Pathogenesis, Treatment And Prevention Of Bacterial Infectious Diseases
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$9,752,075.00
Summary
Bacterial infectious diseases remain a serious threat to human health, accounting for over 10 million deaths each year. This is a broad-based collaborative proposal, building on our previous achievements. Its aim is to better understand the dynamic interactions between major disease-causing bacteria and their human hosts, and to directly apply this new knowledge to the development of improved vaccines and novel treatment strategies. These are urgently needed to combat bacterial infectious diseas ....Bacterial infectious diseases remain a serious threat to human health, accounting for over 10 million deaths each year. This is a broad-based collaborative proposal, building on our previous achievements. Its aim is to better understand the dynamic interactions between major disease-causing bacteria and their human hosts, and to directly apply this new knowledge to the development of improved vaccines and novel treatment strategies. These are urgently needed to combat bacterial infectious diseases in the 21st centuryRead moreRead less
The genome project has opened the path for the study of diseases using genetics. This approach is still quite recent in human and mammalian biology. It requires a large amount of input from statisticians and computer scientists as well as from the biologists and clinicians working on the disease. The team is looking for genes causing complex genetic diseases and use human populations and families as well as mouse models of human diseases. This includes modifiers of cancer development and respons ....The genome project has opened the path for the study of diseases using genetics. This approach is still quite recent in human and mammalian biology. It requires a large amount of input from statisticians and computer scientists as well as from the biologists and clinicians working on the disease. The team is looking for genes causing complex genetic diseases and use human populations and families as well as mouse models of human diseases. This includes modifiers of cancer development and response to infectious disease as well as deafness and autoimmune diseases.Read moreRead less
Development Of Innovative Approaches To Manage Insect-transmitted Diseases
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$4,435,142.00
Summary
This program grant focuses on the development of new methods to control mosquito-borne diseases, including those caused by dengue, Japanese encephalitis, and chikungunya viruses. We are investigating whether the introduction of Wolbachia micro-organisms into mosquitoes can be used to selectively eliminate old mosquitoes and reduce transmission of human pathogens. We will also determine whether Wolbachia have any non-lethal affects on mosquito behaviours such as dispersal and biting activity whic ....This program grant focuses on the development of new methods to control mosquito-borne diseases, including those caused by dengue, Japanese encephalitis, and chikungunya viruses. We are investigating whether the introduction of Wolbachia micro-organisms into mosquitoes can be used to selectively eliminate old mosquitoes and reduce transmission of human pathogens. We will also determine whether Wolbachia have any non-lethal affects on mosquito behaviours such as dispersal and biting activity which determine the level of contact between mosquitoes and humans.Read moreRead less
This program will investigate the strategies used by pathogenic bacteria to cause human diseases. The research will focus on how bacteria initiate infections, how they invade, cause cell and tissue damage and respond to their human host. It will also examine how the host’s innate immune system interacts with these bacteria. The results will provide new insights into host-pathogen interactions and reveal new targets for the development of novel antibacterial drugs and vaccines.
Proteases, Their Inhibitors And Receptors In Degenerative Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$5,843,388.00
Summary
Many of the themes of this program are aimed at understanding the molecular basis of several important degenerative diseases that in particular affect the ageing population. These include osteoporosis, arthritis, periodontal disease, wasting diseases of muscle and inherited disorders such as antitrypsin deficiency. The five CI’s on this application have formed a collaborative network since 1996. Dr Whisstock is a bioinformatician and structural biologist with a research focus on the serpin super ....Many of the themes of this program are aimed at understanding the molecular basis of several important degenerative diseases that in particular affect the ageing population. These include osteoporosis, arthritis, periodontal disease, wasting diseases of muscle and inherited disorders such as antitrypsin deficiency. The five CI’s on this application have formed a collaborative network since 1996. Dr Whisstock is a bioinformatician and structural biologist with a research focus on the serpin superfamily of protease inhibitors and their protease partners. He is currently the scientific director of the Victorian Bioinformatics Consortium and an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow. Dr Bird is an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow who discovered the intracellular branch of the serpin superfamily and formulated the hypothesis that describes their function. A-Prof Mackie is a world expert in the field of musculoskeletal biology and pathology. Dr Bottomley is a Senior Logan Fellow and RD Wright Fellow whose research focuses upon how proteins misfold and lead to disease. Dr Pike is an enzymologist whose research area encompasses a wide range of bacterial and mammalian proteases involved in the pathology of human disease. Each individual in this team brings different skills which makes this a very important and powerful collaboration. The research is extensive and involves protein folding, enzyme kinetics, molecular modelling, structural biology, bioinformatics, cell biology and pathology, enzyme kinetics and drug design. Collectively the CI’s have a total of 154 papers since 1998, of which a third include two or more of the CI’s as co-authors. Currently the team holds over >$5 million in grant funding. The team is augmented by four P.I.s: Dr Buckle is a talented structural biologist; Dr Scott is a molecular cell biologist who holds an NHMRC CJ Martin Fellow; Dr Garcia de la Banda is a computer scientist based at Monash and Dr Grigoryev is a world expert in chromatin condensation based at Penn State University (USA).Read moreRead less
This established team of investigators will research into the molecular control of white blood cell formation and function, using a multidisciplinary, team approach to fundamental biological questions with a focus on potential clinical and commercial outcomes. The team will also attempt to identify new validated targets for therapeutic intervention by using both forward and reverse genetic approaches in mice coupled with complete phenotypic analyses of the blood cell system.
A major obstacle to the development of safer and more effective pain treatments is the poorly defined nature of the different pathways involved in chronic pain. The applicant team bring together a unique set of research expertise in using neurotoxins to define, at the molecular level, how the nervous system functions. The applicants also share a common interest in understanding and improving treatments for pain, especially chronic pain which continues to remain poorly managed Through a focus on ....A major obstacle to the development of safer and more effective pain treatments is the poorly defined nature of the different pathways involved in chronic pain. The applicant team bring together a unique set of research expertise in using neurotoxins to define, at the molecular level, how the nervous system functions. The applicants also share a common interest in understanding and improving treatments for pain, especially chronic pain which continues to remain poorly managed Through a focus on pain research, the Program will significantly enhance the scope of existing multidisciplinary collaborations between the Cis Lewis Alewood, Adams and Christie, which have already made a considerable impact in the fields of pharmacology and neuroscience. The CIs also have considerable experience in the development of pain therapeutics, having discovered two conopeptides now under commercial development with AMRAD (AM336) and Xenome Ltd (Xen2174). This Program will discover and use highly selective conopeptides such as these to dissect the pharmacology of peripheral pain pathways and their projections into the central nervous system, and to identify and characterise new targets amenable to drug intervention. The long-term goal of the Program is to discover new targets in pain pathways and develop conopeptides that act on these targets in animal models of chronic pain. These molecules will be optimised within the Program to the point where they can be considered for pre-clinical development in collaboration with commercial partners.Read moreRead less