Therapeutic Strategies And Screening Methods For PKC Epsilon Antagonists In The Treatment Of Type 2 Diabetes
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$157,375.00
Summary
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease affecting over a million Australians and hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Its prevalence is rising due to several factors such as an increase in caloric intake, the aging of the population, and the common sedentary lifestyle of Western civilization. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin for the body to cope with rising blood glucose levels after a meal, and has been strongly linked to obesity. We have now shown ....Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease affecting over a million Australians and hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Its prevalence is rising due to several factors such as an increase in caloric intake, the aging of the population, and the common sedentary lifestyle of Western civilization. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin for the body to cope with rising blood glucose levels after a meal, and has been strongly linked to obesity. We have now shown that an enzyme found in the pancreas becomes inappropriately activated under conditions of fat oversupply, and plays an important role in the development of defects in insulin release from the pancreas in response to glucose. Excitingly, we have also shown that inhibition of this enzyme can partly reverse these defects once they have been established. We now intend to further validate this enzyme as a drug target by determining the optimum dosing regimen for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in a mouse model, and testing whether this approach can be used in conjunction with previously-developed drugs which promote insulin action, to improve bood glucose handling better than either treatment alone. This would promote the enzyme as a therapeutic strategy in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. We also plan to develop a high throuhput screen to identify novel inhibitors of the enzyme, which will further increase the attractiveness of the project to pharmaceutical companies, who are better able to implent full commercialization of our findings.Read moreRead less
Dynamic In Vivo Size & Shape Measurement Of The Human Upper Airway Using Endoscopic Long-range Optical Coherence Tomogra
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$184,250.00
Summary
This project will fund the construction of a clinically deployable prototype device to measure changes in upper airway size and shape in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea. We have recently developed and validated a technique based on endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT). Preliminary in vivo studies have been performed in the human upper airway and the results published. To our knowledge, this is the only such system world-wide capable of making these important measurements. The tec ....This project will fund the construction of a clinically deployable prototype device to measure changes in upper airway size and shape in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea. We have recently developed and validated a technique based on endoscopic optical coherence tomography (OCT). Preliminary in vivo studies have been performed in the human upper airway and the results published. To our knowledge, this is the only such system world-wide capable of making these important measurements. The technique has wide commercially applicability as it can be used to measure the internal dimensions of any hollow organ system.Read moreRead less
Development Of Quantitative Tools For Assessment Of Regional Cardiac Function By Echocardiography
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$209,430.00
Summary
The application of ultrasound imaging to the assessment of cardiac function (echocardiography) is an invaluable tool for the assessment of patients with known or suspected cardiac problems. The assessment of contraction in each region of the heart is probably the most important of the reasons for doing this test, as regional function is disturbed in patients with coronary artery disease, which is one of the most common causes of death in Australia. The problem is that this analysis is currently ....The application of ultrasound imaging to the assessment of cardiac function (echocardiography) is an invaluable tool for the assessment of patients with known or suspected cardiac problems. The assessment of contraction in each region of the heart is probably the most important of the reasons for doing this test, as regional function is disturbed in patients with coronary artery disease, which is one of the most common causes of death in Australia. The problem is that this analysis is currently completely subjective, and the reliability of the tool is based upon the availability of an experienced observer. This is particularly a problem in rural Australia, as most specialists with expertise in this modality work in the capital cities, and especially a problem in Queensland, where fewer than half of the population live in the capital. The cardiac imaging group at the University of Queensland have been working in collaboration with GE-Vingmed Ultrasound to develop a quantitative technique for the assessment of regional cardiac function since 1997. This collaboration has been the source of a number of published papers and presentations at international meetings. Our group is considered to be a world leader in the field and our industry partner is clearly the most focused of its competitors in addressing this problem. This submission seeks to address several remaining problems. The data thus far addressed function during stress, when the condition of most patients is similar. Tissue velocities are more variable at rest, and a more sophisticated approach is required to accurately measure the lower velocities in the resting state. This research plan seeks support for the development of a new, high frame-rate acquisition that would facilitate the examination of velocities relative to each other, so that translational motion of the heart does not influence the reading. This new method would then be validated against other techniques for assessing function and disease.Read moreRead less