Detection and viability of waterborne pathogens using a gut-on-chip. This project aims to resolve a significant problem for water utilities. Microbial pathogens Cryptosporidium, norovirus and adenovirus are the main public health concern for drinking water in developed nations. Water monitoring is limited by the lack of fast, reliable detection methods and viability assays for these pathogens. This project will use a novel gut-on-a-chip to develop for the first time rapid infectivity assays for ....Detection and viability of waterborne pathogens using a gut-on-chip. This project aims to resolve a significant problem for water utilities. Microbial pathogens Cryptosporidium, norovirus and adenovirus are the main public health concern for drinking water in developed nations. Water monitoring is limited by the lack of fast, reliable detection methods and viability assays for these pathogens. This project will use a novel gut-on-a-chip to develop for the first time rapid infectivity assays for Cryptosporidium, norovirus and adenovirus. Significant benefits include improved diagnostics and water disinfection assays, improved water treatment and reduced costs with global impact.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL210100258
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,331,707.00
Summary
Understanding how bacteria adapt and function in the complex gut ecosystem. This project aims to investigate the role of the gut ecosystem in defining the structure and function of microbes. Given that one of the current challenges in microbiology is our inability to study individual microbes directly from complex, multi-microbial niches, this project aims to develop multidisciplinary methods to study microbes in their native state, to understand how they adapt to live in the gut. This understan ....Understanding how bacteria adapt and function in the complex gut ecosystem. This project aims to investigate the role of the gut ecosystem in defining the structure and function of microbes. Given that one of the current challenges in microbiology is our inability to study individual microbes directly from complex, multi-microbial niches, this project aims to develop multidisciplinary methods to study microbes in their native state, to understand how they adapt to live in the gut. This understanding should provide fundamental insights into adaptation mechanisms that lead to bacterial proliferation, disease and antibiotic resistance. As well as enhancing interdisciplinary collaborations, this work should provide economic benefits by contributing to improved gut health of animals, and more efficient food production.Read moreRead less
Active Visual Navigation in an Unexplored Environment. This project will develop a new method for robotic navigation in which goals can be specified at a much higher level of abstraction than has previously been possible. This will be achieved using deep learning to make informed predictions about a scene layout, and navigating as an active observer in which the predictions informs actions. The outcome will be robotic agents capable of effective and efficient navigation and operation in previous ....Active Visual Navigation in an Unexplored Environment. This project will develop a new method for robotic navigation in which goals can be specified at a much higher level of abstraction than has previously been possible. This will be achieved using deep learning to make informed predictions about a scene layout, and navigating as an active observer in which the predictions informs actions. The outcome will be robotic agents capable of effective and efficient navigation and operation in previously unseen environments, and the ability to control such agents with more human-like instructions. Such capabilities are desirable, and in some cases essential, for autonomous robots in a variety of important application areas including automated warehousing and high-level control of autonomous vehicles. Read moreRead less
Probing antimicrobial drug resistance by multimodal molecular analysis. This project aims to investigate drug resistance in microbial agents. With the emergence of "super bugs" there is a need to understand the biochemistry of antimicrobial resistance. Combining vibrational spectroscopic approaches and metabolomic techniques, the project will investigate cell populations, single cells and subcellular structures in search of biomarkers for drug resistance. The discovery of such biomarkers could l ....Probing antimicrobial drug resistance by multimodal molecular analysis. This project aims to investigate drug resistance in microbial agents. With the emergence of "super bugs" there is a need to understand the biochemistry of antimicrobial resistance. Combining vibrational spectroscopic approaches and metabolomic techniques, the project will investigate cell populations, single cells and subcellular structures in search of biomarkers for drug resistance. The discovery of such biomarkers could lead to improved disease management and eradication programs through identification and treatment of drug resistant pathogens in individuals that have the potential to re-infect the community.Read moreRead less
Understanding the life and death of Mucosal-associated invariant T cells. Cell death of naïve T cells in lymphoid organs is well-understood. However, T cells only gain their function upon activation, and how activated T cells regulate their life or death remains unclear. Mucosal-associated Invariant T (MAIT) cells are abundant in non-lymphoid tissues as key local players in immunity, and share some features of activated conventional T cells. This project aims to define how MAIT cell survival and ....Understanding the life and death of Mucosal-associated invariant T cells. Cell death of naïve T cells in lymphoid organs is well-understood. However, T cells only gain their function upon activation, and how activated T cells regulate their life or death remains unclear. Mucosal-associated Invariant T (MAIT) cells are abundant in non-lymphoid tissues as key local players in immunity, and share some features of activated conventional T cells. This project aims to define how MAIT cell survival and death are controlled. It combines methods we developed to track MAIT cells in vivo with expertise in cell death analysis. This project is expected to elucidate the complex mechanisms controlling MAIT cell survival/death and increase our fundamental understanding of cell death mechanisms of activated T cells.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240101286
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$469,707.00
