Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100735
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$395,204.00
Summary
Understanding infectious laryngotracheitis virus recombination. This project will study the factors that lead to recombination between strains of infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) concomitant with increased virulence. In previous studies of ILTV, two new genotypes of virulent field strains were shown to be independent recombinants derived from distinct attenuated ILTV commercial vaccines. These strains became the dominant field viruses responsible for widespread and severe disease outbre ....Understanding infectious laryngotracheitis virus recombination. This project will study the factors that lead to recombination between strains of infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) concomitant with increased virulence. In previous studies of ILTV, two new genotypes of virulent field strains were shown to be independent recombinants derived from distinct attenuated ILTV commercial vaccines. These strains became the dominant field viruses responsible for widespread and severe disease outbreaks in Australian poultry flocks. This project will enhance understanding of the conditions that led to these deleterious natural recombination events and enable the industry to avoid the emergence of new virulent field strains in the future. Read moreRead less
Development of a live vaccine for gut health in poultry. Development of a live vaccine for gut health in poultry. The project aims to develop a live vaccine against necrotic enteritis, a disease of poultry estimated to cost the global poultry industry $5-6 billion USD/annum. It builds on work that has demonstrated the efficacy of an experimental vaccine. The proven antigen, NetB, will be expressed in live delivery vehicles, including the apicomplexan parasite Eimeria and several bacteria strains ....Development of a live vaccine for gut health in poultry. Development of a live vaccine for gut health in poultry. The project aims to develop a live vaccine against necrotic enteritis, a disease of poultry estimated to cost the global poultry industry $5-6 billion USD/annum. It builds on work that has demonstrated the efficacy of an experimental vaccine. The proven antigen, NetB, will be expressed in live delivery vehicles, including the apicomplexan parasite Eimeria and several bacteria strains particularly suited to use in chickens. Comparative analysis of the different vaccine vehicles will allow evaluation of the relative advantages and disadvantage of the different vehicles for delivery of heterologous vaccine antigens, thus informing the choice of appropriate vectors for this and other vaccine applications.Read moreRead less
Using transgenic plant-based production and delivery systems to develop an avian influenza vaccine. This project aims to provide proof-of-concept for the rapid production of plant-made vaccines of high strategic value to the poultry industry. Plant-made AI vaccines would help safeguard primary industries in Australia from exotic influenza strains and shield rural communities from the impact of stock losses. This collaboration will also contribute to the Molecular Farming industry by ensuring tha ....Using transgenic plant-based production and delivery systems to develop an avian influenza vaccine. This project aims to provide proof-of-concept for the rapid production of plant-made vaccines of high strategic value to the poultry industry. Plant-made AI vaccines would help safeguard primary industries in Australia from exotic influenza strains and shield rural communities from the impact of stock losses. This collaboration will also contribute to the Molecular Farming industry by ensuring that Australian interests are considered as this frontier technology tackles the challenges of turning academic research into marketable products. The key features of an oral plant-made AI vaccine, including rapid and non-egg based production, also make this an attractive technology for the future development of swine and human influenza vaccines.Read moreRead less
Linking immunomodulation and latency in alphaherpesvirus infection. Herpesviruses cause major diseases in humans and all domestic animal species. Latency forms a significant part of the evolutionary success of herpesviruses, by enabling transmission of the virus throughout the lifetime of the host. Our work has shown that an alphaherpesvirus protein can divert the host’s immune response to become more antibody-mediated and less T cell-mediated. This study explores the consequences of this immune ....Linking immunomodulation and latency in alphaherpesvirus infection. Herpesviruses cause major diseases in humans and all domestic animal species. Latency forms a significant part of the evolutionary success of herpesviruses, by enabling transmission of the virus throughout the lifetime of the host. Our work has shown that an alphaherpesvirus protein can divert the host’s immune response to become more antibody-mediated and less T cell-mediated. This study explores the consequences of this immune diversion, and examines whether this reduced T cell response enables the development of latent infections. Disrupting the virus-host balance by alterations to this conserved viral protein will enable novel approaches to controlling these economically significant viruses.Read moreRead less
A bird's eye view of sex: the chicken embryo as a model for gonadal development. The development of an embryo as either male or female (sex determination) is a fundamental biological process that fascinates both scientific and lay communities alike. This project will use the chicken embryo as a unique model organism to study how genes control sex determination. We will bring a novel method to our field of study; the use of avian viruses to deliver genes into embryos. This project will enhance ou ....A bird's eye view of sex: the chicken embryo as a model for gonadal development. The development of an embryo as either male or female (sex determination) is a fundamental biological process that fascinates both scientific and lay communities alike. This project will use the chicken embryo as a unique model organism to study how genes control sex determination. We will bring a novel method to our field of study; the use of avian viruses to deliver genes into embryos. This project will enhance our understanding of a basic biological process. It will have application to the poultry industry, in terms of sex ratio manipulation. It will also aid in the diagnosis of humans born with sexual abnormalities. The project will consolidate Australia's standing as a world leader in the area of reproduction and development.Read moreRead less
