Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100449
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$426,600.00
Summary
Diversity Oriented Clicking - Streamlined Synthesis of Molecular Frameworks. Innovation in synthetic chemistry drives the discovery of new life-changing drugs, agrochemicals and functional materials. This project aims to use a novel chemical concept, termed Diversity Oriented Clicking, for new sustainable and streamlined synthetic transformations. The new chemical processes are expected to deliver improved economy, efficiency and precision in the synthesis of bioactive molecules and functional m ....Diversity Oriented Clicking - Streamlined Synthesis of Molecular Frameworks. Innovation in synthetic chemistry drives the discovery of new life-changing drugs, agrochemicals and functional materials. This project aims to use a novel chemical concept, termed Diversity Oriented Clicking, for new sustainable and streamlined synthetic transformations. The new chemical processes are expected to deliver improved economy, efficiency and precision in the synthesis of bioactive molecules and functional materials that are inaccessible or challenging to prepare with existing technologies. The conceptual and practical outcomes of this project are expected to benefit both academia and industry as the synthetic routes to diverse complex molecules can be greatly streamlined, and reducing chemical waste and required purification.Read moreRead less
Biosynthetic Hooks for an Enigmatic Marine Toxin. This project aims to characterise the genetic basis for the production of tetrodotoxin; a potent neurotoxin of ecological and biomedical significance. We hypothesise that tetrodotoxin is produced by microorganisms and transferred via the food web to fish, molluscs and other marine animals. Our integrated genomic and synthetic biology approach, targeting key biosynthesis genes, will reveal pathways for the production of tetrodotoxin and other pote ....Biosynthetic Hooks for an Enigmatic Marine Toxin. This project aims to characterise the genetic basis for the production of tetrodotoxin; a potent neurotoxin of ecological and biomedical significance. We hypothesise that tetrodotoxin is produced by microorganisms and transferred via the food web to fish, molluscs and other marine animals. Our integrated genomic and synthetic biology approach, targeting key biosynthesis genes, will reveal pathways for the production of tetrodotoxin and other potentially valuable compounds. In addition to providing unprecedented insight into the ecology and biosynthesis of this enigmatic toxin, the data generated will enable improved management of seafood safety and provide a foundation for the future development of novel neuroactive compounds.Read moreRead less
Mid-Career Industry Fellowships - Grant ID: IM230100154
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,049,904.00
Summary
Fungi Power: Designer Fungal Cell Factories for Advanced Biomanufacturing. This project aims to build an advanced biomanufacturing platform based on filamentous fungi in collaboration with industry. Using synthetic biology, the project expects to engineer superior fungal host strains customisable to the needs of the industry and to address their technological gaps. The expected outcomes include the development of cost-efficient and sustainable fungal-based bioprocesses for the companies to produ ....Fungi Power: Designer Fungal Cell Factories for Advanced Biomanufacturing. This project aims to build an advanced biomanufacturing platform based on filamentous fungi in collaboration with industry. Using synthetic biology, the project expects to engineer superior fungal host strains customisable to the needs of the industry and to address their technological gaps. The expected outcomes include the development of cost-efficient and sustainable fungal-based bioprocesses for the companies to produce products, such as fine chemicals, pharmaceutical actives and food ingredients. The project would provide significant benefits by enabling existing and emerging companies' commercial successes and competitiveness in global markets, creating new jobs and resulting in the growth of the bio-economy in Australia.Read moreRead less
Towards the sustainable discovery and development of new antibiotics. This project aims to define how to access silent biosynthetic genes within microbial genome to facilitate access to new chemical diversity hidden within microbial genomes. Using interdisciplinary approaches in genome mining and metabolomics technologies, the project expects to inspire and enable the future design of more effective antibiotics. Expected outcomes from this program include define new microbial defence molecules, ....Towards the sustainable discovery and development of new antibiotics. This project aims to define how to access silent biosynthetic genes within microbial genome to facilitate access to new chemical diversity hidden within microbial genomes. Using interdisciplinary approaches in genome mining and metabolomics technologies, the project expects to inspire and enable the future design of more effective antibiotics. Expected outcomes from this program include define new microbial defence molecules, to meet future demands in agrochemical and environmental sciences. It will also train future scientists and develop international collaborations. This should provide significant benefit, including a higher-quality workforce for research and innovation, positioning Australia at the forefront of drug discovery. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100502
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$424,875.00
Summary
