We have discovered a single tumour factor which causes cancer cachexia, a wasting condition that is one of the worst complications of malignancy, for which there is no current effective treatment. We have developed antibodies which effectively block this condition in preclinical models and have produced human/humanised version of this. This application is to characterise these human antibodies to allow us proceed to clinical trials.
Autonomous Functions for Smart Cars. The aim of this project is to develop autonomous functions for smart cars, such as lane departure warning, driver fatigue warning, and automatic lane following. Every year 70,000 people are killed in road accidents, 95% of which can be attributed to driver error. The potential outcomes of this project therefore significant. Many of the theoretical methods required for this project have been developed by our group. However, further theoretical refinements fo ....Autonomous Functions for Smart Cars. The aim of this project is to develop autonomous functions for smart cars, such as lane departure warning, driver fatigue warning, and automatic lane following. Every year 70,000 people are killed in road accidents, 95% of which can be attributed to driver error. The potential outcomes of this project therefore significant. Many of the theoretical methods required for this project have been developed by our group. However, further theoretical refinements followed by experimental verification is necessary. For smart cars to be accepted, the systems must be demonstrated to be reliable and to operate in a wide range of conditions.Read moreRead less
Affective sensing technology for the detection and monitoring of depression and melancholia. This project will develop reliable and affective sensing technology and evaluate it as an objective measure of depressive disorders; a leading cause of disability worldwide. Outcomes will significantly support and aid clinicians in their diagnosis and treatment, thus providing a major breakthrough with significant research, healthcare and commercial possibilities.
Location-Based Personalisation in Mobile Commerce (M-Commerce). M-commerce, though playing an important role in future competitiveness of Australia, suffers a low user demand. While location-based services have taken off in Europe, they are still at their infancy in Australia. In terms of IT access, Australia is ranked lower than many Asian countries. Our work gains an understanding of users' concerns and expectations of location-based services, which leads to better application designs and thus ....Location-Based Personalisation in Mobile Commerce (M-Commerce). M-commerce, though playing an important role in future competitiveness of Australia, suffers a low user demand. While location-based services have taken off in Europe, they are still at their infancy in Australia. In terms of IT access, Australia is ranked lower than many Asian countries. Our work gains an understanding of users' concerns and expectations of location-based services, which leads to better application designs and thus a wider adoption. An examination of users' attitude towards personalised content and concerns about data privacy provides insights to Australian legislation in relation to telemarketing and data-driven marketing. National benefits will stem from a balance between telemarketing efficiency and users' benefits.Read moreRead less
Automated internet warnings to prevent viewing of minor-adult sex images. Since the advent of the internet and digital cameras, the market for child exploitation material (CEM) has boomed. This project aims to explore how the visual appearance of warning messages influences internet users. It plans to conduct a randomised controlled experiment with naïve participants on a real-life website to test the effectiveness of messages designed to discourage viewers of legal ‘barely legal’ pornography. I ....Automated internet warnings to prevent viewing of minor-adult sex images. Since the advent of the internet and digital cameras, the market for child exploitation material (CEM) has boomed. This project aims to explore how the visual appearance of warning messages influences internet users. It plans to conduct a randomised controlled experiment with naïve participants on a real-life website to test the effectiveness of messages designed to discourage viewers of legal ‘barely legal’ pornography. It is anticipated that results will assist policing efforts by indicating whether warnings can be used to dissuade first-time CEM viewers and whether differences exist between harm or deterrent-focused messages.Read moreRead less
A NOVEL MOUSE MODEL TO INVESTIGATE THE MECHANISMS OF VIRUS-INDUCED ARTHRITIS
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$336,000.00
Summary
We have developed a novel animal model by which to study arthritic disease caused by insect-transmitted viruses known as arboviruses. The existence of this model and novel reagents provides an excellent opportunity to further explore the basic mechanisms of infectious disease in a complete functioning animal, rather than specific cultured cells. The study will use modern approaches in molecular and cellular biology to achieve this goal. The production by our immune systems of soluble mediators ( ....We have developed a novel animal model by which to study arthritic disease caused by insect-transmitted viruses known as arboviruses. The existence of this model and novel reagents provides an excellent opportunity to further explore the basic mechanisms of infectious disease in a complete functioning animal, rather than specific cultured cells. The study will use modern approaches in molecular and cellular biology to achieve this goal. The production by our immune systems of soluble mediators (cytokines-chemokines) and antibodies is an overwhelming