biology, therapy and the development of less toxic therapies for cancer using nanotechnology. Her vision is to build a leading program of applied research to develop treatments for aggressive disease that will reduce the impact and improve the outcomes for cancer patients.
System-based Approaches To Inform The Design Of Immunotherapies And Immunodiagnostics Against Chronic Pathogens
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$849,540.00
Summary
Chronic infectious diseases such as malaria are responsible for an enormous public health burden worldwide. New approaches to develop effective interventions against such pathogens are urgently required. Over the next 5 years, I will use innovative genome-based and systems-levels approaches to discover novel pathogen antigens and host immune pathways that underlie protective immunity, immunomodulatory pathways that can be then targeted for intervention, and biomarkers of immunity or disease.
Most common diseases of ageing like diabetes and cancer have proven intractable because much of our knowledge is limited to individual molecules. This proposal takes a global approach to complex diseases, utilising quantitative high-resolution methods and computational modelling. This research will lead to a completely new way of thinking about complex diseases providing a range of completely novel treatment options.
Senior Research Fellowship In Lipoprotein Metabolism
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$804,106.00
Summary
A physiologist describing metabolic pathways and mechanisms that regulate lipoprotein metabolism in in vitro and in vivo systems. My research uses complex tracer studies and mathematical modelling to identify and quantitate pathways of lipid metabolism in normal and diseased states prior to and following lifestyle and/or pharmacological interventions. The focus of my research is on cardiovascular disease risk reduction.
Personalised Genomics In Precision Medicine Of Psychotic Illness
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$631,370.00
Summary
This research program will utilise recent developments in genomic technology to make detailed high-resolution genetic maps of individuals with psychotic illness. Where conventional gene discovery approaches focus on differences at the population level this program will integrate the variation within individuals to determine the network architecture. This will be used to generate genetic profiles for personalised medicine and provide the basis for treatments that are tailored to individuals.
Male Reproductive Health Including Prostate Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$727,685.00
Summary
My previous contributions to Andrology and Endocrinology of the Testis provide me with a significant breadth of expertise and a sustained record of contribution to Men’s Reproductive Health. My recent research effort has focused on Urology and prostate cancer. Through my prostate cancer research program, my overall strategy is to understand the biology of the prostate gland to enable the development of new therapies for prostate cancer, as well as for BPH (enlargement of the prostate) and prosta ....My previous contributions to Andrology and Endocrinology of the Testis provide me with a significant breadth of expertise and a sustained record of contribution to Men’s Reproductive Health. My recent research effort has focused on Urology and prostate cancer. Through my prostate cancer research program, my overall strategy is to understand the biology of the prostate gland to enable the development of new therapies for prostate cancer, as well as for BPH (enlargement of the prostate) and prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate gland).Read moreRead less
Multiscale Analysis Of Plasma Membrane Microdomains In Health And Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$863,413.00
Summary
The cell surface encloses the cell in a protective barrier but it must also respond to signals coming from outside the cell. To accomplish this, the cell surface is made up of numerous regions each with a specialised role. This proposal aims to examine how lipids and proteins work together to make these specialised regions and aims to understand what goes wrong in diseases such as muscular dystrophy.
Malaria is a devastating disease of global significance. With mounting resistance to current drugs and no licensed malaria vaccine, there is a pressing need to search for new strategies to reduce the global burden of malaria. My research program aims to understand how the parasites that cause malaria extensively renovate the cells in which they reside and subvert their host so that they can thrive and survive, with a view to identifying new pathways that can be targeted by drugs or vaccines.
Structural Studies Of The Molecular Machinery Regulating Cell Death
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$638,517.00
Summary
Our bodies use a process called Programmed Cell Death to remove unwanted or dangerous cells. This work aims to understand the machinery that regulates this process at the molecular level. These insights will inform the development of drugs aimed at either initiating cell death when required, for example in cancer, or at inhibiting it when excessive cell death causes disease.