Increased Airway Smooth Muscle Mass As An Independent Determinant Of Asthma Pathogenesis And Severity
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$409,966.00
Summary
Asthma is a major health burden to the community. The most common form of the disease is allergic asthma and it is thought that allergic inflammation drives associated airway abnormalities including increased airway smooth muscle (ASM) mass. This study tests a new hypothesis that airway abnormalities and allergy have separate origins but combine to produce allergic asthma, and it’s the individuals with the greatest amount of ASM who develop clinically severe asthma.
Investigating The Effects Of Macrolides On Excessive Synthesis And Secretion Of Airway Mucins Using Novel Ex Vivo And In Vivo Approaches
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$520,821.00
Summary
Many people have difficulty breathing because the airway tubes that move air in and out of their lungs are blocked by excessive amounts of sticky mucus. Our project will use new techniques developed in our laboratories to investigate whether a group of medicines called “macrolides” can prevent the excessive production and release of mucus in the airways, and thus be beneficial in treating asthma, and potentially other lung diseases.
Epithelial Drivers Of Neutrophil Plasticity In Early Cystic Fibrosis Lung Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$849,462.00
Summary
Why airway inflammation becomes chronic so early in life for people with cystic fibrosis (CF) is unclear. This project will use the latest techniques to characterise immune cells found in airways of infants with CF and model in the laboratory how immune cells react to the CF airway. We will challenge CF airway cells with different bugs that can infect the lung, then see if the responses by CF airway cells can change the normal response of immune cells, triggering chronic disease.
Reprogramming Macrophage Function In The Elderly To Rescue Impaired Inflammatory Responses To Muscle Injury
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$410,983.00
Summary
Muscle injury in the elderly often takes longer to heal than in younger people, however the cells responsible for this delayed healing are not well understood. Key inflammatory cells required for muscle repair in young hosts are macrophages. However, during aging we have shown that macrophage function is altered, but the mechanism is unknown. This project aims to determine the mechanisms behind age-related changes to macrophages and whether they can be targeted to improve elderly muscle repair.
The Identification Of Thoracic Targets For Prevention And Intervention In Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$316,449.00
Summary
The persistence of breathing problems from infancy to later life is a complication of premature birth with lifelong consequences. Breathing problems often occur together with lung disease, but prematurity can also affect heart and blood vessel development, and weakness of the main breathing muscle. We will find out how much the heart, lungs and diaphragm contribute to breathing problems in babies; helping us to better predict, diagnose and treat severe breathing problems in babies born preterm.
Exercise As Medicine For Heart Failure: A Novel Intervention To Improve Outcomes
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$665,585.00
Summary
Heart failure (HF) is a common, debilitating and expensive disease; prognosis remains poorer than for the most cancers. 30,000 Australians are diagnosed every year and 300,000 live with the HF, at an annual cost of ~$1Billion. Exercise training is effective therapy in HF, because it reverses many of the problems that contribute to the reduced lifespan and impaired quality of life of patients with HF. We will test an exciting new type of exercise that promising greater benefit, at lower risk.
New Insights Into Viral Inflammatory Disease Mechanisms And Approaches To Therapy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$631,010.00
Summary
This fellowship aims to establish how viruses cause disease, including how they evade the immune response to persist and cause disease for prolonged periods. My vision is that knowing how the virus and the immune system interact to determine disease severity will assist in devising new treatments and prevention programs to lessen the impact of viral diseases in Australia and worldwide.