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Nanoengineering materials to combat antimicrobial resistance. This project aims to understand how nanoengineered materials can be designed to kill bacteria and fungi without causing antimicrobial resistance. Resistance to antimicrobial drugs already leads to many thousands of deaths annually and costs society billions of dollars. Nanomaterials have unique abilities to attack microbes in multiple ways that could limit resistance. This project will engineer new antimicrobial nanomaterials tailored ....Nanoengineering materials to combat antimicrobial resistance. This project aims to understand how nanoengineered materials can be designed to kill bacteria and fungi without causing antimicrobial resistance. Resistance to antimicrobial drugs already leads to many thousands of deaths annually and costs society billions of dollars. Nanomaterials have unique abilities to attack microbes in multiple ways that could limit resistance. This project will engineer new antimicrobial nanomaterials tailored to selectively kill microbes with reduced likelihood of developing resistance by using synergies between inorganic nanoparticles and antimicrobial peptides. This technology could be used to prevent infections and biofilms on surfaces in a wide range of future applications, such as medical / veterinary devicesRead moreRead less
Drug Targeting to Immune Cells Using Modified Inulin Particles. Vaxine Pty Ltd is an Australian biotechnology company that has discovered specific particulate forms of inulin that are efficiently internalised by human immune cells. This project aims to exploit cell migration to injury and infection sites by attaching drugs to inulin particles creating a targeted drug delivery system. This system will transport drugs specifically to afflicted areas, reducing systemic concentrations of drugs and h ....Drug Targeting to Immune Cells Using Modified Inulin Particles. Vaxine Pty Ltd is an Australian biotechnology company that has discovered specific particulate forms of inulin that are efficiently internalised by human immune cells. This project aims to exploit cell migration to injury and infection sites by attaching drugs to inulin particles creating a targeted drug delivery system. This system will transport drugs specifically to afflicted areas, reducing systemic concentrations of drugs and hence the risks of dose related side effects. This project has potential both to improve healthcare and to encourage the growth of expertise in the biotechnology industry in Australia.Read moreRead less
Genetic selection of artificial polyketides. This project aims to harness the potential of synthetic biology to build cells that can make valuable new derivatives of polyketides. Polyketides are natural products that have proven to be highly effective for use in industry, medicine and agriculture. The technologies developed in this project will provide resources to discover new chemicals, accessible to almost any scientific laboratory. Expected outcomes include the opportunity to put the future ....Genetic selection of artificial polyketides. This project aims to harness the potential of synthetic biology to build cells that can make valuable new derivatives of polyketides. Polyketides are natural products that have proven to be highly effective for use in industry, medicine and agriculture. The technologies developed in this project will provide resources to discover new chemicals, accessible to almost any scientific laboratory. Expected outcomes include the opportunity to put the future of natural product discovery and optimisation in the hands of the wider scientific community, which will provide significant benefits, such as providing new tools for Australian industries.Read moreRead less
Next Generation Polymeric Scaffolds For Dual Agent Delivery. This project aims to provide a novel suite of degradable polymeric scaffolds for releasing multiple active agents with tailored release profiles by utilising both polymer and small molecule synthesis techniques. The project expects to generate new copolymers and polymer networks that exploit molecular architecture to regulate the release profile of the active agents incorporated. The expected outcome is the establishment of design crit ....Next Generation Polymeric Scaffolds For Dual Agent Delivery. This project aims to provide a novel suite of degradable polymeric scaffolds for releasing multiple active agents with tailored release profiles by utilising both polymer and small molecule synthesis techniques. The project expects to generate new copolymers and polymer networks that exploit molecular architecture to regulate the release profile of the active agents incorporated. The expected outcome is the establishment of design criteria for tailoring the release of active agent from the polymer scaffold. This should provide significant benefits by developing a new technology platform that could be readily adapted to applications in agriculture, pharmaceutical science and veterinary medicine where controlled release is required.
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Antibacterial Material Design via Mechanism-Based Mathematical Modelling. This Project aims to provide new rules for the design of novel polymer materials with antibacterial properties by employing mechanism-based mathematical modelling.
This Project expects to generate new understanding of those mechanisms which underpin the antibacterial activity of these materials, how bacteria respond to these through metabolic changes and emergence of resistance.These rules will govern material design to yi ....Antibacterial Material Design via Mechanism-Based Mathematical Modelling. This Project aims to provide new rules for the design of novel polymer materials with antibacterial properties by employing mechanism-based mathematical modelling.
This Project expects to generate new understanding of those mechanisms which underpin the antibacterial activity of these materials, how bacteria respond to these through metabolic changes and emergence of resistance.These rules will govern material design to yield new antibacterial materials with improved properties.
Expected outcomes of this project may be a novel mechanism-based mathematical model that will enable the next-generation of antibacterial materials.
