Most eye diseases have a genetic contribution, whether rare disorders affecting children such as retinoblastoma or congenital cataracts through to common disorders of older people such as myopia, age-related macular degeneration or glaucoma. We will continue our successful research to find genes that cause these diseases and use this to improve patient care and prevent blindness. We will work out how families can use this genetic information to participate in trials to develop new treatments.
Implementation Of A New, Inexpensive And High-throughput Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption / Ionization _ Time Of Flight Mass Spectrometry Test For Superior Detection Of Fragile X Syndrome In Targeted Diagnostics And Newborn Population Screening.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$254,175.00
Summary
Background: The Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is the most common form of inherited intellectual disability. There are now a number of treatments for FXS. However, often this disorder is not clearly recognized. We have developed a novel FXS test that could resolve this issue. Our objective is to develop a commercial package that describes suitability of our test for diagnostic use. If successful this could potentially leading to improvement in the prognosis for FXS children through early treatment int ....Background: The Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is the most common form of inherited intellectual disability. There are now a number of treatments for FXS. However, often this disorder is not clearly recognized. We have developed a novel FXS test that could resolve this issue. Our objective is to develop a commercial package that describes suitability of our test for diagnostic use. If successful this could potentially leading to improvement in the prognosis for FXS children through early treatment intervention.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100040
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$442,302.00
Summary
Quality Assurance of Mobile Applications by Effective Testing and Repair. This project aims to create advanced techniques that will enable software engineers to effectively develop quality assured and robust software systems. This project expects to generate new and innovative approaches that automate software testing and repair. The expected outcomes of this project include new knowledge of software engineering, development of an automated and cost-effective testing system with improved coverag ....Quality Assurance of Mobile Applications by Effective Testing and Repair. This project aims to create advanced techniques that will enable software engineers to effectively develop quality assured and robust software systems. This project expects to generate new and innovative approaches that automate software testing and repair. The expected outcomes of this project include new knowledge of software engineering, development of an automated and cost-effective testing system with improved coverage, greater bug detection and repair, and faster testing protocols. This should provide significant benefits to software users by providing reliable and user-friendly systems and to software companies to position Australia as a global leader in software development and technological advancement.Read moreRead less
Information Encoding By Temporal Structure Of Afferent Spike Trains
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$231,175.00
Summary
Our ability to sense, discriminate and interpret touch stimuli underpins some of the most crucial functions of the human hand that relate to object exploration and manipulation. The fundamental mechanism of how nerve impulses generated by tactile receptors are interpreted by the nervous system is not understood. Only by discovering the underlying neural encoding mechanisms can we appreciate the functional impairments in patients and learn to identify them before they become widespread and irreve ....Our ability to sense, discriminate and interpret touch stimuli underpins some of the most crucial functions of the human hand that relate to object exploration and manipulation. The fundamental mechanism of how nerve impulses generated by tactile receptors are interpreted by the nervous system is not understood. Only by discovering the underlying neural encoding mechanisms can we appreciate the functional impairments in patients and learn to identify them before they become widespread and irreversible.Read moreRead less
A Multi-national Trial To Predict Treatment Response In Subtypes Of Depression
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$387,489.00
Summary
Treatment of MDD using trial and error can have serious consequences. It can prolong the patient’s suffering (depression is associated with substantial morbidity, and mortality), prolong their absence from work and other productive activity and increase the burden on their family-carers. This multi-national study will collect genetics, brain function and behavioural data from a large number of participants, allowing for sensitive predictors of response to be determined.
Postviral Wheezing In Childhood: Disregulation Of Airway Tone?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$577,040.00
Summary
Asthma is a very common childhood condition that is becoming increasingly more common. Wheezing is common in infants and young children following viral infections and is often thought of as the first manifestation of asthma. However, many children and infants who wheeze with viral infections appear to grow out of asthma in their teenage years. Asthma that persists into adult life is usually associated with allergies to common environmental allergens, such as house dust mite and grass pollens. Ho ....Asthma is a very common childhood condition that is becoming increasingly more common. Wheezing is common in infants and young children following viral infections and is often thought of as the first manifestation of asthma. However, many children and infants who wheeze with viral infections appear to grow out of asthma in their teenage years. Asthma that persists into adult life is usually associated with allergies to common environmental allergens, such as house dust mite and grass pollens. However, many infants who wheeze with viral infections, especially in the first year of life, do not develop allergies in later life, raising the possibility that they did not have the same type of asthma as those whose symptoms persist. This project will study the effects of viral infections on lung function to determine whether particular types of virus can have detrimental effects of lung function lasting for years. We will also examine whether the age at which the infection occurs and the severity of the infection influence the long-term outcome. The project involves studying infants during the recovery phase of respiratory viral infections, older children years after documented infections and experimental animal models that have been infected under controlled conditions. By determining whether respiratory viral infections can have long-term effects on lung function that can mimic asthma, we will advance our understanding of how asthma develops. In addition, specific treatment and preventative strategies could then be developed to prevent these long-term abnormalities, instead of relying on asthma medication (especially inhaled corticosteroids) as is the current practice. Preventative strategies could include encouraging the development of specific vaccines.Read moreRead less
Developing And Evaluating A Multimodal Antibiotic Allergy Strategy To Improve Antimicrobial Stewardship In High-risk Antibiotic Usage Populations
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$303,014.00
Summary
Antibiotic allergies lead to the use of inferior antibiotics and generation of “superbugs”. Antibiotic allergy testing removes up to 90% of allergies, although remains unavailable to many and unreliable in some severe antibiotic reactions. We aim to validate antibiotic allergy bedside tools and programs, and develop laboratory tests that can diagnose and prevent severe antibiotic allergies, to improve appropriate antibiotic prescribing and patient outcomes.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE210100050
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$670,000.00
Summary
Spacecraft Innovation Laboratory. The Australian Spacecraft Innovation Laboratory is designed to provide researchers and entrepreneurs with a venue to integrate and test their “cubesats”, satellites the size of a loaf of bread, and small payloads. By centralising the satellite integration function, the standard of Australian space assets can be assured, giving researchers confidence that their spacebased experiments will succeed. Knowledge transfer to space start-ups will be accelerated by easin ....Spacecraft Innovation Laboratory. The Australian Spacecraft Innovation Laboratory is designed to provide researchers and entrepreneurs with a venue to integrate and test their “cubesats”, satellites the size of a loaf of bread, and small payloads. By centralising the satellite integration function, the standard of Australian space assets can be assured, giving researchers confidence that their spacebased experiments will succeed. Knowledge transfer to space start-ups will be accelerated by easing their access to space.
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