The team has been at the forefront of research on type 1 diabetes for over a decade. This form of diabetes is a major chronic disease from childhood, as well as accounting for at least 10% of adult-onset diabetes. It occurs when the body�s immune system attacks and destroys the beta cells in the pancreas that make insulin, the hormone that controls the level of glucose in the blood. The team was one of the first in the world, and is the only one in Australia, to develop screening programs to tes ....The team has been at the forefront of research on type 1 diabetes for over a decade. This form of diabetes is a major chronic disease from childhood, as well as accounting for at least 10% of adult-onset diabetes. It occurs when the body�s immune system attacks and destroys the beta cells in the pancreas that make insulin, the hormone that controls the level of glucose in the blood. The team was one of the first in the world, and is the only one in Australia, to develop screening programs to test and identify people at risk for type 1 diabetes. They showed that the underlying disease could start years before symptoms occurred and discovered genes that determine the rate at which the underlying disease progresses. They have also found evidence that the disease may be triggered by gut viruses called rotaviruses in genetically-susceptible individuals. They showed that type 1 diabetes could be prevented in a mouse model by getting the immune system to make a protective response to insulin, and then went on to apply this in at-risk humans in a controlled trial of intranasal insulin, the first of its kind. They have used genetic techniques not only to pinpoint the mechanisms responsible for killing the beta cells but also to modify the beta cells to make them resistant to attack by these mechanisms. The multidisciplinary approach of the team will be directed to further understanding the genetic and environmental factors underlying type 1 diabetes and the immune mechanisms, particularly involving special white blood cells called T cells, that kill beta cells. A molecular target of the immune attack, the parent of insulin called proinsulin, will be used, paradoxically, as a tool to regulate the immune system and avert the attack. This will be achieved by giving proinsulin via the mucosa of the naso-respiratory tract or via the bone marrow-derived stem cells, initiallyin the mouse model as a test of feasibility for human application. In parallel with these approaches to prevention, specially constructed viruses will be used to transfer several new genes into beta cells to improve their resistance to immune attack, so that they can be transplanted into people with established diabetes without the need for potentially toxic drugs that suppress the immune system overall. The integrated research of the team is helping to provide a sound, rational base for the eventual prevention and cure of type 1 diabetes.Read moreRead less
Determinants Of Child Health And Development: Populations, Partnerships, Pathways And Prevention
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$8,214,333.00
Summary
There are considerable challenges to the study of complex health and developmental problems in children and young people. Despite increasing prosperity in Australia, many of these problems are not abating and some appear to be increasing. These include low birthweight, behavioural and mental health problems, autism, obesity and, in Indigenous children, infections. This Program proposes investigating these problems with a view to prevention, thus meeting the national research priority of Promotin ....There are considerable challenges to the study of complex health and developmental problems in children and young people. Despite increasing prosperity in Australia, many of these problems are not abating and some appear to be increasing. These include low birthweight, behavioural and mental health problems, autism, obesity and, in Indigenous children, infections. This Program proposes investigating these problems with a view to prevention, thus meeting the national research priority of Promoting and Maintaining Good Health, particularly _a healthy start to life� and _preventive health care�. The Program is unique in that it brings together a multi-disciplinary team of researchers of international repute to investigate these complex issues. The research team comprises epidemiologists, clinicians, developmental psychologists, biostatisticians, sociologists and other social scientists. This team has a proven track record in producing research outcomes that have translated into innovative health policy and practice in areas as diverse as: - the use of folic acid in spina bifida prevention - understanding cerebral palsies - suicide prevention and mental health in children and young people - Aboriginal child health and development - intellectual disabilities including Rett syndrome and autism - in vitro fertilisation and birth defects. The factors influencing how children develop into young adults include genetic inheritance, nutrition and growth, and family, socioeconomic and environmental conditions. This work demands new ways of measuring and analysing these factors in populations of children and their families. Western Australia is one of only three sites in the world to have comprehensive linked health data on the whole of its population of children and their families. This Program comprises five overlapping themes of research planned around these unique population databases. The five themes are: - social, economic and psychological influences on child health and development - many paths to poor health are linked to social disadvantage. Examining these issues may explain why some childhood conditions are worsening or not improving - pathways to wellbeing, resilience and developmental disorders, including intellectual disability, autism, birth defects and cerebral palsy - nutrition and growth, particularly as it relates to low birthweight, childhood obesity and mental health - infectious disease, its causes and its influence on lifelong health problems and disabilities - Aboriginal health _ whilst spanning each of the research themes above, it presents its own unique challenges and requires it�s own unique solutions. This Program will investigate how children develop into young adults and will examine the influence of their families, nutrition and growth and socioeconomic and environmental conditions. It will develop new ways of measuring and analysRead moreRead less
Understanding And Influencing Physical Activity To Improve Population Health
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$4,668,376.00
Summary
Three of Australia's leading researchers on physical activity and population health will use new NHMRC program grant funding to consolidate and extend their already internationally-recognised studies. Doing regular physical activity is very important for maintaining good health. It helps to prevent weight gain, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and breast and colon cancer. Unfortunately, most Australian adults are not active enough for health benefits. Rates of overweight and obesity are increasing ....Three of Australia's leading researchers on physical activity and population health will use new NHMRC program grant funding to consolidate and extend their already internationally-recognised studies. Doing regular physical activity is very important for maintaining good health. It helps to prevent weight gain, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and breast and colon cancer. Unfortunately, most Australian adults are not active enough for health benefits. Rates of overweight and obesity are increasing rapidly; more than 50% of Australian adults are above the healthy weight range. Rates of type 2 diabetes have doubled in the past 20 years. New ideas and practical tools are therefore needed to tackle these serious ‘diseases of inactivity’. To this end, Professors Neville Owen, Adrian Bauman and Wendy Brown will bring together innovative and practically useful scientific approaches drawn from psychology, epidemiology and exercise physiology. The approach is interdisciplinary – it combines theories and methods from their individual disciplines in an innovative manner, within a public health framework. Their research to date has developed better methods for measuring people’s exercise habits and has provided new insights into how personal, social and environmental circumstances can make people less active. They have also shown how to design and deliver wide-reaching programs for different social groups and evaluated their effectiveness. Their new research program will build on and significantly extend these ideas and approaches into new areas.For example, they will develop new measures of incidental physical activity and sedentary behaviour and will develop and test new, complex community interventions.Their new program will involve in-depth study of some of the most challenging researchproblems in an important and under-researched area of public health. They will further combine their disciplines and the skills of their research team in new, creative and practical ways, to answer important research questions about physical activity and population health. These ideas and approaches will be used to identify practical ways to help more people to be more physically active.Read moreRead less
To understand the genetic basis of two of the most important cancers in women, breast and ovarian cancer. The team has already identified one gene that confers a very high risk of breast cancer and may account for a large proportion of 'familial' breast cancer. Their aim is to identify additional predisposition genes and to determine their normal function in the cell, as well as the way in which they contribute to the development of cancer