This outcome will help address the increasing economic and social burden of antibiotic drug resistance in Australia.
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Unleashing the Hidden Chemical Diversity in Australian Fungi. This project aims to exploit an exclusive genomic resource consisting of >150 unique Australian filamentous fungi that has been built in a university-industry collaboration for genomic-guided biodiscovery. The genome sequence of these fungi revealed extensive hidden genetic instructions for production of novel biologically active molecules. The project will apply cutting-edge synthetic biology and chemical tools to tap into the hidden ....Unleashing the Hidden Chemical Diversity in Australian Fungi. This project aims to exploit an exclusive genomic resource consisting of >150 unique Australian filamentous fungi that has been built in a university-industry collaboration for genomic-guided biodiscovery. The genome sequence of these fungi revealed extensive hidden genetic instructions for production of novel biologically active molecules. The project will apply cutting-edge synthetic biology and chemical tools to tap into the hidden genomic potential of these Australian fungi. Expected outcomes of this project include new fine chemicals and lead molecules with desirable bioactivies. This will provide significant benefits to Australia's economy through the discovery of new pharmaceuticals, veterinary products and agrichemicals.Read moreRead less
Atomic details of antimicrobial peptides at work in live cells. This project aims to develop methods to determine the detailed structure of biologically important molecules in live cells to better understand how biomolecular structure is related to disease. The structure at the atomic level of the molecules of life is usually characterised by crystal or solution studies in model systems. However, the structure of many biologically important molecules depends on their environment. Using new instr ....Atomic details of antimicrobial peptides at work in live cells. This project aims to develop methods to determine the detailed structure of biologically important molecules in live cells to better understand how biomolecular structure is related to disease. The structure at the atomic level of the molecules of life is usually characterised by crystal or solution studies in model systems. However, the structure of many biologically important molecules depends on their environment. Using new instrumentation and labelling schemes, the project plans to use nuclear magnetic resonance methods to study antibiotics and antimicrobial peptides in live bacteria and human cells. The goal is to resolve how these molecules cross cell membranes and how biomolecular structure is related to activity, which may advance development in biotechnology and therapeutic treatments against drug-resistant infections.Read moreRead less
Generation and exploitation of novel fermentation products in the synthesis of biologically active organic compounds with therapeutic potential. Collections of new micro-organisms and their metabolites suitable for use in the synthesis of potential therapeutic agents will be established. The combined application of molecular biological, microbiological and chemical synthesis techniques in a concerted manner in the one location will lead to major new opportunities for Australian industry.
Perturbation of the extracellular architecture to promote the absorption and lymphatic transport of biological macromolecules. Macromolecules therapeutics such as proteins, antibodies or polymer conjugates pose a number of pharmaceutical challenges. Where the dose is high, drainage of that dose from a subcutaneous injection site into the circulation, poses a particular problem. Here the project aims to explore how recombinant hyaluronidase, an enzyme that breaks down a structural component (hya ....Perturbation of the extracellular architecture to promote the absorption and lymphatic transport of biological macromolecules. Macromolecules therapeutics such as proteins, antibodies or polymer conjugates pose a number of pharmaceutical challenges. Where the dose is high, drainage of that dose from a subcutaneous injection site into the circulation, poses a particular problem. Here the project aims to explore how recombinant hyaluronidase, an enzyme that breaks down a structural component (hyaluronan) of the interstitum, can be used promote absorption into the draining blood and lymph capillaries. The project aims to also explore the downstream effects of hyaluronidase on lymph nodes and evaluate whether the enzyme is able to temporarily disrupt the lymph node structure and promote drug penetration into the lymph node mass. This has significant potential for improved drug targeting.Read moreRead less
Understanding the Cellular Pathways of Nuclear Receptor Activation. The success of drug treatment depends critically on specificity, i.e., stimulation of a therapeutic response at a target site, and avoidance of activity at other (potentially toxic) locations. This project aims to explore how drug interactions with binding proteins in the cytosol can induce nuclear transport and tissue specific activation of nuclear receptors - a major drug target. The project intends to employ molecular, struct ....Understanding the Cellular Pathways of Nuclear Receptor Activation. The success of drug treatment depends critically on specificity, i.e., stimulation of a therapeutic response at a target site, and avoidance of activity at other (potentially toxic) locations. This project aims to explore how drug interactions with binding proteins in the cytosol can induce nuclear transport and tissue specific activation of nuclear receptors - a major drug target. The project intends to employ molecular, structural and cell biology approaches to map drug-binding protein-receptor interactions and to determine how the structure of these complexes dictates receptor activation. The data could provide a roadmap to design drugs that interact with the right protein in the right tissue and in doing so dramatically enhance drug specificity.Read moreRead less