Tuberculosis Elimination In Australia Through Targeting Latent Infection
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$950,000.00
Summary
Australia has committed to reducing the number of people who become sick with tuberculosis (TB), towards eventual elimination. Identification of those at risk is needed, which means significant expansion of detection and treatment of latent TB. This research will evaluate impact, cost-effectiveness and community priorities around TB elimination, and introduce a GP-based treatment service for safe and accessible care. It will provide a basis for large-scale programs towards TB elimination.
Building Decision Support Systems To Combat Emerging Infectious Diseases And Neglected Tropical Diseases: A Precision Public Health Approach
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,562,250.00
Summary
Emerging infectious diseases and neglected tropical diseases cause significant disease burden globally, and pose major health security threats in the Asia Pacific. The frequency and severity of disease outbreaks are increasing, mostly driven by environmental and socio-demographic change. My research program will use cutting-edge technologies and analytics to develop interactive, dynamic and user-friendly decision support systems that optimise surveillance and control of infectious diseases.
Improving Epidemiological Risk Assessment Of Influenza Epidemics
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
Severe flu epidemics have killed young mothers, teenagers, young children and many older people in recent years. Systems for monitoring the flu in Australia and other countries are limited in their ability to provide sound risk assessment during an evolving epidemic. The research I lead will show how unused and under-used data sources can be harnessed to provide a strong influenza risk and healthcare impact assessment capability.
Structural Role Of The Host Cytoskeleton During Invasion Of Intracellular Pathogens
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
During infection by bacteria, the 'skeleton' of cells plays critical roles in sensing the invading germs and destroying them. To counteract this, bacteria have evolved strategies to hijack the cell skeleton to promote their own survival, and spread. This intriguing molecular arms race is continuously co-evolving. Understanding this process in great details will have the potential to design novel therapeutics to counteract bacterial and viral infections.
Computational Modelling To Understand Early-stage Neurodegeneration
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
Rather than attempting to reverse neurodegeneration, therapeutic strategies must target the earliest possible stages of disease, when treatments have the potential to prevent or slow down pathological progression. The proposed project will employ computational modelling using functional MRI to deliver highly efficient and sensitive markers of Familial Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington’s disease progression to inform when in the progression of disease clinical trials should take place.
Faecal Microbiota Transplantation And Other Novel Therapeutic Microbial Manipulation Strategies In Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
There is growing interest in the role of microbial-based strategies including faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. This project will develop such strategies into valid treatment options through a combination of clinical & basic science work including (1) characterising viral & fungal factors of importance, (2) evaluation of novel orally-delivered formulations of FMT, and (3) development of better defined, more reproducible microbial treatments.
The Role Of A Low Emulsifier Diet To Treat Crohn's Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$447,603.00
Summary
Currently, there are no specific diets known to treat Crohn’s disease (CD). Initial lab- and animal-based studies have indicated emulsifiers added to food drive inflammation in CD, but no human trials completed. This study will design and feed high and low emulsifier diets to healthy and CD subjects and measure markers of inflammation. This will establish the role of a low emulsifier diet to treat CD.
Improving Patient Outcomes In Familial Hypercholesterolaemia Across The Continuum Of Care
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
'Familial' means it runs in families and 'hypercholesterolaemia' means high blood cholesterol. Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is the most common and serious form of inherited high cholesterol. People with FH are at an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. High cholesterol also placed an estimated $4 billion burden on the Australian economy in 2017-18. Practical research on prevention strategies will improve cardiovascular health outcomes and lower the burden of health costs.
Gene Discovery And Functional Insights For Neurological And Retinal Disorders
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,163,220.00
Summary
Understanding the genetic drivers of disease is key for the development of disease therapies. Determination of the causal genetic variants in a disorder can be used for future diagnosis, prognostication, and personalised treatment. We have previously identified ~20 novel genes and developed new methods providing genomic diagnoses for 1000s of individuals. In the next five years I will make significant advances in our understanding of what causes diseases such as epilepsy, ataxia and dementia.
Novel Approaches To Nanomedicines For Future Therapies
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,414,215.00
Summary
Nanomedicines have the potential to transform healthcare by targeting significant health issues such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes and Parkinson’s diseases that have mainly eluded successful therapeutic solutions. In addition, nanotechnology has the potential to significantly improve the treatment of chronic pain by repurposing analgesic medications for improved effectiveness without significant side effects. I will target these two areas of research during the next five years.