Understanding The Development And Spread Of Pan Resistance In Acinetobacter Baumannii
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,339,215.00
Summary
Resistance to all antibiotics available for treatment of bacterial infections is a cause for global concern (Word Health Organization, US Centres for Disease Control) as it also compromises therapies relying on antibiotics such as transplantation and cancer chemotherapy. Extensively antibiotic resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, mainly causes hospital-acquired infections. This project will seek to track different types of these bacteria as they repeatedly spread around the world.
Roadblocks To DNA Replication And Implications For Antimicrobial Resistance
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,050,000.00
Summary
Antimicrobial drugs have revolutionised modern medicine in their ability to specifically target microbial infections. However, overuse of these drugs is resulting in more and more infectious microbes becoming resistant to them. This program aims to use molecular imaging techniques to visualise how microbes respond to antimicrobials and how they evolve to become resistant. The outcomes of this program will enable the identification of drug targets and the development of diagnostics.
Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance In Neonatal Sepsis: Australia And Beyond
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$566,164.00
Summary
This project aims to establish clear data regarding the burden of antibiotic resistance in neonates in Australia & in our local South East Asian region. This will be achieved by establishing systematic data collection for infections with multi-resistant bacteria in Australian neonatal intensive care units, reviewing published literature regarding the cause of infections in South East Asian neonates, and continuing collaborative work to establish a new treatment regimen for neonatal sepsis.
Understanding Complex Genomic And Biochemical Landscapes In Human Health Microbiology
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,210,520.00
Summary
There is increasing awareness of the critical roles microbes play in health. The microbes in our gut produce chemicals that control everything from our moods, to food metabolism and immune system function. In this proposal leading-edge technologies from the disciplines of microbiology, genomics, mass-spectrometry and computational biology will be used to reveal for the first time how and why these chemicals are produced by microbes in complex systems that are important for human health.
Scarlet Fever Pandemic And Reversing Antibiotic Resistance
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,414,215.00
Summary
(1) Scarlet fever is a disease caused by the bacterial pathogen group A Streptococcus (GAS) that has abruptly re-emerged (>600,000 cases since 2011). To contain this outbreak, my team will develop a scarlet fever vaccine. (2) My team has discovered a class of safe compounds that break antibiotic resistance, restoring antibiotic efficacy. We will now translate this exciting and unparalleled discovery into the clinic for the treatment of antibiotic resistant superbugs.
Leveraging The Interface Between Epidemiology And Molecular Biology To Enhance Disease Prevention
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,850,925.00
Summary
Some diseases are becoming more common over time.The increase over time is too rapid to be due to genetics alone. My research program aims to identify the environmental drivers of these diseases so that we can improve the current efforts to stop these diseases before they even begin. The research program has a focus on factors impacting on how a child's brain develops, how food allergy begins and the factors that can prevent multiple sclerosis onset or slow progression.
Multi-dimensional Monitoring Of Cognition And Cerebellar Function To Prospectively Define Disease Progression In Multiple Sclerosis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,462,250.00
Summary
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune degenerative brain disease that cost Australia >$1.7 billion/year in lost productivity. An estimated 50% of people with MS (pwMS) develop unrelenting, progressive disability (secondary progressive MS, SPMS). SPMS is currently diagnosed retrospectively by observing inexorable worsening in neurological function without relapses for > 6 month
Revolutionising Multiple Sclerosis Care And Trials Through E-health
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,182,124.00
Summary
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is now a highly treatable disease. However, many people with MS are not treated optimally because health care delivery is intermittent and disease monitoring is patchy. People failing treatment should switch quickly to prevent disability, but the treatment choices and sequences also need to be safe long-term. The solution to these problems, to be validated by my team, is greater involvement of people with MS in their own monitoring though e-health tools.
This program directly addresses the major threat of antimicrobial resistance , bringing together the power of modern genomics and the promise of novel positive therapies to eradicate AMR organisms and AMR genes from individuals at risk from severe infection.
Is The Excess Mortality Amongst Tuberculosis Survivors Explained By Chronic Pulmonary Aspergillosis? Investigating Burden, Diagnosis, And Therapy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$645,205.00
Summary
Chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) is a serious lung infection due to the mould Aspergillus. It affects people with damaged lungs, such as those who have had tuberculosis. In Vietnam, TB is extremely common, and there should be many cases of CPA. However, because diagnostic facilities are poor, CPA is often wrongly labelled as failed TB treatment, and patients receive the wrong therapy. My research will determine the size of the problem in Vietnam and how best to address it.