Molecular Regulation Of Blood Cell Production And Function
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$18,330,902.00
Summary
This Program comprises an established team of investigators that have made world-class contributions to the understanding of blood cell formation and function. Research will combine novel multidisciplinary genetic/genomics approaches, expert biochemistry, cell and molecular biological techniques with translational studies in humans to provide new insights into blood cell control and novel avenues for therapies in blood cell diseases such as leukaemia and autoimmune and inflammatory disorders.
This Program Grant brings together a world-leading team of experts to elucidate mechanisms that protect most people from infection by making antibodies, and their failure caused by genes or infections like influenza or HIV. The team will determine mechanisms that protect most people from making antibodies against normal parts of our body, whose failure causes numerous autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis. The team will develop ways to engineer better antibodies.
Hepatitis C affects a quarter of a million Australians, causing insidious but progressive liver disease which culminates in liver failure or cancer. There is no vaccine and prevention programs have limited effectiveness, but new antiviral therapies now offer high rates of cure. This Program will evaluate strategies to improve the health of those affected and prevent new infections by better understanding of the virus and the body’s immune response, including scarring and liver cancer formation.
Antigen Presentation, Recognition And The Immune Response
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$15,780,848.00
Summary
This program focuses on understanding the development of immune response to viruses and other infectious agents using a broad array of techniques to dissect the function of various immune cell types and to explore the relationship between structure and function of important cell surface molecules. These studies will improve our ability to design new generation vaccines for combating infectious diseases, controlling cancer, or limiting autoimmune diseases like diabetes.
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.
Dengue, Zika and Chikungunya are viral diseases transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. Our research uses a naturally-occurring bacteria, Wolbachia, to stop mosquitoes transmitting these viruses to humans. Our proposal addresses critical knowledge gaps in the biology of mosquitoes and Wolbachia to enable large-scale field-deployment optimisation in affected countries. The outcome of our research will immediately translate to disease control efforts in northern Australia, Asia and Latin America.
Understanding The Major Class Of Cell Surface Drug Targets
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$7,595,840.00
Summary
G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) form the largest family of receptors and drug targets in living organisms. Currently, the major reason that new drugs fail to reach the clinic is lack of appropriate drug effect (approx. 30%). Thus, we need a better understanding of how GPCRs work and how this relates to disease. Our Program addresses this knowledge gap, using GPCR models that are relevant to treatment of metabolic, inflammatory, cardiovascular and central nervous system disease.