The Roles Of Lipoprotein Multigene Families In Pathogenesis Of Mycoplasma Pneumoniae
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$257,036.00
Summary
Mycoplasma pneumoniae is one of the most common causes of community acquired pneumonia. Although it can usually be successfully treated with antibiotics, it can result in more severe diseases and can be difficult to diagnose accurately. It has been identified as a target for vaccine development, but this has been hampered by the limited understanding we have of how it causes disease. The attempts at vaccination that have been made have resulted in vaccines which induced more severe, rather than ....Mycoplasma pneumoniae is one of the most common causes of community acquired pneumonia. Although it can usually be successfully treated with antibiotics, it can result in more severe diseases and can be difficult to diagnose accurately. It has been identified as a target for vaccine development, but this has been hampered by the limited understanding we have of how it causes disease. The attempts at vaccination that have been made have resulted in vaccines which induced more severe, rather than less severe, disease. Investigations of several other related bacteria have shown that they are able to vary their surface proteins and thus may evade the immune system, permitting them to cause more prolonged disease. Better understanding how this occurs, and what this enables the bacteria to do, may assist in developing improved vaccine strategies. This project aims to investigate the six gene families in Mycoplasma pneumoniae which are known to encode surface proteins and establish how and why the bacteria switch from one gene to another during infection. In addition the capacity of bacteria expressing different versions of the six surface proteins to adhere to different tissues will be investigated. Once this is known, these mechanisms may be able to be specifically disrupted to prevent a strain of Mycoplasma pneumoniae from being able to establish prolonged infections. Such a strain might be a useful basis for an effective vaccine.Read moreRead less
The Pathogenesis Of Melioidosis: The Interaction Of Burkholderia Pseudomallei With Host Cells.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$344,375.00
Summary
Melioidosis is an often fatal disease of mainly tropical Australia and SE Asia caused by a bacterium which is found in soil and water. Infection occurs via wounds or by inhalation. Melioidosis has recently become endemic in south-west Western Australia and south-eastern Queensland, and could represent an emerging disease worldwide. Melioidosis disproportionately affects Aboriginal Australians. Melioidosis has many forms including septicemia with damage to most organs, particularly lung, spleen a ....Melioidosis is an often fatal disease of mainly tropical Australia and SE Asia caused by a bacterium which is found in soil and water. Infection occurs via wounds or by inhalation. Melioidosis has recently become endemic in south-west Western Australia and south-eastern Queensland, and could represent an emerging disease worldwide. Melioidosis disproportionately affects Aboriginal Australians. Melioidosis has many forms including septicemia with damage to most organs, particularly lung, spleen and liver, acute localised suppurative infection and pneumonia. Melioidosis may also become latent, and later develop into an acute and fatal infection. It is important to understand, at the molecular level, how and why the causative bacterium is able to cause disease. Only with such an understanding can measures be undertaken to prevent the disease, or novel methods developed to control the disease. Colonisation of a host is a first step in the disease process for all bacteria which cause disease. Large protein molecules located on the surface of disease-causing bacteria are usually neccessary for colonisation of the host since they allow adherence to the surface of host cells. We have previously undertaken a basic study of adherence. This study will build on this research with the aim of identifying molecules which mediate adherence to host cells, using in vivo and in vitro methods, including the techniques of molecular biology. This study will inevitably lead to the development of vaccine candidates which is important to the management of melioidosis, particularly in high risk groups. It may also allow the development of novel antimicrobial compounds.Read moreRead less
Develop New Approaches To Cancer Diagnosis And Treatment
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$4,000,000.00
Summary
Apoptosis is the dominant focus of our planned studies, because its impairment is both a critical step towards malignancy and a barrier to effective treatment. Arguably, the laboratory heads within our division and our collaborators from the Structure Biology Division at WEHI constitute the world’s strongest group with this focus. Our accumulated experience in this field from its renaissance in 1988 and the many unique materials they have created superbly position us to answer the fundamental qu ....Apoptosis is the dominant focus of our planned studies, because its impairment is both a critical step towards malignancy and a barrier to effective treatment. Arguably, the laboratory heads within our division and our collaborators from the Structure Biology Division at WEHI constitute the world’s strongest group with this focus. Our accumulated experience in this field from its renaissance in 1988 and the many unique materials they have created superbly position us to answer the fundamental questions and translate them into new therapeutic approaches. Our team’s second focus, the links of stem cells to cancer, is also of great importance, because the rare stem cells in the tumour may dictate therapeutic outcome. This Fellowship aims to addresses fundamental issues with enormous potential for medicine. It builds on productive ongoing research by a team with diverse complementary expertise, a record of effective interaction, high momentum and a history of path-breaking discoveries. I plan to maintain and further develop our Division (the Molecular Genetics of Cancer Division at WEHI) as one of the strongest teams for cancer research and development of cancer therapies in the world. Our division contains several laboratories that are highly interactive and complimentary in their approaches and research interests. I plan to strengthen the already highly productive laboratories in our division and to develop some new ones (see below under ‘proposed team’). I plan to increase work of our division to also include studies on other solid tumours (e.g. colon cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer). This Fellowships aims to greatly enhance cancer research and hopefully also clinical practice in Australia. This should enhance the reputation of Australia as a country with recognized excellence in medical research and clinical practice. I am also confident that our division will continue to educate outstanding PhD graduates and postdoctoral fellows who will in due course become independent researchers and develop into future leaders in medical research in Australia and-or overseas.Read moreRead less
Tuberculosis kills more people than any other infectious disease, and approximately one-third of the world's population is latently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This situation is largely due to the low efficacy of the only licensed TB vaccine, BCG, and the 'black box' of what constitutes protection against TB. This project aims to unravel the mechanisms of protective immunity against TB to develop a highly protective vaccine.
HIV is a rapidly evolving virus, and within an infected individual it continually acquires new mutations and joins together mutations by recombination. We have developed a novel system for studying recombination, and find that different individuals have different recombination rates, which may contribute to why some individuals survive longer. This project aims to identify the mechanisms responsible for differing recombination rates and how we can alter these to improve patient outcome.
Acquiring Severe Communication Disabilities- Interactions, Perceptions And Adjustment Of Friends And The Public
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$104,018.00
Summary
People with severe communication impairments are rarely studied in everyday interactions. It is unclear how these people manage everyday affairs with friends and the community in the absence of intact language, speech, voice, or cognition. This project will inform Speech Pathologists of the range of communication strategies used by these people to function in the community. It will also lead to an urgently needed training program for the community to maximise reintegration for these people.