Attenuated and recombinant mycobacterial strains as novel vaccines to control tuberculosis

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/226920

Funding Status
Closed

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Funded Activity Summary

Tuberculosis is a major worldwide health problem. Around one third of the world s population is infected with the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, which results in 2 million deaths per year. Furthermore, people infected with the AIDS virus are at a much greater risk of catching tuberculosis. The only vaccine available for tuberculosis, known as BCG, is not very effective at preventing the disease. Therefore there is an urgent need to develop new vaccines to help combat tuberculosis. This project aims to develop and test novel vaccines to prevent tuberculosis. We will produce forms of the existing BCG vaccine that have been altered to boost the components of the immune system needed to provide optimal protection against tuberculosis. Other potential vaccines that we will test are very similar to the bacterium that causes tuberculosis but have been altered such that they do not cause disease. Using animal models of tuberculosis and sophisticated immunological techniques we wish to determine if these live vaccines can stimulate the right type of immune response needed to fight tuberculosis and prevent infection. This is an internationally competitive project and our team is at the forefront of this research effort. A new, effective tuberculosis vaccine would be a major medical breakthrough and a represent a significant achievement for Australian health and medical research.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2003

End Date: 01-01-2005

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $370,500.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Allergy

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

alternative vaccine strategies | cellular immunity | cytokines and chemokines | dendritic cell | disease models, animals | improvement of vaccine efficacy | infectious diseases | mycobacterial infection | tuberculosis | vaccine development

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