Building Molecular Complexity Through Enzyme-Enabled Synthesis. Many valuable natural molecules are too complex to be commercially synthesised by current technologies. Despite advances in synthetic chemistry there is great need to adopt the elegant biocatalytic strategies for complex molecule synthesis found in nature, employing sophisticated enzyme catalysts. This interdisciplinary research program aims to address the shortcomings of traditional synthetic methods through the development of enzy ....Building Molecular Complexity Through Enzyme-Enabled Synthesis. Many valuable natural molecules are too complex to be commercially synthesised by current technologies. Despite advances in synthetic chemistry there is great need to adopt the elegant biocatalytic strategies for complex molecule synthesis found in nature, employing sophisticated enzyme catalysts. This interdisciplinary research program aims to address the shortcomings of traditional synthetic methods through the development of enzyme catalysts to rapidly generate complex molecular structures. These novel molecules can be readily converted into pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals leading to advancements in the bio-enabled production and application of organic molecules in these vital fields. Read moreRead less
Finding the targets of natural products in complex botanical extracts. Many plants are used for nutritional and traditional medicine purposes and have demonstrated, evidence based effects. However, standard methods to identify single chemical compounds responsible for the observed effects fail as they rely on a single compound having a single target and ignore the overall effects of many interacting compounds on many targets. In this application we propose a new method to simultaneously identify ....Finding the targets of natural products in complex botanical extracts. Many plants are used for nutritional and traditional medicine purposes and have demonstrated, evidence based effects. However, standard methods to identify single chemical compounds responsible for the observed effects fail as they rely on a single compound having a single target and ignore the overall effects of many interacting compounds on many targets. In this application we propose a new method to simultaneously identify the molecular targets of many compounds in complex plant extracts, along with their subsequent validation by responses in gene expression to the plant extract. This research will revolutionise understanding of the nutritional and medicinal effects of plants and will allow our partners to accelerate commercialisation. Read moreRead less
Engineering Fungal Nonribosomal Peptide Synthetases for Novel Alkaloids. This project aims to use protein-domain shuffling aided by structural biology to decode and engineer a class of modular megaenzymes, called nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs), in fungi. These are responsible for the biosynthesis of peptide-derived bioactive molecules, such as the antibiotic penicillin and the immunosuppressant cyclosporin. Expected outcomes of this project include a fungal NRPS engineering platform fo ....Engineering Fungal Nonribosomal Peptide Synthetases for Novel Alkaloids. This project aims to use protein-domain shuffling aided by structural biology to decode and engineer a class of modular megaenzymes, called nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs), in fungi. These are responsible for the biosynthesis of peptide-derived bioactive molecules, such as the antibiotic penicillin and the immunosuppressant cyclosporin. Expected outcomes of this project include a fungal NRPS engineering platform for generating new molecules with desirable biological activities that can be readily scaled up for sustainable bioproduction. This will provide significant benefits to Australia through the development of cutting-edge biotechnologies as well as the discovery of new pharmaceuticals, veterinary products and agrichemicals.Read moreRead less
Co-research supporting the development of Aboriginal plant knowledges. Successful commercial development of products manufactured from Australian plant extracts based on shared Aboriginal Knowledges and Western scientific evidence is limited. This research project partnering with an Aboriginal Corporation and a skincare company aims to understand the processes that would be needed for Aboriginal-led product development from a traditionally-used plant. This includes examining how plant materials ....Co-research supporting the development of Aboriginal plant knowledges. Successful commercial development of products manufactured from Australian plant extracts based on shared Aboriginal Knowledges and Western scientific evidence is limited. This research project partnering with an Aboriginal Corporation and a skincare company aims to understand the processes that would be needed for Aboriginal-led product development from a traditionally-used plant. This includes examining how plant materials could be sustainably managed and harvested on Aboriginal homelands, the quantities of plant materials needed for product development and the feasibility of a homelands business. The learnings from this project are expected to inform other First Nations groups seeking to develop their plant knowledges.Read moreRead less
The “New” Biochemistry of Polyamines: When Metabolic Pathways Collide. Basic biochemistry and the metabolic regulation of proliferation remain as the fundamental building blocks of knowledge in cell biology that have enabled breakthrough advances in biology and medicine. Polyamines are unique and ubiquitous low-Mr amines that play vital roles in many biological processes, including proliferation, DNA/RNA synthesis, etc. This proposal will mechanistically dissect the "new" biochemistry of polyami ....The “New” Biochemistry of Polyamines: When Metabolic Pathways Collide. Basic biochemistry and the metabolic regulation of proliferation remain as the fundamental building blocks of knowledge in cell biology that have enabled breakthrough advances in biology and medicine. Polyamines are unique and ubiquitous low-Mr amines that play vital roles in many biological processes, including proliferation, DNA/RNA synthesis, etc. This proposal will mechanistically dissect the "new" biochemistry of polyamines, as we have discovered that polyamines are regulated by iron at 2-major levels, involving >10-key polyamine pathway proteins. This proposal represents first-in-field studies specifically designed to dissect mechanisms involved in this relationship. Our Central Hypothesis is that iron regulates polyamine metabolism.Read moreRead less