Preventing The Evolution Of Transmissible Nitroimidazole Resistance In Mycobacterium Tuberculosis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$664,463.00
Summary
Tuberculosis kills more people than any other infectious disease. Unfortunately, the drugs available to us to treat TB are losing their efficacy due to the evolution of drug resistance. A new class of drugs, nitroimidazoles, has been developed, but there is a risk that the bacterium that causes TB will develop resistance to these compounds too. We will identify resistance mutations before they occur in the wild, to help identify them and find new compounds for which resistance cannot develop.
Antibiotic resistance is a looming public health crisis. New antibiotics with new mechanisms of action are desperately needed. The long-term goal of this research is to develop new drugs that disarm bacteria to overcome the problem of antibiotic resistance.
Towards Alternative Therapeutic Agents To Antibiotics For The Treatment Of Helicobacter Pylori Infections.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$787,286.00
Summary
The bacterium H. pylori, is the leading cause of gastric ulcers, infecting over half of the world population. Furthermore, patients infected with the bacteria exhibit an increased risk of developing gastric cancer, with 900,000 new cases diagnosed yearly. The current proposal will study an enzyme which allows the bacterium to evade the host's immune system. The work aims to develop inhibitors of the enzyme as therapeutic agents to treat peptic ulcers.
Redox Control Of The Immune Regulatory Protein, Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$576,538.00
Summary
An enzyme called indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase is important for controlling the immune system during normal and disease conditions including pregnancy, cancer, inflammation and infectious disease. Despite its importance little is known about how this enzyme is controlled. This project will provide important new insights into how this enzyme is regulated. Such fundamental scientific information can discover new ways in which to alter the enzyme's activity in order to modulate immune responses.