Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100807
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$321,536.00
Summary
Anion transporters as novel therapeutic agents. This project plans to use simulations and modelling for the rational design of anion transporters as therapeutic agents. Malfunctioning of certain anion transport mechanisms can lead to serious diseases, most notably cystic fibrosis. Anion transporters are molecules that mediate the lipid bilayer transport of negatively charged ions, and are therefore promising drug candidates for the treatment of these diseases. Many of these compounds also displa ....Anion transporters as novel therapeutic agents. This project plans to use simulations and modelling for the rational design of anion transporters as therapeutic agents. Malfunctioning of certain anion transport mechanisms can lead to serious diseases, most notably cystic fibrosis. Anion transporters are molecules that mediate the lipid bilayer transport of negatively charged ions, and are therefore promising drug candidates for the treatment of these diseases. Many of these compounds also display anti-tumour properties. The intended outcome of this project is the development of new tools to accelerate the discovery of novel anion transporters, understand their structure activity relationship, and design more effective therapeutic agents.Read moreRead less
Biochemical text mining for advancing chemical and pharmaceutical knowledge. The project aims to develop novel natural language processing methods to find, extract and structure complex chemical reaction information in scientific literature. The project addresses a recognised bottleneck to efficiency in the drug discovery process, by enabling biochemical research results to be turned into actionable information. This has the potential to inform and accelerate development of effective drug treatm ....Biochemical text mining for advancing chemical and pharmaceutical knowledge. The project aims to develop novel natural language processing methods to find, extract and structure complex chemical reaction information in scientific literature. The project addresses a recognised bottleneck to efficiency in the drug discovery process, by enabling biochemical research results to be turned into actionable information. This has the potential to inform and accelerate development of effective drug treatments through the linking of relevant biochemical information. By delivering new methods that improve the compilation of knowledge about chemicals and drugs from textual information resources, the project hopes to enable faster drug discovery.Read moreRead less
Thinking Systems: Navigating Through Real and Conceptual Spaces. The project will provide fundamental insights into physical and conceptual spaces and develop applications in robotics and information systems. The project brings together national and international researchers to study how humans and other animals navigate: how trajectories through space are used to build maps, the neural bases of these mapping processes and how to use maps to achieve goals. The project will develop a new generati ....Thinking Systems: Navigating Through Real and Conceptual Spaces. The project will provide fundamental insights into physical and conceptual spaces and develop applications in robotics and information systems. The project brings together national and international researchers to study how humans and other animals navigate: how trajectories through space are used to build maps, the neural bases of these mapping processes and how to use maps to achieve goals. The project will develop a new generation of robots that can learn about the physical spaces they work in, and create concept-mapping systems that can map and navigate information spaces. Also, it will provide new insights into the mechanisms regulating human cognition and mental dysfunctions.Read moreRead less
Nonlinear Dynamics of Pulse Coupled Oscillators. A mathematical model of the heart pacemaker system will be created, based on simple interacting units. These units have been shown to be good models of physiological information e.g. the discrimination of different influences on heart rate. We will firstly look at the interaction of the units in simple combinations and then tune the model to mimic the behaviour of the cardiac pacemaker.
Potential benefits may arise from elucidating the mechanis ....Nonlinear Dynamics of Pulse Coupled Oscillators. A mathematical model of the heart pacemaker system will be created, based on simple interacting units. These units have been shown to be good models of physiological information e.g. the discrimination of different influences on heart rate. We will firstly look at the interaction of the units in simple combinations and then tune the model to mimic the behaviour of the cardiac pacemaker.
