CHARACTERIZATION AND PURIFICATION OF A NOVEL ANTI-HIV FACTOR
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$170,810.00
Summary
We have identified biological evidence for a novel anti-HIV factor in a patient who has not progressed to HIV disease in 22 years. We have identified active forms in a solution, which confer potent activity against HIV. This factor helps in creating the pool of specialized antigen presenting cells, which are vital to combating with HIV in vivo. We propose to characterize this factor biologically, proteomically and genomically.
Development Of The Quick Clinical On-line Evidence Based Decision Support System
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$124,500.00
Summary
Web information retrieval is of increasing importance to health professions. Yet, despite advances in technology, clinicians still have large unmet information needs with significant consequences for the public. QuickClinical is an evidence delivery system that utilises intelligent search filter technology to assist typical clinical tasks like ‘diagnosis’, ensuring only the most relevant evidence is retrieved. This grant will allow a research prototype to be taken to early commercialisation stag ....Web information retrieval is of increasing importance to health professions. Yet, despite advances in technology, clinicians still have large unmet information needs with significant consequences for the public. QuickClinical is an evidence delivery system that utilises intelligent search filter technology to assist typical clinical tasks like ‘diagnosis’, ensuring only the most relevant evidence is retrieved. This grant will allow a research prototype to be taken to early commercialisation stage, ready to be deployed in different environments for different clinical users.Read moreRead less
Development And Evaluation Of Novel Anti-inflammatory Products Derived From An Indigenous Medicinal Plant
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$276,598.00
Summary
This collaborative project between researchers at the University of South Australia and Indigenous traditional owners from Northern Kaanju homelands (Cape York Peninsula, Qld) will develop and evaluate products derived from the Northern Kaanju medicinal plant Dodonaea polyandra. Extracts of the plant and novel compounds isolated from it have anti-inflammatory activity. These have the potential to be used in inflammatory diseases such as dermatitis, arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.
Monoclonal Antibodies Targeting Plasma Cells As Novel Therapeutic Agents And Diagnostic Tools
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$199,275.00
Summary
We have a new tool to identify a very rare immune cell type. This cell makes antibodies, powerful and exquisitely specific proteins that fight infection. In health, antibody-producing cells are beneficial, but in disease (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and myeloma), these cells cause disease or death. Antibody-producing cells are long-lived. We have no means to specifically deplete them. We are developing reagents to identify and deplete antibody-producing cells to use as novel therapeutic agents.
Improved Formulations Of Anti-cancer Agents 5-Fluorouracil And Oxaliplatin Using Excipient Technology
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$202,973.00
Summary
Chemotherapy plays a key role in cancer treatment, however, problems persist with severe adverse toxic effects. Combinations of anti-cancer agents give better results, but these agents still have major negative effects, for example, on veins and peripheral nerves and they must be given separately. We have developed a novel, all-in-one formulation of Oxaliplatin with 5-Fluorouracil and Leucovorin, with the potential for fewer toxic effects and improved patient care.
There is an unmet need for safe and effective anti-inflammatory drugs. Because P38 MAPK intracellular signalling modulates multiple pro-inflammatory cytokine actions, it appears to be an ideal candidate pathway. P38 inhibitors have been limited by their toxicity within hepatocytes. The aim of this program therefore is to develop agents with enhanced P38 MAPK inhibitory effects as well as reduced liver toxicity based on known structure activity relationships.
