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Mechanobiology Of Epithelial Homeostasis In Health And Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$876,005.00
Summary
Epithelial tissues, such as the lung, fundamentally protect the body from its external environment. For this, they must detect and respond to danger. My work has discovered a new biological system where cells monitor changes in mechanical forces as a sign of danger. Diseases such as inflammation and cancer occur when this detection system fails. This Fellowship builds on my lab’s pioneering work to understand how force is used to sense danger, and how disease occurs when it goes awry.
Respiratory Phenotyping For New Targeted Approaches To Treat Sleep Apnoea
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$631,370.00
Summary
>9% of Australians have obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). OSA has several causes. Untreated OSA is associated with major health consequences. <50% of OSA patients tolerate the main therapy, continuous positive airway pressure. New treatments are urgently required. This proposal aims to use & develop novel approaches to identify the causes of OSA on a per patient basis, improve current therapies & test if new targeted therapies can be used to treat OSA in appropriately selected patients.
Understanding The Impact Of Preterm Birth On Development: Improving Outcomes For Preterm Infants.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$823,008.00
Summary
Approximately 10% of babies are born prematurely and many suffer long-term health problems. Our aim is to understand how premature birth affects the development of the cardiovascular, respiratory and central nervous systems. This understanding will help to improve the long-term health outcomes for premature infants. By working with medical practitioners treating premature babies we are well placed to translate our findings on preventing and treating developmental injury into clinical practice.
New Insights Into Viral Inflammatory Disease Mechanisms And Approaches To Therapy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$631,010.00
Summary
This fellowship aims to establish how viruses cause disease, including how they evade the immune response to persist and cause disease for prolonged periods. My vision is that knowing how the virus and the immune system interact to determine disease severity will assist in devising new treatments and prevention programs to lessen the impact of viral diseases in Australia and worldwide.
A-Prof Wheatley is a respiratory and sleep disorders physician investigating the pathogenesis, health consequences and management of sleep breathing disorders, including sleep apnoea and snoring.
My work investigates the neural output to human inspiratory muscles and how it is related to mechanical effectiveness for breathing. The aim is to discover how this relationship can change with respiratory disorders such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and obstructive sleep apnoea. I also examine the changes in breathing muscle control in people with spinal cord injury. This work promises new understanding of the basic control of respiration and how it changes with disease.