Professor Michael Parker from St Vincent’s Institute in Melbourne is one of Australia’s leading structural biologists. He will use his Fellowship to help establish a Cancer Structural Biology Centre to provide early stage drug discovery tools which will aid many of Australia’s leading cancer researchers to translate their basic discoveries into drugs. This work will utilise key major infrastructure investments including the Australian Synchrotron.
Structural Investigations Of The Bax And Bak Cell Death Apparatus
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$275,509.00
Summary
Programmed cell death is a process by which the body keeps rogue cells in check. Cancer cells adapt to avoid this process and thus evade this important defence mechanism. This project seeks to understand the machinery that controls programmed cell death at the molecular level. It will provide the atomic details of how this machinery is regulated and how it functions to induce cell death. These insights will provide new avenues for targeting this machinery for a new generation of cancer therapeut ....Programmed cell death is a process by which the body keeps rogue cells in check. Cancer cells adapt to avoid this process and thus evade this important defence mechanism. This project seeks to understand the machinery that controls programmed cell death at the molecular level. It will provide the atomic details of how this machinery is regulated and how it functions to induce cell death. These insights will provide new avenues for targeting this machinery for a new generation of cancer therapeutics.Read moreRead less
How Insulin And The Insulin-like Growth Factors Bind To Their Receptors - The Key Role Of The ?-chain C-terminal Helix
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$752,712.00
Summary
Cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes are three of the most important health issues facing Australia. Aberrant signalling into the cell interior by the related insulin receptor and Type 1 insulin-like growth factor receptor is implicated in all three of these disease states. Our research is aimed at understanding how these signalling events occur at the atomic level of detail – such knowledge has the potential to contribute to the development of novel therapeutics aimed at treating these dise ....Cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes are three of the most important health issues facing Australia. Aberrant signalling into the cell interior by the related insulin receptor and Type 1 insulin-like growth factor receptor is implicated in all three of these disease states. Our research is aimed at understanding how these signalling events occur at the atomic level of detail – such knowledge has the potential to contribute to the development of novel therapeutics aimed at treating these diseases.Read moreRead less
Phosphoinositide 4-phosphatases In Health And Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$678,560.00
Summary
This project aims to understand the structure and function of an important group of signalling enzymes involved in the development of cancers such as melanoma.
Signalling Mechanisms In The Insulin Receptor Family
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Summary
The receptor molecules that we are studying are involved in two disease states, namely, diabetes and cancer. These diseases are particularly relevant in the context of Australia's aging population. The task of these particular receptor molecules is to pass messages from the outside of cells to the interior of cells. We are seeking to understand, at the molecular level of detail, the way in which these messages are transferred, with the potential to lead to new avenues for therapeutic development ....The receptor molecules that we are studying are involved in two disease states, namely, diabetes and cancer. These diseases are particularly relevant in the context of Australia's aging population. The task of these particular receptor molecules is to pass messages from the outside of cells to the interior of cells. We are seeking to understand, at the molecular level of detail, the way in which these messages are transferred, with the potential to lead to new avenues for therapeutic development in the context of these two diseases.Read moreRead less
An Integrative Structural Biology Approach To Understanding The SAGA Transcriptional Master Regulator Implicated In Cancer And Development
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$318,768.00
Summary
Stringent control of gene expression ensures the harmonious life of all human cells. Loss of this control leads to development of a chaotic genome, characteristic of diseased states such as cancer. In this proposal, we aim at capturing and understanding the first key steps of the mechanism that, if dysfunctional, leads to aberrant gene expression. We will use cutting-edge structural bio-imaging to answer questions of fundamental importance to human health and pathologies.
Molecular Basis For Stress-induced Gene Regulation—a Model System To Understand Transcriptional Deregulation In Cancer And Neurological Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$384,076.00
Summary
Deregulated gene transcription plays a critical role in cancer formation. It is therefore important to understand the molecular basis of gene transcription and how tumour cells hijack the process. In this Project, we will study the molecular basis of stress-inducible gene expression. This is particularly important for understanding the molecular basis of cancer as stress-inducible genes are activated by transcription factors implicated in breast, colon, lung, and prostate cancers.
Development Of An Interleukin-11 Signalling Antagonist
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$625,830.00
Summary
Interleukin (IL)-11 is a soluble signalling molecule that is associated with many types of cancer. We have recently discovered that IL-11 signalling is a novel and tractable therapeutic target for the treatment of colon cancer. The aims of this proposal are to understand the structural details of IL-11 signalling. We will use this information to develop new and improved therapeutics for colon cancer.
Structural Basis Of The Transcription Of Housekeeping Genes
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$314,644.00
Summary
TFIID, which is a regulator of cell growth and proliferation, has been identified as a new cancer drug target. However, more information on TFIID's mechanisms of regulation is required before such drugs can be designed. This project will fill this gap in understanding and enable the development of new cancer therapies.
Structural Studies Of The Molecular Machinery Regulating Cell Death
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$638,517.00
Summary
Our bodies use a process called Programmed Cell Death to remove unwanted or dangerous cells. This work aims to understand the machinery that regulates this process at the molecular level. These insights will inform the development of drugs aimed at either initiating cell death when required, for example in cancer, or at inhibiting it when excessive cell death causes disease.