Molecular approaches to developing subunit vaccines with improved efficacy against tuberculosis

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/302112

Funding Status
Closed

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Funded Activity Summary

Tuberculosis remains a major worldwide health problem, resulting in approximately 3 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. The bacterium that causes tuberculosis is made up of may proteins, some of which are known to induce immune responses in animals and humans. We will produce vaccines that are made from 13 of these important proteins. Using a laboratory animal model that closely mimics human tuberculosis infection, together with sophisticated immunological techniques, we will determine if these vaccines stimulate the right immune response to fight tuberculosis and prevent infection. In addition, we will exploit molecules known to boost immune responses to optimise these vaccines. Further we will study the recently sequenced genome of the tuberculosis bacterium to identify new proteins that may be included in these novel anti-tuberculosis vaccines. 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: 01-01-2004

End Date: 01-01-2006

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $480,750.00

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 immunology | cytokines | dendritic cells | disease models, animal | improvement of vaccine efficacy | infectious diseases | mycobacterial infections | tuberculosis | vaccine development/improved vaccine strategies

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