positive aspect of our physiological response to infection by microbes. Protection from disease by these immune compounds can happen naturally, or the body's ability to produce these factors can be exploited to our benefit via the administration of vaccines. However, these factors can also be detrimental to the host contributing to severe disease. For instance, work performed almost 40 years ago showed for the first time that under particular conditions, antibodies against viruses can enhance infection, instead of inhibiting infection as normally seen. In the intervening years work by scientists all over the world has associated antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of infection to many types of viruses; ADE is even thought to be a risk factor to serious disease with dengue virus, and has been shown in vitro for the AIDS virus and Ebola virus. We have recently discovered a molecular mechanism which explains how antibody enhances viral infection in vitro. In studies on immune cells infected with Ross River Virus (RRV) we found that infection helped by antibody resulted in the specific disruption to the production of cellular chemicals which are toxic to viruses. Are these mechanisms of antibody-enhanced infection also found in animals? Will such mode of infection cause enhanced disease and tissue pathology (arthritis) in animals?Read moreRead less
Visual Analytics for Next Generation Sequencing. Next-generation sequencing technologies have brought a revolution in biology and healthcare, while taxing the ability of scientists and clinicians to identify and process relevant data, to make sense of it all and communicate it to others in a concise and meaningful way. This project aims to tackle this problem through fundamentally new approaches to data selection and visualisation at very large scale, actively encoding for insight into underlyin ....Visual Analytics for Next Generation Sequencing. Next-generation sequencing technologies have brought a revolution in biology and healthcare, while taxing the ability of scientists and clinicians to identify and process relevant data, to make sense of it all and communicate it to others in a concise and meaningful way. This project aims to tackle this problem through fundamentally new approaches to data selection and visualisation at very large scale, actively encoding for insight into underlying biological and biomedical processes, bringing sustainable discovery of new relationships and variations within the data. The project aims to support new approaches to medical diagnosis and treatment, and offer crucial lessons to address the broader challenge of understanding large, complex data sets.Read moreRead less
Computational Intelligence for Complex Structured Data. This project aims to use computational intelligence techniques to reliably learn adaptive natural human pointing and gestures to control an interface on a pseudo-3D display. Highly complex data with interconnections between elements is hard to visualise on screens. Most current tools are operated using point/click/drag on 2D screens. The physical technology to capture appropriate human behaviours exists already, but not the adaptive learnin ....Computational Intelligence for Complex Structured Data. This project aims to use computational intelligence techniques to reliably learn adaptive natural human pointing and gestures to control an interface on a pseudo-3D display. Highly complex data with interconnections between elements is hard to visualise on screens. Most current tools are operated using point/click/drag on 2D screens. The physical technology to capture appropriate human behaviours exists already, but not the adaptive learning of the syntax and semantics of individual gestures and actions, nor the multi-gesture information fusion required for understanding, which could significantly enhance efficiency, for example, in sorting through named entities in an investigation. All of this is done naturally by most human beings, using biological neural networks.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0347131
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$115,490.00
Summary
Intelligent Computer System to Access Information Directly from the Brain Using High Resolution Electroencephalography and Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. The ambitious aim of this project is to create a novel intelligent computer system which accesss information from the brain. To do this we use repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and high resolution Electroencephalography.
Robotics for the Real World: A Museum Tourguide Robot. This project will develop a tour guide robot for deployment into a real-world situation: providing tours at the Questacon museum in Canberra. Previously developed tour guide robots have all been limited in nature, similar to one-off laboratory experiments. This project aims to develop a world first: a truly robust and autonomous mobile robot that is continuously in service. This is a vital area for the future of robotics and has potential ....Robotics for the Real World: A Museum Tourguide Robot. This project will develop a tour guide robot for deployment into a real-world situation: providing tours at the Questacon museum in Canberra. Previously developed tour guide robots have all been limited in nature, similar to one-off laboratory experiments. This project aims to develop a world first: a truly robust and autonomous mobile robot that is continuously in service. This is a vital area for the future of robotics and has potential for spin-offs. The project will also develop necessary research results in the areas of mapping of dynamic environments, demonstrable safety, human-robot interaction, robot robustness and reliability, and Internet-based teleoperation.Read moreRead less