Assuring the microbial safety and quality of Australian malt and barley. This project aims to ensure that Australian malt and barley is 'clean' and free of undesirable micro-organisms that may produce mycotoxins and factors that impact on brewing efficiency and beer quality. The project will determine what is the typical microbial composition and load of Australian malt and barley grown in different environments and areas benchmarked against malting barley and malt grown internationally. A set ....Assuring the microbial safety and quality of Australian malt and barley. This project aims to ensure that Australian malt and barley is 'clean' and free of undesirable micro-organisms that may produce mycotoxins and factors that impact on brewing efficiency and beer quality. The project will determine what is the typical microbial composition and load of Australian malt and barley grown in different environments and areas benchmarked against malting barley and malt grown internationally. A set of diagnostic tools are expected to be developed. The successful execution of the project is expected to highlight that Australian malt and barley is of high quality so that the health of domestic customers is ensured and it attracts a premium from our export customers.Read moreRead less
Identification And Characterisation Of Novel Genes For Congenital Cataract
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$432,750.00
Summary
Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness worldwide. The term describes a clouding of the lens which may lead to visual impairment. Congenital cataracts (present at birth) are less common than age-related cataract but the lifelong impact on vision can be severe, with a third of patients remaining legally blind. Late complications such as aphakic glaucoma may be blinding. We have shown that congenital cataracts are often inherited and have performed a population-based study in South-Eastern Au ....Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness worldwide. The term describes a clouding of the lens which may lead to visual impairment. Congenital cataracts (present at birth) are less common than age-related cataract but the lifelong impact on vision can be severe, with a third of patients remaining legally blind. Late complications such as aphakic glaucoma may be blinding. We have shown that congenital cataracts are often inherited and have performed a population-based study in South-Eastern Australia over the past 5 years to determine the causative genes. A large number of families have been involved in the study and solid progress has been made in identifying mutations in cataract genes and understanding what effect these may have on the patient's prognosis. We have recently identified a new gene in a large Australian family with a syndrome of cataract, mental retardation and teeth problems. This syndrome, known as Nance-Horan syndrome was originally described in Australia 30 years ago and we have worked with the original family to find the exact gene responsible. We already know that this gene causes the same syndrome in other families and in this project we will examine whether it can cause cataract without the other features or mental retardation without cataract. We will perform a series of experiments to learn what this gene does and how it causes the disease. We have also selected 3 other very interesting families with congenital cataracts for further study as we either know already or strongly suspect that they will enable us to identify further new genes for cataract, and in one case mental retardation. Our work in other diseases indicates that understanding the genes in severe young onset cases can give valuable clues to the causes of age-related forms and may in the future enable new ways to prevent and treat the commonest cause of worldwide blindness.Read moreRead less
Investigation of the impact of malt haze active proteins to improve brewing efficiency and beer quality. Australia is a major world exporter of malting barley (~2 millon t/pa) and malt (600,000 t/pa), primarily to the rapidly expanding Asian economic development region. An additional 200,000 t/pa of malt is provided to the Australian domestic brewing industry. By improving the quality of Australian malting barley and optimising the cost of brewery colloidal stabilisation measures, we expect hi ....Investigation of the impact of malt haze active proteins to improve brewing efficiency and beer quality. Australia is a major world exporter of malting barley (~2 millon t/pa) and malt (600,000 t/pa), primarily to the rapidly expanding Asian economic development region. An additional 200,000 t/pa of malt is provided to the Australian domestic brewing industry. By improving the quality of Australian malting barley and optimising the cost of brewery colloidal stabilisation measures, we expect higher demand and prices for Australian malting barley and malt. This will help support the viability of rural communities and the value adding involved in the malting and brewing of their produce in Australia.Read moreRead less
Barley malt modification, its control by understanding the biochemistry and genetics of proteases and thioredoxin. Australia is a major world exporter of malting barley (~2 millon t/pa) and malt (800,000 t/pa), primarily to the rapidly expanding Asian economic development region. An additional 200,000 t/pa of malt is provided to the Australian domestic brewing industry. By improving the quality of Australian malting barley and optimising its production, we expect higher demand and prices for A ....Barley malt modification, its control by understanding the biochemistry and genetics of proteases and thioredoxin. Australia is a major world exporter of malting barley (~2 millon t/pa) and malt (800,000 t/pa), primarily to the rapidly expanding Asian economic development region. An additional 200,000 t/pa of malt is provided to the Australian domestic brewing industry. By improving the quality of Australian malting barley and optimising its production, we expect higher demand and prices for Australian malting barley and malt. This will help support the viability of rural communities and the value adding involved in the malting and brewing of their produce in Australia.Read moreRead less