Predictors Of Treatment Outcomes Following Anti-vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Therapy For Neovascular AMD.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$240,277.00
Summary
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of severe, irreversible loss of vision amongst elderly populations in the developed world. Bleeding in the retina destroys central vision. New treatments have been developed to stop this bleeding. However not all patients benefit equally, with some still losing vision. This project aims to investigate what determines how well an individual responds to treatment, in particular, how genes might influence the response.
Prognostic Factors Following A First Episode Of Central Nervous System Demyelination Suggestive Of Multiple Sclerosis.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$719,475.00
Summary
Multiple sclerosis is the second most common cause of neurological morbidity in young Australians after trauma. Knowing who will progress to develop multiple sclerosis after a first attack and at what rate they will progress is an important question as it will allow us to target treatment to those at greatest risk and modify a person's lifestyle to reduce the risk of developing MS or slow their rate of progression.
Analysis Of Gene Amplification-loss And Methylation Associated With Progression To Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$620,197.00
Summary
Many bowel cancers can be removed by surgery, but in many cases the cancer reoccurs. While chemotherapy can reduce the chance of recurrence, it can produce significant side effects. Currently there are few markers to indicate change of recurrence, therefore deciding who should, or should not receive chemotherapy is difficult to decide. This study will analyse differences in DNA from patients that do and do not relapse, to guide future decisions on patients who will benefit from chemotherapy.
Neuroblastoma (NB) is a common cancer in children, and one of the hardest to cure. Some mature into a benign tumour without needing any treatment, others are aggressive and require intensive treatment, and some regrow despite all treatment. It is often difficult to predict accurately how NBs will behave. We will study the two ways NBs can undergo unlimited growth, to determine whether this predicts tumour behavior, and therefore what treatment is needed.
Liquid Biopsy For Personalised Monitoring Of Melanoma Patients
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$820,888.00
Summary
Despite the success of recent melanoma treatments, therapies are effective long term in only a proportion of patients. Here we will progress preliminary findings in collaboration with biotechnology and pathology companies to develop highly effective companion biomarkers that will aid treatment decisions throughout disease course. Our team will spearhead translation of these markers into the clinic for routine monitoring of melanoma patients.
Accelerating Paediatric Cancer Precision Medicine With Mass Spectrometry-based Proteomics
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$79,041.00
Summary
The Zero Childhood Cancer (ZERO) Program measures the DNA and RNA in individual cancer samples and then recommends a unique treatment plan for each child. In this study, we will measure the proteome (ie the set of proteins) in ~100 ZERO cancer samples at the Children's Medical Research Institute's ProCan. The goal of this project is to assess the value of protein data for informing drug treatment recommendations and finding new drug targets for children diagnosed with a cancer of poor prognosis.
Biosensor Based Clinical-decision Support For Patients With Heart Failure
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$691,933.00
Summary
Heart Failure (HF) is a progressive disease and a major global public health concern. HF accounts for a substantial number of hospitalisations, major healthcare resource utilisation and costs. We aim to engineer biosensor platform to stratify the risk in HF patients will revolutionise current management of HF by providing the cardiologist information to risk stratify patients based on protein signature. This will lead to a substantial paradigm shift in clinical practice.