I am a cell biologist/geneticist focusing on understanding tumourigenesis. Cancer is a multigenic and complicated disease, involving interactions between the tumour and normal tissue. I use the genetically tractable model organism, the vinegar fly, Drosophila, to model cancer in situ and identify novel genes that drive cancer. My 5 year career plan is to use the Drosophila system to model cooperative tumourigenesis in epithelial and brain tissues and translate this to human cancer.
Inflammasome Function In Protection Against Infectious Disease And Autoimmunity
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$631,010.00
Summary
Inflammation, characterised by swelling, heat, pain and redness, is a normal response to injury and infection. Many human diseases such as gout, athersclerosis, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease involve some inflammation, mediated through a common pathway termed the inflammasome. This project will investigate the proteins involved in this pathway and how they interact in their normal role of combatting infections, as well as a possible defect in this pathway in autoimmune patients.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest: Improving Detection Of Patients At Risk
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$838,845.00
Summary
Sudden cardiac death accounts for ~10% of deaths in our community. Many of these deaths occur in people who could otherwise have had many more years of productive life ahead of them. The aim of our research is to determine the underlying mechanisms so that we can develop better tools for detecting underlying problems before they become life threatening and potentially develop new treatments to modify the underlying causes.
Regulation Of Cell Death, Cell Survival And Ubiquitination In Normal Physiology And Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$851,980.00
Summary
The project will investigate the functions of specific genes and pathways to understand the molecular basis of various diseases. It is based on our data that indicate new roles for (i) cell death in genomic instability in cancer, and (ii) ubiquitination in hypertension, developmental defects, kidney disease, as well as iron homeostasis. The work will lead to new understanding of human disease and discovery of potential new drug targets. It will also provide training of junior scientists.
In a human body, about a million cells are born every second, and a million die by activating a physiological cell death mechanism. If cell death fails to occur, cells accumulate and can develop into cancers. Determining the mechanism and regulation of physiological cell death will provide novel approaches to treat cancers and auto-immune diseases, both of which are characterised by failure of certain cells to die.
Structural Studies Of The Molecular Machinery Regulating Cell Death
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$638,517.00
Summary
Our bodies use a process called Programmed Cell Death to remove unwanted or dangerous cells. This work aims to understand the machinery that regulates this process at the molecular level. These insights will inform the development of drugs aimed at either initiating cell death when required, for example in cancer, or at inhibiting it when excessive cell death causes disease.
Regulation And Mechanisms Of Cell Cycling, Cell Senescence And Cell Death
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$876,005.00
Summary
Most of our cells are not dividing, but persist in a stable arrested state, yet little is known of the molecular mechanisms that regulate and maintain permanent arrest, or that go wrong when cells start proliferating and turn into cancers. This proposal addresses an area of fundamental, basic biology, that has been largely overlooked. A better understanding of the molecules that regulate cell stability might provide new drug targets so that tumour cell proliferation can be stopped.
Mechanobiology Of Epithelial Homeostasis In Health And Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$876,005.00
Summary
Epithelial tissues, such as the lung, fundamentally protect the body from its external environment. For this, they must detect and respond to danger. My work has discovered a new biological system where cells monitor changes in mechanical forces as a sign of danger. Diseases such as inflammation and cancer occur when this detection system fails. This Fellowship builds on my lab’s pioneering work to understand how force is used to sense danger, and how disease occurs when it goes awry.
The Interferon System In Innate Immune Responses To Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$836,818.00
Summary
My research investigates special proteins called cytokines in the body’s first-line defence against infection, inflammation and cancer. I will characterise how cells respond, the signals that mediate effects, using sophisticated genetic and new computational techniques to manage and analyse data. One focus is a new cytokine we discovered that protects against infections of the reproductive tract –a global health and socio-economic problem affecting 1 billion people.
Targeting Host Pathogen Interactions And Signalling Networks To Promote Death Of Infected Cells And Facilitate Pathogen Clearance
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Summary
Preclinical models of infectious diseases including hepatitis B, HIV, tuberculosis and human herpes virus infections will be used to understand how pathogens interact with host cells. With this understanding we aim to identify which host cell signalling pathways play a critical role in limiting or faciliating pathogen persistence. After identifying the important cellular pathways we aim to target these host cell signalling components with clinical stage drugs to promote pathogen clearance.