This Program team will discover new things about immunity to cancer and virus infection and translate the information into novel therapies in patients with blood or solid cancers. The approaches will include new cellular or antibody therapies, alone or in combination. We will determine new predictive biomarkers to better select patients for therapy. We will overcome treatment resistance, improve the safety of combination therapies, and determine their best scheduling and dosing.
Depressive And Bipolar Disorders: Causes, Presentation And Treatment Innovations
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$7,100,605.00
Summary
Depression and bipolar disorder are two of Australia’s leading causes of disease burden, with 3-4 million Australians affected during their lifetime. However, despite being such a serious health burden, there are major shortcomings to current understanding and management. This research program aims to further our knowledge of the causes and presentations of the mood disorders, and to improve and “tailor” treatment for the many Australians who suffer from these highly disabling illnesses.
The development of cures, vaccines and better treatments for HIV/AIDS is an urgent global health priority. This team of seven groups in Sydney and Melbourne will study how HIV can lie dormant in some parts of the body, evading eradication by HIV therapy, as well as how the immune system responds to the virus. This will allow for design of novel vaccines and treatments. The researchers have skills in basic virology and immunology, and translating laboratory findings into human clinical trials.
Trauma is responsible for a significant amount of mental health problems worldwide. Increasing disasters, violence, and war lead to much trauma in the communities. Unfortunately, most affected people do not receive much-needed care. This Program builds on discoveries from basic science to develop and evaluate clinical and population-based programs to address the range of posttraumatic mental health needs in both Australia and globally.
Infectious diseases plague mankind; with infections responsible for approximately 20% of all deaths worldwide. New strategies are urgently needed and we have positioned our research to address questions around how to forestall bacterial pathogens in the initial phases of invasion of human tissues and provide full understanding of the key molecules on the surfaces of bacterial cells. This fundamental knowledge is crucial to new drugs, vaccines and infection-resistant medical devices.