Alpha-2-Macroglobulin And The Transport And Uptake Of The Hormone, Hepcidin
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$533,541.00
Summary
Hepcidin is a peptide hormone that is a major regulator of iron metabolism. It has been suggested that hepcidin is free in the blood. However, we recently identified that hepcidin binds with alpha-2-macroglobulin (a2-M) in the plasma and this increases the efficacy of this peptide. The demonstration that a2-M plays a role in hepcidin biology will lead to a better understanding of hepcidin physiology, the development of methods for its measurement and improved treatment of iron related diseases.
Discovery Of A Novel Immune Evasion Strategy Employed By Mosquito Borne Viruses To Suppress Antiviral Immune Responses
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$418,642.00
Summary
The transition from mosquitoes, ticks, or other invertebrate vectors to the human hosts represents a crucial step in the successful establishment of arthropod borne viruses (arboviruses). The incidence of arbovirus infections such as dengue virus, West Nile virus, Ross River virus is increasing at an alarming rate in various parts of the world. In addition, the emergence of new viruses resulting in significant mortality in the population is of utmost concern. Vaccines for many of these viruses r ....The transition from mosquitoes, ticks, or other invertebrate vectors to the human hosts represents a crucial step in the successful establishment of arthropod borne viruses (arboviruses). The incidence of arbovirus infections such as dengue virus, West Nile virus, Ross River virus is increasing at an alarming rate in various parts of the world. In addition, the emergence of new viruses resulting in significant mortality in the population is of utmost concern. Vaccines for many of these viruses remain elusive. One factor that contributes to this is the ability of viruses to develop ingenious strategies to avoid or suppress the host defence systems, which enable its successful establishment in the host. Understanding how viruses evade-suppress host defence machinery will certainly enhance and improve our approaches to fight them. For the first time internationally we have discovered a new and novel pathway employed by arboviruses to suppress antiviral immune responses in the host. We have discovered that naturally occurring carbohydrates on viruses derived from mosquito cells, would influence these virus s ability to evade-suppress host antiviral proteins such as interferons. This may be a general effect of arboviruses or may even extend to other viruses , which include a number of deadly pathogens (HIV, Influenza). This research has the potential to significantly expand our understanding of how these viruses establish infection and cause disease. Also this discovery has broader implications for understanding inflammatory processes and their regulation.Read moreRead less
Leveraging 3D computer vision for camera-based precise geo-localisation. This project aims to develop advanced 3D computer vision and image processing technology that can turn regular cameras into high-precision location-sensing devices. Spatial Location is a fundamental type of information of our physical world. Determining the precise location of people, vehicle, and mobile devices is essential for many critical applications. Outcomes of the project will enable a wide range of novel applicatio ....Leveraging 3D computer vision for camera-based precise geo-localisation. This project aims to develop advanced 3D computer vision and image processing technology that can turn regular cameras into high-precision location-sensing devices. Spatial Location is a fundamental type of information of our physical world. Determining the precise location of people, vehicle, and mobile devices is essential for many critical applications. Outcomes of the project will enable a wide range of novel applications of significant social, environmental and economic value, such as Location-Aware Service, Environment Monitoring, Augmented Reality, Autonomous Vehicle, and Rapid Emergency Response. The project will enhance Australia's international competitive advantage in forefront of ICT research and technology innovation.Read moreRead less
Developing Reliable Bio-Crypto Features for Mobile Template Protection. Cost of identity theft crimes were at multi-million dollars in Australia in 2007. Technically this is due to the fact that conventional personal identification number and token based security mechanisms cannot identify genuine users. Biometric fingerprint security systems emerge as a promising solution. However protection of the mobile embedded fingerprint template itself is an unresolved problem. The project aims to devel ....Developing Reliable Bio-Crypto Features for Mobile Template Protection. Cost of identity theft crimes were at multi-million dollars in Australia in 2007. Technically this is due to the fact that conventional personal identification number and token based security mechanisms cannot identify genuine users. Biometric fingerprint security systems emerge as a promising solution. However protection of the mobile embedded fingerprint template itself is an unresolved problem. The project aims to develop new ways designing bio-cryptosystems that provide strong security strength. The project will bring new body of knowledge into this field and place Australia in the forefront of this research, and also result in strengthened security of IT infrastructure and systems for industries.Read moreRead less
Added depth: automated high level image interpretation. Humans are very good at understanding the world through imagery, but computers lack this fundamental capacity because they lack experience of what they might see. This project will provide this experience by combining the large volumes of imagery on the Internet with three dimensional information generated by humans for other purposes.