Chronic infections and cancers are major causes of global disease burden. Harnessing the immune system to combat these diseases has proven difficult and cumbersome to date. We invented a new technology to boost the ability of the immune system to fight chronic infections such as AIDS and Hepatitis C. This involves using someone�s own blood treated with sets of short proteins. We term this therapy Overlapping Peptide Pulsed Autologous CelLs (OPAL). This shows great promise in robust animal models ....Chronic infections and cancers are major causes of global disease burden. Harnessing the immune system to combat these diseases has proven difficult and cumbersome to date. We invented a new technology to boost the ability of the immune system to fight chronic infections such as AIDS and Hepatitis C. This involves using someone�s own blood treated with sets of short proteins. We term this therapy Overlapping Peptide Pulsed Autologous CelLs (OPAL). This shows great promise in robust animal models. We now propose to refine this technique in animals in preparation for human clinical trials.Read moreRead less
The DietAdvice Website A New Innovation For Dietitians In Clinical Practice.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$140,975.00
Summary
Due to the growing incidence of obesity within Australia, use of computer technology may be a method of targeting these people by increasing access to dietary services. Currently available dietary software in the Australian context only allows analysis of nutrient information. Thus when a dietitian sees a patient they must manually translate food intake to nutrient information, a largely time consuming exercise. DietAdvice is a website that was developed for people to enter in their own food int ....Due to the growing incidence of obesity within Australia, use of computer technology may be a method of targeting these people by increasing access to dietary services. Currently available dietary software in the Australian context only allows analysis of nutrient information. Thus when a dietitian sees a patient they must manually translate food intake to nutrient information, a largely time consuming exercise. DietAdvice is a website that was developed for people to enter in their own food intakes. The food information is sent to a dietitian who develops individualised dietary advice for them. A pilot study of the website has already found it to be feasible in the primary healthcare setting. Tested for 12 months the website was used by 224 patients from GP practices in the Illawarra region of NSW. Approximately 73% of patients were overweight and patients with a high BMI were 1.88 times more likely to use the website in the comfort of their home. Further research about the website however was needed. The research to follow on from the pilot study will aim to refine the DietAdvice website, leading towards its commercialisation for dietitians in clinical practice. The research will be broken into 3 phases. Phase 1 will involve a usability test of the website, assessing the underlying algorithms and testing it with dietitians in private practice. Phase 2 will see volunteers using the website on multiple occasions after being given pre-weighed amounts of food to eat. This will determine how reliable and accurate the information is; and phase 3 will evaluate whether the website is cost effective and if it increases accessibility of health services especially in rural areas. By confirming these attributes there will be a sound basis to commercialise the product.Read moreRead less
Application Of Follistatin To The Resolution Of Liver Fibrosis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$330,990.00
Summary
Liver fibrosis or scarring is a consequence of a number of diseases, leading eventually to extensive damage known as cirrhosis. It is a significant health problem both here in Australia and overseas with around 180,000 patients diagnosed each year in the Western world. Cirrhosis arises from many causes, two major groups being patients who contract hepatitis and alcoholics. People with cirrhosis have a much increased risk of liver failure, which requires liver transplantation, or of developing li ....Liver fibrosis or scarring is a consequence of a number of diseases, leading eventually to extensive damage known as cirrhosis. It is a significant health problem both here in Australia and overseas with around 180,000 patients diagnosed each year in the Western world. Cirrhosis arises from many causes, two major groups being patients who contract hepatitis and alcoholics. People with cirrhosis have a much increased risk of liver failure, which requires liver transplantation, or of developing liver cancer, for which current treatments have limited success. We have been studying two proteins, activin and follistatin, both of which are made in the liver. We are interested in activin because it is one of the body's mechanisms to control cell growth, and also seems to stimulate the development of scar tissue. Follistatin is the natural inhibitory substance for activin. It blocks the effects of activin and helps promote cell growth in the liver. We believe that follistatin may also be useful in controlling liver scarring. This process will be studied in animal models of cirrhosis, in the hope that follistatin treatment will reduce the level of liver damage. If successful, this would be important information that would enable us to design treatments applicable to human sufferers of these liver diseases. In another part of the project, we will assess whether activin and follistatin might be useful markers of liver disease. Most patients require a liver biopsy to assess the amount of liver damage, and a simple blood test would be a far easier, less traumatic and cheaper alternative.Read moreRead less