Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100965
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$444,582.00
Summary
Understanding nutritional interactions for targeted microbiome manipulation. This project aims to identify how microbial communities, known as microbiomes, can be effectively manipulated to the benefit of their host. Microbiome manipulation has been in the spotlight as a potential solution to maintain or improve the health of several hosts, from threatened coral species to livestock and humans, but the development of industry-scale strategies has been slow. This project proposes to chart the nut ....Understanding nutritional interactions for targeted microbiome manipulation. This project aims to identify how microbial communities, known as microbiomes, can be effectively manipulated to the benefit of their host. Microbiome manipulation has been in the spotlight as a potential solution to maintain or improve the health of several hosts, from threatened coral species to livestock and humans, but the development of industry-scale strategies has been slow. This project proposes to chart the nutritional interactions among microorganisms and to identify cascade effects of microbiome manipulation. This will generate fundamental knowledge on the biological processes underlying community stability and malleability, which will ultimately help engineering optimised microbiomes.Read moreRead less
Living on air: how do bacteria scavenge atmospheric trace gases? This project aims to determine the molecular and cellular basis of atmospheric trace gas oxidation by bacteria. Bacteria have a remarkable ability to adapt to resource limitation and environmental change by entering dormant states. Our research has shown they survive in this state by using atmospheric hydrogen and carbon monoxide as energy sources. This interdisciplinary project will determine how bacteria achieve this by elucidati ....Living on air: how do bacteria scavenge atmospheric trace gases? This project aims to determine the molecular and cellular basis of atmospheric trace gas oxidation by bacteria. Bacteria have a remarkable ability to adapt to resource limitation and environmental change by entering dormant states. Our research has shown they survive in this state by using atmospheric hydrogen and carbon monoxide as energy sources. This interdisciplinary project will determine how bacteria achieve this by elucidating the regulation, mechanism, and integration of the three uncharacterised enzymes that mediate this process. Outcomes and benefits include understanding of the processes that facilitate bacterial persistence, regulate atmospheric composition, and in turn support resilience of natural ecosystems.Read moreRead less
Novel link between bacterial sugar metabolism and cell-to-cell signalling. This project aims to understand the role and function of the bacterial communication system that enables bacteria to form complex communities and alter phenotypic traits, essential for survival in their environment. Bacteria survive in their environmental niches by developing complex multicellular communities. Cell to cell communication, termed quorum sensing (QS), is critical for this process and is linked to their capac ....Novel link between bacterial sugar metabolism and cell-to-cell signalling. This project aims to understand the role and function of the bacterial communication system that enables bacteria to form complex communities and alter phenotypic traits, essential for survival in their environment. Bacteria survive in their environmental niches by developing complex multicellular communities. Cell to cell communication, termed quorum sensing (QS), is critical for this process and is linked to their capacity to detect and secrete small signalling molecules, autoinducers. This project will provide a new paradigm in bacterial adaptation through comprehensive characterisation of the Autoinducer-2 QS system. This knowledge will provide future opportunities for intervention in microbial infestation with broad potential benefits.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100542
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$454,741.00
Summary
Microbial life in the atmosphere. This project aims to resolve the nature and basis of microbial life in the atmosphere, the largest but most unexplored potential ecosystem on Earth. The atmosphere plays a role in transporting microbes, but our understanding of resident atmospheric microbial communities and their role in global atmospheric processes is minimal. Using cutting-edge molecular and biogeochemical approaches, this project aims to identify true microbial residents of the atmosphere, un ....Microbial life in the atmosphere. This project aims to resolve the nature and basis of microbial life in the atmosphere, the largest but most unexplored potential ecosystem on Earth. The atmosphere plays a role in transporting microbes, but our understanding of resident atmospheric microbial communities and their role in global atmospheric processes is minimal. Using cutting-edge molecular and biogeochemical approaches, this project aims to identify true microbial residents of the atmosphere, understand their mechanisms for survival in this environment and explore their role in seeding newly formed environments. The anticipated outcomes include fundamental knowledge on atmospheric microbial ecosystems, and their influence on global atmospheric processes.Read moreRead less
Quantitative Metagenomics. This project aims to revolutionize our view of the microbial world once more by transforming microbiome studies from relative counts of organisms to actual numbers of microbes. This project expects to impact all the microbiome studies that are being performed worldwide by unveiling the actual numbers of microbes. Expected outcomes of this project include new techniques to enumerate the number of bacteria in different environments and new approaches to measure gene expr ....Quantitative Metagenomics. This project aims to revolutionize our view of the microbial world once more by transforming microbiome studies from relative counts of organisms to actual numbers of microbes. This project expects to impact all the microbiome studies that are being performed worldwide by unveiling the actual numbers of microbes. Expected outcomes of this project include new techniques to enumerate the number of bacteria in different environments and new approaches to measure gene expression within individual bacteria in any environment that will be demonstrated with complex microbial communities. This should provide significant benefits because microbes affect every aspect of our lives and those effects are driven by how many microbes are present.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230101284
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$397,003.00