Potential benefits may arise from elucidating the mechanisms underlying arrhythmias which contribute to ?sudden cardiac death? in young men, and suggesting strategies for artificial pacemakers to effectively arrest abnormal rhythms before they convert to potentially fatal fibrillation.Read moreRead less
Enabling Technologies for Motion Corrected Positron Emission Tomography (PET) of Unanaesthetized Laboratory Animals. Small animal molecular imaging is a powerful tool in biological research and drug discovery. Anaesthesia is routinely used to avoid motion distortion, but can profoundly alter the biological process studied. This research will enable quantitative imaging of neurobiological phenomena in awake laboratory animals. It will create new opportunities for Australian basic researchers to ....Enabling Technologies for Motion Corrected Positron Emission Tomography (PET) of Unanaesthetized Laboratory Animals. Small animal molecular imaging is a powerful tool in biological research and drug discovery. Anaesthesia is routinely used to avoid motion distortion, but can profoundly alter the biological process studied. This research will enable quantitative imaging of neurobiological phenomena in awake laboratory animals. It will create new opportunities for Australian basic researchers to use innovative technology with expected high economic potential, and benefit small biotech companies by facilitating pre-clinical and clinical development of new pharmaceuticals. The new motion tracking and image reconstruction technologies developed will strengthen Australia's leading position in engineering and biomedical systems development.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100630
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Relating function of complex networks to structure using information theory. This project aims to investigate networks in order to translate network function to a universal language of information flows. Network science has used common tools to reveal universal connection structures within various biological and man-made networks – our brains, social networks and power grids are all networks of interacting components. Yet there is no common method to study the function of these networks and how ....Relating function of complex networks to structure using information theory. This project aims to investigate networks in order to translate network function to a universal language of information flows. Network science has used common tools to reveal universal connection structures within various biological and man-made networks – our brains, social networks and power grids are all networks of interacting components. Yet there is no common method to study the function of these networks and how such function is coupled with structure. This project aims to relate network structure to function by using measures of information processing as a generally-applicable framework. This will deliver a theory of how structure gives rise to dynamics and how structure can be optimised for desired dynamics.Read moreRead less
Advanced Monte Carlo Methods for Spatial Processes. The modeling and analysis of spatial data relies more and more on sophisticated Monte Carlo simulation methods. However, with the growing complexity of today's spatial data, traditional Monte Carlo methods increasingly face difficulties in terms of speed and accuracy. The aim of this project is to develop new theory and applications at the interface of Monte Carlo methods and spatial statistics, building upon exciting theoretical and computatio ....Advanced Monte Carlo Methods for Spatial Processes. The modeling and analysis of spatial data relies more and more on sophisticated Monte Carlo simulation methods. However, with the growing complexity of today's spatial data, traditional Monte Carlo methods increasingly face difficulties in terms of speed and accuracy. The aim of this project is to develop new theory and applications at the interface of Monte Carlo methods and spatial statistics, building upon exciting theoretical and computational advances in both areas in recent years. The research will stimulate the design of microscopic and macroscopic complex spatial structures with superior properties, such as composite materials, solar cells, telecommunication networks, mining operations, and road systems.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0775672
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$150,000.00
Summary
3D Scanning and Printing Facilities (3DSPF). A one-stop shop is proposed to accommodate 3D scanning and printing facilities in WA to advance a range of research projects currently undertaken by internationally renowned researchers in their respective fields. The facility will impact on our research programs in a wide range of disciplines including rapid prototyping, robotics, geomatics, demining, nanotechnology, and molecular modeling. These projects are of high significance and will advance res ....3D Scanning and Printing Facilities (3DSPF). A one-stop shop is proposed to accommodate 3D scanning and printing facilities in WA to advance a range of research projects currently undertaken by internationally renowned researchers in their respective fields. The facility will impact on our research programs in a wide range of disciplines including rapid prototyping, robotics, geomatics, demining, nanotechnology, and molecular modeling. These projects are of high significance and will advance research in most of the national priorities. The facility can also be used for training and teaching purposes. The facility builds on a previous long range scanning facility and on the State Government's support of leading edge computational and visualization facilities. Read moreRead less
Search strategy optimisation by theory, functional analysis and simulation. This project aims to develop a novel computational platform, based on mathematical, statistical and physical theory, as well as advanced simulations, enabling the quantitative prediction of the optimal search strategy to be adopted by populations of agents searching for scarce targets in any given environment. This could lead to significant impacts on breakthrough developments in cancer immunotherapy, search and rescue r ....Search strategy optimisation by theory, functional analysis and simulation. This project aims to develop a novel computational platform, based on mathematical, statistical and physical theory, as well as advanced simulations, enabling the quantitative prediction of the optimal search strategy to be adopted by populations of agents searching for scarce targets in any given environment. This could lead to significant impacts on breakthrough developments in cancer immunotherapy, search and rescue robotics, ecological and environmental management, and developmental biology.Read moreRead less
Reconstructing proteins to explain and engineer biological diversity. The aim of this project is to develop computational methods to construct entirely new proteins. Computational reconstruction of enzymes that have been extinct for over 400 million years has revealed remarkable opportunities for biotechnological innovation. The intended outcomes are to develop bioinformatics methods to broaden the scope of ancestral protein reconstruction to include protein super-families, to establish what spe ....Reconstructing proteins to explain and engineer biological diversity. The aim of this project is to develop computational methods to construct entirely new proteins. Computational reconstruction of enzymes that have been extinct for over 400 million years has revealed remarkable opportunities for biotechnological innovation. The intended outcomes are to develop bioinformatics methods to broaden the scope of ancestral protein reconstruction to include protein super-families, to establish what specific changes led to the evolutionary success of a protein, and to re-run evolution to generate proteins that perform in conditions suitable for industrial and agricultural applications, in particular the production of hydroxylated fatty acids for bioplastics. By examining proteins from many life forms, the project plans to develop a novel bioinformatics strategy to understand their evolution and engineer new proteins for use in production of chemical commodities.Read moreRead less