Delineating The Clinical And Molecular Heterogeneity Of Fatty Liver Disease To Inform Treatment
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,731,372.00
Summary
Fatty liver disease from excess weight affects 1 in 3 adult Australians. The disease has no treatments and many patients develop liver failure or liver cancer. Clinically, the disease is characterized by marked heterogeneity, a challenge for developing biomarkers and treatments. To move towards precision medicine, this project will undertake an inter-disciplinary program that embraces disease complexity and integrates environmental and genetic risk with the power of mathematical modelling.
Development Of Novel Therapies To Treat Obesity Related Metabolic Diseases
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,981,372.00
Summary
Obesity results in the development of many diseases particularly as we age. These diseases include type 2 diabetes, fatty liver diasease and dementia. This research rpogram with develop new strategies and therapies targeted to treat these obesity related diseases.
Computational Modelling To Understand Early-stage Neurodegeneration
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
Rather than attempting to reverse neurodegeneration, therapeutic strategies must target the earliest possible stages of disease, when treatments have the potential to prevent or slow down pathological progression. The proposed project will employ computational modelling using functional MRI to deliver highly efficient and sensitive markers of Familial Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease progression to inform when in the progression of disease clinical trials should take place.
Faecal Microbiota Transplantation And Other Novel Therapeutic Microbial Manipulation Strategies In Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
There is growing interest in the role of microbial-based strategies including faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. This project will develop such strategies into valid treatment options through a combination of clinical & basic science work including (1) characterising viral & fungal factors of importance, (2) evaluation of novel orally-delivered formulations of FMT, and (3) development of better defined, more reproducible microbial treatments.
The Role Of A Low Emulsifier Diet To Treat Crohn's Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$447,603.00
Summary
Currently, there are no specific diets known to treat Crohn’s disease (CD). Initial lab- and animal-based studies have indicated emulsifiers added to food drive inflammation in CD, but no human trials completed. This study will design and feed high and low emulsifier diets to healthy and CD subjects and measure markers of inflammation. This will establish the role of a low emulsifier diet to treat CD.
Improving Patient Outcomes In Familial Hypercholesterolaemia Across The Continuum Of Care
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
'Familial' means it runs in families and 'hypercholesterolaemia' means high blood cholesterol. Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is the most common and serious form of inherited high cholesterol. People with FH are at an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. High cholesterol also placed an estimated $4 billion burden on the Australian economy in 2017-18. Practical research on prevention strategies will improve cardiovascular health outcomes and lower the burden of health costs.
Gene Discovery And Functional Insights For Neurological And Retinal Disorders
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,163,220.00
Summary
Understanding the genetic drivers of disease is key for the development of disease therapies. Determination of the causal genetic variants in a disorder can be used for future diagnosis, prognostication, and personalised treatment. We have previously identified ~20 novel genes and developed new methods providing genomic diagnoses for 1000s of individuals. In the next five years I will make significant advances in our understanding of what causes diseases such as epilepsy, ataxia and dementia.
Novel Approaches To Nanomedicines For Future Therapies
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,414,215.00
Summary
Nanomedicines have the potential to transform healthcare by targeting significant health issues such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes and Parkinson’s diseases that have mainly eluded successful therapeutic solutions. In addition, nanotechnology has the potential to significantly improve the treatment of chronic pain by repurposing analgesic medications for improved effectiveness without significant side effects. I will target these two areas of research during the next five years.
Understanding Cell Signalling As A Basis For New Therapeutics
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,231,372.00
Summary
This Investigator grant will capitalise on my extensive expertise in determining the three-dimensional atomic structures of proteins to uncover fundamental biological mechanisms in cancer and Alzheimer’s disease as a basis for discovering new drugs to combat these devastating diseases.
Novel Nanotechnology Strategies For Drug Co-delivery And Combined Therapies In The Brain
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,512,250.00
Summary
Key challenges for treating brain diseases include effective delivery of drugs into the brain and targeted delivery to pathogenic areas. I have developed two world-first drug delivery systems that address these challenges. This project will expand their loading and brain delivery capability to deliver a broad range of novel multiple therapeutics to target sites in the brain. Human brain disease models will be used for systematic preclinical evaluation of novel delivery systems and therapeutics.