Solve it or Ignore it? The Challenge of Alignment Distortion and Creating Next Generation Automatic Facial Expression Detection. The last two decades have seen an escalating interest in automating the coding of facial expressions. Despite this keen interest, the promise of computer vision systems to accurately code facial expressions in natural circumstances remains elusive. Our interdisciplinary team will research a new paradigm to account for facial alignment distortion directly rather than ai ....Solve it or Ignore it? The Challenge of Alignment Distortion and Creating Next Generation Automatic Facial Expression Detection. The last two decades have seen an escalating interest in automating the coding of facial expressions. Despite this keen interest, the promise of computer vision systems to accurately code facial expressions in natural circumstances remains elusive. Our interdisciplinary team will research a new paradigm to account for facial alignment distortion directly rather than aiming to achieve invariance to it. The project will also research new data agnostic feature compaction capabilities to enable scalable learning on the world’s largest and challenging expression dataset available to us through international collaboration. Tackling these two major open problems will make accurate coding of facial expressions in natural environments achievable.Read moreRead less
Parallel and Distributed Machine Learning - Smart Data Analysis in the Multicore Era. In large data centres our research will lead to reduced energy consumption by using graphics cards which have a much better computation to power ratio than traditional processors. On desktop computers, it will make machine learning practical by enabling efficient algorithms for spam filtering and content analysis. On networked systems it will lead to distributed inference, caching and collaborative filtering ap ....Parallel and Distributed Machine Learning - Smart Data Analysis in the Multicore Era. In large data centres our research will lead to reduced energy consumption by using graphics cards which have a much better computation to power ratio than traditional processors. On desktop computers, it will make machine learning practical by enabling efficient algorithms for spam filtering and content analysis. On networked systems it will lead to distributed inference, caching and collaborative filtering applications which will both reduced the bandwidth required and make the internet safer for users. Finally, it will enable rapid deployment of sensor networks for monitoring and detection, such as for environmental monitoring and safeguarding Australia's borders.Read moreRead less
Developing key vision technology for automation of aquaculture factory. This project aims to investigate structural, coloured textural, and hyperspectral analysis approaches to achieve automated lobster molt-cycle staging and classification to the level required for commercial production. High labour cost, water contamination, and disease transmission are major barriers in Australian bay lobster aquaculture inhibiting its large scale production. Automation of the production process and reducing ....Developing key vision technology for automation of aquaculture factory. This project aims to investigate structural, coloured textural, and hyperspectral analysis approaches to achieve automated lobster molt-cycle staging and classification to the level required for commercial production. High labour cost, water contamination, and disease transmission are major barriers in Australian bay lobster aquaculture inhibiting its large scale production. Automation of the production process and reducing the human contact with animals are of high priority in the development of this Australian-led emerging industry. The project aims to develop technology to bring this world- first aquaculture factory to large scale production, and create new export opportunities for lobsters and production systems.Read moreRead less
3D Image segmentation and shape characterisation driven by topological persistence. Tomographic imaging is emerging as a new tool to help tackle a remarkable array of scientific challenges. What distinguishes healthy bone from that of osteoporosis sufferers? How does groundwater contamination spread? Why is a macadamia nut so hard to crack? What causes the iridescence in a butterfly wing? These are just a few of the questions being answered at tomographic facilities in Australia alone. By co ....3D Image segmentation and shape characterisation driven by topological persistence. Tomographic imaging is emerging as a new tool to help tackle a remarkable array of scientific challenges. What distinguishes healthy bone from that of osteoporosis sufferers? How does groundwater contamination spread? Why is a macadamia nut so hard to crack? What causes the iridescence in a butterfly wing? These are just a few of the questions being answered at tomographic facilities in Australia alone. By combining sophisticated mathematics with cutting edge image-processing algorithms, this project will yield a new class of topology driven image analysis techniques that will improve the accuracy and reliability of predictions made from tomographic images.Read moreRead less
ARC Research Network on Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing. Sensor networks, a collection of diverse sensors interconnected via an ad-hoc communication network, are identified as one of the key technologies that over the next two decades will change the way we live. This research network brings together an interdisciplinary team of outstanding Australian researchers representing all the key disciplines required to successfully deploy sensor networks and links this te ....ARC Research Network on Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing. Sensor networks, a collection of diverse sensors interconnected via an ad-hoc communication network, are identified as one of the key technologies that over the next two decades will change the way we live. This research network brings together an interdisciplinary team of outstanding Australian researchers representing all the key disciplines required to successfully deploy sensor networks and links this team with the foremost international authorities and leading industry players in the area of sensor networks. This research network will guide collaborative research that will ensure Australia to play a world leading role in sensor network development and implementation.
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