Explaining The Causal Effect Of Obesity On Colorectal And Postmenopausal Breast Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$51,834.00
Summary
With rising rates in Australia and globally, obesity is fast surpassing smoking to become the biggest preventable cause of cancer. While losing weight might reduce the risk of cancer, most people find this hard to do. In this project, possible mechanisms linking obesity to bowel and postmenopausal breast cancer will be studied to work out how important they are for each cancer. Ultimately, the goal is to help design strategies for prevention and early detection of cancers caused by obesity.
A Prospective Study Of The Influence Of Health-related Lifestyle Factors On DNA Methylation
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$640,074.00
Summary
It is known that DNA methylation can lead to disease. We aim to discover what causes DNA methylation to change. This could open the way for new methods of prevention and treatment of many diseases. We will study 1200 people to assess how the methylation of their DNA is influenced by changes in their smoking habits, alcohol consumption, vitamin intake, body size, blood sugar and cholesterol levels. We want to know whether these changes lead to undesirable (or desirable) changes in DNA methylation
Methylation And The Risk Of Urothelial Cell Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$703,628.00
Summary
Why don’t we run prevention programs for urinary tract cancers like we do for others? It’s because we don’t know which lifestyle factors, except smoking, are important to cancers of the renal pelvis, ureters, bladder and urethra. We plan to use new technology to measure the ‘epigenome’, the part of the genome that turns genes on or off. This may explain how lifestyle factors influence what genes do, and we hope our findings will help to develop future prevention strategies for these cancers.
Linking Lifestyle And Molecular Biology To Inform Precision Public Health For Major Cancers
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$8,487,111.00
Summary
The Program of research seeks to increase our understanding of cancer risk. We will use our large collections of population and family-based datasets to conduct innovative analyses, improving our understanding of the roles that genetic, epigenetic and lifestyle factors play in our risk of breast, colorectal and prostate cancer. This information should allow us to better predict a person’s cancer risk, enabling public health interventions, such as screening, to be delivered more effectively and e ....The Program of research seeks to increase our understanding of cancer risk. We will use our large collections of population and family-based datasets to conduct innovative analyses, improving our understanding of the roles that genetic, epigenetic and lifestyle factors play in our risk of breast, colorectal and prostate cancer. This information should allow us to better predict a person’s cancer risk, enabling public health interventions, such as screening, to be delivered more effectively and economically to those most at risk.Read moreRead less
We will investigate whether there are particular patterns of DNA methylation in people who develop gastric cancer. This could provide a means of identifying people at high risk of developing the disease, which may assist with early detection. This would be expected to markedly improve survival. If we can identify lifestyle factors associated with gastric cancer methylation there may be opportunities for prevention of the disease.
The aim of my research is to investigate the role that physical activity and sedentary behaviour (too much sitting) play in the development of cancer. My research will increase our understanding of how physical activity and sedentary behaviour influence cancer, and may lead to new strategies for cancer prevention.
Modelling and Simulation of Disease Spread Dynamics Using Interacting Automata. Modelling and simulation techniques will be developed to strengthen our understanding of disease spread over the landscape, so allowing timely control strategies to be developed. The economic cost to Australia of introduced pests, animal and plant diseases is considerable. We utilise an interacting automata formalism to capture landscape, population and contagion information as it affects disease spread to provide ....Modelling and Simulation of Disease Spread Dynamics Using Interacting Automata. Modelling and simulation techniques will be developed to strengthen our understanding of disease spread over the landscape, so allowing timely control strategies to be developed. The economic cost to Australia of introduced pests, animal and plant diseases is considerable. We utilise an interacting automata formalism to capture landscape, population and contagion information as it affects disease spread to provide more accurate simulation than is done at present. Generic simulation tools will be constructed, capable of being rapidly personalised by epidemiologists for specific diseases.Read moreRead less