Summary
SARS-CoV-2-induced dead cell fragments drive viral uptake and inflammation. This project will apply advanced cell biology and imaging techniques to investigate how macrophages, which lacks a canonical receptor for viral entry, become infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and elicit inflammatory responses. Its insights into a novel pathway of viral entry is expected to advance our understanding of host-pathogen interaction. The project is intended to uncover t ....SARS-CoV-2-induced dead cell fragments drive viral uptake and inflammation. This project will apply advanced cell biology and imaging techniques to investigate how macrophages, which lacks a canonical receptor for viral entry, become infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and elicit inflammatory responses. Its insights into a novel pathway of viral entry is expected to advance our understanding of host-pathogen interaction. The project is intended to uncover the role of SARS-CoV-2-induced dead cell fragmentation in promoting viral uptake and inflammation. Its findings should provide significant scientific, health and economic benefits by informing new research directions on infection and innate immunity as well as future therapeutic designs for infection treatment.Read moreRead less
Explanation in artificial intelligence: a human-centred approach. This project aims to produce validated methods for creating human-centred explanations of decisions made by artificial intelligence (AI). Trial deployment of AI devices has resulted in the requirement for explanations of how AI makes decisions, where developed AI systems gave insufficient consideration of how decision logic would be explained to people. This project positions 'explainable AI' within the intersection of human-compu ....Explanation in artificial intelligence: a human-centred approach. This project aims to produce validated methods for creating human-centred explanations of decisions made by artificial intelligence (AI). Trial deployment of AI devices has resulted in the requirement for explanations of how AI makes decisions, where developed AI systems gave insufficient consideration of how decision logic would be explained to people. This project positions 'explainable AI' within the intersection of human-computer interaction, computer science and cognitive psychology. The expected outcomes of this project are new methods, models and algorithms for explaining different types of AI models to people. This project should result in improved understanding and trust of decisions made by AI systems, mitigating some societal concerns about AI-based decision making.Read moreRead less
Self-organised communication as a foundation of large, complex societies. This Project aims to investigate how evolution has shaped the self-organisation of robust communication networks that emerge in large animal collectives from the actions of individuals following only simple, local rules. It expects to generate new knowledge into the fundamental principles guiding the self-organisation of networks that can sustain a complex society. Empirical work with ant colonies will inform the construct ....Self-organised communication as a foundation of large, complex societies. This Project aims to investigate how evolution has shaped the self-organisation of robust communication networks that emerge in large animal collectives from the actions of individuals following only simple, local rules. It expects to generate new knowledge into the fundamental principles guiding the self-organisation of networks that can sustain a complex society. Empirical work with ant colonies will inform the construction of simulation models to push the investigation beyond experimental limits. The Project should significantly advance our understanding of how communication networks enable the development of large societies, and thus of how to better manage autonomous man-made networks, most importantly the Internet-of-Things.Read moreRead less
New guardians of the mucosa: Molecular characterisation of M cell biology. We aim to completely define the cellular and molecular biology of gut and lung M cells for the first time. We will elucidate how they develop, are regulated and function at a molecular level, and how M cells maintain normal gut and lung tissues and induce immune responses to protect against microbial challenges. In the future, the new insights will be essential pre-requisites for the development of mucosal-based intervent ....New guardians of the mucosa: Molecular characterisation of M cell biology. We aim to completely define the cellular and molecular biology of gut and lung M cells for the first time. We will elucidate how they develop, are regulated and function at a molecular level, and how M cells maintain normal gut and lung tissues and induce immune responses to protect against microbial challenges. In the future, the new insights will be essential pre-requisites for the development of mucosal-based interventions and vaccines that protect the gut and lung from infectious and inflammatory issues. The harnessing of effective immune responses to control such challenges, are of enormous fundamental and long-standing biological interest, and are amongst the most important areas of current scientific research.Read moreRead less
Advancing Human–robot Interaction with Augmented Reality. This research aims to advance emerging human-robot interaction (HRI) methods, creating novel and innovative, human-in-the-loop communication, collaboration, and teaching methods. The project expects to support the creation of new applications for the growing wave of assistive robotic platforms emerging in the market and de-risk the integration of collaborative robotics into industrial production. Expected outcomes include methods and tool ....Advancing Human–robot Interaction with Augmented Reality. This research aims to advance emerging human-robot interaction (HRI) methods, creating novel and innovative, human-in-the-loop communication, collaboration, and teaching methods. The project expects to support the creation of new applications for the growing wave of assistive robotic platforms emerging in the market and de-risk the integration of collaborative robotics into industrial production. Expected outcomes include methods and tools developed to allow smart leveraging of the different capacities of humans and robots. This should provide significant benefits allowing manufacturers to capitalize on the high skill level of Australian workers and bring more complex high-value manufactured products to market. Read moreRead less