Identification Of Biomarkers For Alzheimers Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$607,489.00
Summary
Alzheimer's disease is the most common age-related neurodegenerative disease, and the most common cause of dementia. It is estimated that 212,000 Australians suffer from dementia and this will rise to approximately 730,000 by 2050. Currently there are no definitive diagnostic methods for AD. The research described in this application seeks to identify and validate a range of biomarkers identified in the blood of patients that would be suitable to use for diagnostic purposes.
Identifying Molecular Signatures Of Type 1 Diabetes.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$49,442.00
Summary
Type 1 diabetes is caused by loss of the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. Certain white blood cells of the immune system direct a damaging inflammatory response towards beta cells. Patients become ill once most of the beta cells are destroyed. This project aims to identify molecular signatures within subjects' blood which reflect the destruction. These markers will help predict diabetes risk, assess severity and response to treatment, as well as define targets for intervention.
Abeta Amyloid Imaging In Neurodegenerative Disorders With A Novel 18F Radiotracer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,084,266.00
Summary
Alzheimer's disease is the most common age-related neurodegenerative disease, and the most common cause of dementia. It is estimated that 212,000 Australians suffer from dementia and this will rise to approximately 730,000 by 2050. Currently there are no definitive diagnostic methods for AD. The research proposed in this application describes the evaluation of a new imaging radiotracer that would be suitable for widespread non-invasive diagnosis of AD.
Gastric Cancer: Early Detection Of Disease, Relapse And Prediction Of Extent Of Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$421,800.00
Summary
Gastric cancer (GC) is the second commonest cause of cancer in the world. The mainstay of treatment for GC is surgical resection, but despite improvements in surgical interventions the mortality rate remains high. The 5 year survival rate of GC is about 30% over 5 years. Accurate staging is fundamental to the management of GC and current investigations are inadequate. It has become possible to measure the activity of thousands of genes to identify those genes that predict whether a patient will ....Gastric cancer (GC) is the second commonest cause of cancer in the world. The mainstay of treatment for GC is surgical resection, but despite improvements in surgical interventions the mortality rate remains high. The 5 year survival rate of GC is about 30% over 5 years. Accurate staging is fundamental to the management of GC and current investigations are inadequate. It has become possible to measure the activity of thousands of genes to identify those genes that predict whether a patient will survive or succumb to their disease. We propose to use gene expression profiling to predict the risk of recurrence of gastric cancer in patients. We will examine over 270 tumours and use an independent group of patients to evaluate the test. We aim to develop a test that will help the clinician decide the type of surgical resection to perform or whether to give adjuvant chemotherapy. The test may also guide the use of more specific anticancer drugs. Early detection of GC is very important because patients with early stage GC have better outcome. We have already analysed over 60 GC tumours with microarrays and found genes that are specifically expressed by the tumours that are potential candidates as cancer markers. We plan to examine more cases of GC, both to find more genes and validate our candidate genes as tumour markers. We also want to look for patterns of proteins in blood of patients that identifies GC and use this pattern to follow patient progress to treatment.Read moreRead less
Genetic And Epigenetic Mechanisms Determining Responses To Therapies In Non-small Cell Lung Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$22,677.00
Summary
Lung cancer results in more cancer related deaths than any other cancer. The aim of this study is to identify prognostic and predictive markers for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with chemotherapy, palliative radiotherapy and also novel targeted agents. This will help to better utilise these treatments and hopefully improve outcomes in patients with NSCLC.
I am a molecular biologist determining the mechanisms of eukaryotic mRNA translation and its regulation by RNA-binding proteins and noncoding RNA. In collaborative work I extend these basic science objectives into the medical research areas of cardiology