Blocking immune responses: a critical factor in herpesvirus virulence? The horse and poultry industries are two large, primarily rural based livestock production industries that are major contributors to the national economy. The research proposed in this project will improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of two important viral pathogens that are each a significant cost to their respective industry, and thus will ultimately reduce the cost of these two viruses to industry. In addition, ....Blocking immune responses: a critical factor in herpesvirus virulence? The horse and poultry industries are two large, primarily rural based livestock production industries that are major contributors to the national economy. The research proposed in this project will improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of two important viral pathogens that are each a significant cost to their respective industry, and thus will ultimately reduce the cost of these two viruses to industry. In addition, the technology developed during this project would have a global market and may be transferable to other viral pathogens of other domestic species.Read moreRead less
Development of an Attenuated Infectious Laryngotracheitis Virus Vaccine. This project will develop novel methods for identification of genes involved in virulence of the important avian pathogen Infectious Laryngotracheitis Virus and produce an attenuated, antigenically marked infectious laryngotracheitis virus vaccine strain by specific disruption and deletion of two or more genes in the virusÕs genome.
Infectious laryngotracheitis is a major disease of chickens throughout the world, but curre ....Development of an Attenuated Infectious Laryngotracheitis Virus Vaccine. This project will develop novel methods for identification of genes involved in virulence of the important avian pathogen Infectious Laryngotracheitis Virus and produce an attenuated, antigenically marked infectious laryngotracheitis virus vaccine strain by specific disruption and deletion of two or more genes in the virusÕs genome.
Infectious laryngotracheitis is a major disease of chickens throughout the world, but current vaccines retain some capacity to cause disease. The development of novel attenuated vaccines will thus enhance control of this important disease of poultry.Read moreRead less
Nucleolus targeting by negative strand RNA viruses. Negative strand viruses (NSVs) include diverse animal pathogens that represent significant threats to Australian livestock industries and access to export markets. The project aims to investigate the interface formed by NSVs with cellular nucleoli in order to determine roles in viral manipulation of cell biology during infection. This project hopes to address a major gap in knowledge in virology regarding the fundamental biology of NSVs, and is ....Nucleolus targeting by negative strand RNA viruses. Negative strand viruses (NSVs) include diverse animal pathogens that represent significant threats to Australian livestock industries and access to export markets. The project aims to investigate the interface formed by NSVs with cellular nucleoli in order to determine roles in viral manipulation of cell biology during infection. This project hopes to address a major gap in knowledge in virology regarding the fundamental biology of NSVs, and is expected to redefine our understanding of the virus-host interactions formed by these important pathogens. By determining the mechanisms of NSV-nucleolus interaction, the project plans to also provide important information for the development of new vaccines/therapeutics for livestock to combat NSVs that target nucleoli.Read moreRead less
Alphaherpesvirus recombination: safety implications for attenuated Herpesvirus vaccines. Under certain conditions some herpesviruses, including mild vaccine strains, can recombine to generate virulent viruses. Following findings that this occurred naturally between Australian poultry vaccines, with devastating results, this project will study natural herpesvirus recombination with the aim of allowing vaccines to be used more safely.
Chicken and ChIPs; genetic control of avian gonadal development. This project aims to improve our understanding of gonad formation at the genetic level, using unique approaches that exploit the chicken embryo as a model system. Gonad formation during embryonic life provides an excellent model for studying the genetic control of development. The project plans to use innovative methods to study novel and known gonad-determining genes. The project seeks to make a substantial contribution to our und ....Chicken and ChIPs; genetic control of avian gonadal development. This project aims to improve our understanding of gonad formation at the genetic level, using unique approaches that exploit the chicken embryo as a model system. Gonad formation during embryonic life provides an excellent model for studying the genetic control of development. The project plans to use innovative methods to study novel and known gonad-determining genes. The project seeks to make a substantial contribution to our understanding of cell fate decisions, sex determination and gonad development. It also potentially has application to the poultry industry by illuminating those genes and pathways that can be targeted to modulate sex determination in chickens, which is a goal of the industry.Read moreRead less