Summary
Insect-specific virus host restriction. Mosquito-borne viruses are a topic of intense research due to their complex biology, ecology and evolution, and their potential to produce unpredictable outbreaks of disease in both humans and animals. Insect-specific viruses (ISVs) are viruses that replicate solely in mosquito cell and are unable to infect vertebrate tissues. This project aims to assess the biodiversity of ISVs in the Australian mosquito population and identify key factors behind their re ....Insect-specific virus host restriction. Mosquito-borne viruses are a topic of intense research due to their complex biology, ecology and evolution, and their potential to produce unpredictable outbreaks of disease in both humans and animals. Insect-specific viruses (ISVs) are viruses that replicate solely in mosquito cell and are unable to infect vertebrate tissues. This project aims to assess the biodiversity of ISVs in the Australian mosquito population and identify key factors behind their restriction in vertebrates. The objectives of the studies proposed will answer clearly defined important biological questions about ISVs, while also delivering technological advances, novel reagents and potential commercial outcomes for the control and prevention of arboviral disease. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100316
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$435,431.00
Summary
Population genomic methods for modelling bacterial pathogen evolution. This project aims to develop novel techniques to model bacterial genome evolution and improve our understanding of how major agricultural and human pathogens, including Enterococcus, Salmonella and E. coli, evolve. The project expects to generate new knowledge about how horizontal gene transfer shapes the evolution of bacteria and how these dynamics vary over different temporal scales. Expected outcomes include methodological ....Population genomic methods for modelling bacterial pathogen evolution. This project aims to develop novel techniques to model bacterial genome evolution and improve our understanding of how major agricultural and human pathogens, including Enterococcus, Salmonella and E. coli, evolve. The project expects to generate new knowledge about how horizontal gene transfer shapes the evolution of bacteria and how these dynamics vary over different temporal scales. Expected outcomes include methodological advances that will enable the analysis of massive contemporary datasets. These methods and resulting analyses will provide significant benefits including informing the design of superior long-term interventions to reduce bacterial disease in both agriculture and health that are robust to the evolution of bacteria.Read moreRead less
Defining the biological boundaries to sustain extant life on Mars. Key challenges for life are access to water & energy, and in cold, arid environments trace gas chemotrophy is used by soil microbiomes to sustain life. Given the cold, hyper-arid conditions on the Martian surface are analogues to ice-free regions of Antarctica, atmospheric chemoautotrophic ecosystems are the most promising ecological model for Martian life in the present or recent past. This project is significant, as it aims to ....Defining the biological boundaries to sustain extant life on Mars. Key challenges for life are access to water & energy, and in cold, arid environments trace gas chemotrophy is used by soil microbiomes to sustain life. Given the cold, hyper-arid conditions on the Martian surface are analogues to ice-free regions of Antarctica, atmospheric chemoautotrophic ecosystems are the most promising ecological model for Martian life in the present or recent past. This project is significant, as it aims to define the limits to energy, water and carbon production via trace gas chemotrophy. We will integrate biology with astrophysics to identify at which point life ceases. Expected outcomes include new knowledge on the biological envelope, with benefits to include the identification of Martian regions for exploration.Read moreRead less
Unlocking bacterial shapeshifting and its role in antimicrobial resistance. This project aims to combine advanced imaging with innovative microfluidics to identify how microbial shapeshifting can be exploited as a target for new antimicrobials. Infections that are hard to treat due to increasing antimicrobial resistance not only have an enormous, global impact on mammalian health, including livestock and humans, but also carry a growing economic burden. Advanced understanding of microbial life c ....Unlocking bacterial shapeshifting and its role in antimicrobial resistance. This project aims to combine advanced imaging with innovative microfluidics to identify how microbial shapeshifting can be exploited as a target for new antimicrobials. Infections that are hard to treat due to increasing antimicrobial resistance not only have an enormous, global impact on mammalian health, including livestock and humans, but also carry a growing economic burden. Advanced understanding of microbial life can propel urgently needed progress this area. Specifically, the project outcomes are expected to aid the development of next generation antibiotics. The new fundamental knowledge should also benefit translational prevention, identification and management efforts of a rising national and global health threat.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100111
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$373,097.00
Summary
Replication and transfer of novel plasmid classes in Acinetobacter. The project aims to reveal basic biology of plasmids found in Acinetobacter baumannii. A. baumannii is a bacterial pathogen that can rapidly acquire resistance to antibiotics, including last-resort antibiotics. In modern strains, acquisition is often mediated by plasmids. On the basis of DNA sequencing data, A. baumannii plasmids are likely to function differently to well-studied plasmids. However, surprisingly little experiment ....Replication and transfer of novel plasmid classes in Acinetobacter. The project aims to reveal basic biology of plasmids found in Acinetobacter baumannii. A. baumannii is a bacterial pathogen that can rapidly acquire resistance to antibiotics, including last-resort antibiotics. In modern strains, acquisition is often mediated by plasmids. On the basis of DNA sequencing data, A. baumannii plasmids are likely to function differently to well-studied plasmids. However, surprisingly little experimental work has been done to evidence this. By combining microbiological and bioinformatics approaches the project expects to generate new knowledge on the mechanisms of replication and transfer of A. baumannii plasmids. This may lead to new targets for strategies to slow and track the spread of antibiotic resistance.Read moreRead less