Human Leukocyte Antigen-A and -B regulation of Natural Killer cell function. The aim of this project is to determine how genetic variation in the genes encoding cell surface receptors expressed by innate lymphocytes and the molecules they recognise diversifies their capacity to sense and respond to infection. This knowledge is critical for understanding why there are intrinsic differences between individuals with respect to their capacity to respond to different types of infection and will ultim ....Human Leukocyte Antigen-A and -B regulation of Natural Killer cell function. The aim of this project is to determine how genetic variation in the genes encoding cell surface receptors expressed by innate lymphocytes and the molecules they recognise diversifies their capacity to sense and respond to infection. This knowledge is critical for understanding why there are intrinsic differences between individuals with respect to their capacity to respond to different types of infection and will ultimately inform our capacity to better deploy personalised medicines.Read moreRead less
How is the blood cell population size controlled? Macrophage-like cells are an ancient animal blood cell lineage critically important for development, immunity, and homeostasis. This fellowship seeks to reveal the genes and control mechanisms used by animals to achieve an optimally-sized army of these cells - to contain threats for survival upon infection, heal following acute stress exposures, or for development, ongoing maintenance, and repair of wear and tear. By marrying the genetic tractabi ....How is the blood cell population size controlled? Macrophage-like cells are an ancient animal blood cell lineage critically important for development, immunity, and homeostasis. This fellowship seeks to reveal the genes and control mechanisms used by animals to achieve an optimally-sized army of these cells - to contain threats for survival upon infection, heal following acute stress exposures, or for development, ongoing maintenance, and repair of wear and tear. By marrying the genetic tractability of the model organism Drosophila and its simple, yet conserved blood cell system, this project will yield new insights into the mechanisms that govern the animal blood cell population. This will benefit our fundamental understanding of how animals maximise their health throughout life.Read moreRead less
Investigating the evolution of innate and adaptive cellular immunity. This proposal aims to assess the impact of geographical and genetic isolation of the Australian Indigenous population on adaptive and innate immune systems. The project will use novel DNA sequencing approaches to generate the high resolution sequences of two genetic loci that regulate innate and adaptive immune responses, the major histocompatibility complex locus and the killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor locus. In an i ....Investigating the evolution of innate and adaptive cellular immunity. This proposal aims to assess the impact of geographical and genetic isolation of the Australian Indigenous population on adaptive and innate immune systems. The project will use novel DNA sequencing approaches to generate the high resolution sequences of two genetic loci that regulate innate and adaptive immune responses, the major histocompatibility complex locus and the killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor locus. In an initial screen, distinct variants and combinations of these genes were identified. This project aims to interrogate how variation in these critical genes impacts on the function of cytotoxic lymphocytes, providing insights into the evolutionary drivers of immune recognition mechanisms.Read moreRead less
Optimising disease surveillance to support decision-making. COVID-19 has demonstrated the critical role of epidemic data and analytics in guiding government response to pandemic threats, reducing disease and saving lives. The demand for epidemic analytics for response to threats of national significance will only grow. The goals of this project are to 1) determine the combination(s) of surveillance methods that provide the most useful data for epidemic analysis and 2) translate these findings in ....Optimising disease surveillance to support decision-making. COVID-19 has demonstrated the critical role of epidemic data and analytics in guiding government response to pandemic threats, reducing disease and saving lives. The demand for epidemic analytics for response to threats of national significance will only grow. The goals of this project are to 1) determine the combination(s) of surveillance methods that provide the most useful data for epidemic analysis and 2) translate these findings into the blueprint for a next-generation infectious disease surveillance system for Australia. We will use a simulation-evaluation approach, coupling methods from infectious disease modelling with those from information theory optimal design. Outcomes will enable more tailored and effective pandemic response.Read moreRead less
Genetic architecture and evolution of complex traits across populations. Most human traits have a genetic component and display substantial diversity within and among populations. How natural selection changes and maintains genetic variation in human traits is a long-standing question in evolution that the proposed project aims to answer. Using innovative statistical methods and largest genomic “big” datasets ever across populations of different ancestral backgrounds, this project expects to gen ....Genetic architecture and evolution of complex traits across populations. Most human traits have a genetic component and display substantial diversity within and among populations. How natural selection changes and maintains genetic variation in human traits is a long-standing question in evolution that the proposed project aims to answer. Using innovative statistical methods and largest genomic “big” datasets ever across populations of different ancestral backgrounds, this project expects to generate new knowledge on the roles of natural selection in shaping the genetic variation in traits and identify key factors that drive the differentiation of human populations. These outcomes will significantly improve our understanding on the evolution of human traits and adaptation of populations to changing environments.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100730
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$448,000.00
Summary
Strategies to minimise the societal impacts of zoonotic pandemics. The continuing pandemic has had unprecedented effects across society. Population mobility restrictions have been effective in slowing transmission, but are only effective while in place and have dramatic adverse effects. Despite Australia’s relative success, we have lacked a clear national strategy to guide the optimal deployment of such restrictions. During this fellowship, I will use robust software development practices to dev ....Strategies to minimise the societal impacts of zoonotic pandemics. The continuing pandemic has had unprecedented effects across society. Population mobility restrictions have been effective in slowing transmission, but are only effective while in place and have dramatic adverse effects. Despite Australia’s relative success, we have lacked a clear national strategy to guide the optimal deployment of such restrictions. During this fellowship, I will use robust software development practices to develop a unified software platform that integrates semi-mechanistic, particle filter and agent-based methodologies. I will then use this platform to quantify the effects of mobility restrictions and define the optimal strategic response that should be selected based on the characteristics of a newly emerged pathogen.Read moreRead less
Using AI to reveal the true extent & context of alcohol exposure in videos. This project aims to extend an artificial intelligence algorithm to automatically identify and quantify alcohol prevalence in videos. The project is expected to generate significant new knowledge about alcohol’s exposure in these videos’ social, emotional, and environmental contexts. The expected outcomes include a more efficient and automated method of revealing alcohol pervasiveness and its context in the 1000 most wat ....Using AI to reveal the true extent & context of alcohol exposure in videos. This project aims to extend an artificial intelligence algorithm to automatically identify and quantify alcohol prevalence in videos. The project is expected to generate significant new knowledge about alcohol’s exposure in these videos’ social, emotional, and environmental contexts. The expected outcomes include a more efficient and automated method of revealing alcohol pervasiveness and its context in the 1000 most watched videos in Australia, making costly manual coding redundant. Anticipated benefits include enabling governments to better monitor compliance to alcohol product placement guidelines and increased public awareness of the frequency and harmful effects of being exposed to alcohol in videos.Read moreRead less
Reducing health disparities for culturally and linguistically diverse peoples. This project aims to develop a greater understanding of migrants and the factors that predict poor health outcomes related to blood-borne viruses and sexually transmitted infections. The delayed access by migrants to healthcare from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds results in late diagnosis, low treatment uptake, and poorer health outcomes, with enhanced risk of infection and increased burden on the h ....Reducing health disparities for culturally and linguistically diverse peoples. This project aims to develop a greater understanding of migrants and the factors that predict poor health outcomes related to blood-borne viruses and sexually transmitted infections. The delayed access by migrants to healthcare from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds results in late diagnosis, low treatment uptake, and poorer health outcomes, with enhanced risk of infection and increased burden on the health system. The data collected in this project will assist in developing health services to meet these needs.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100977
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$419,016.00
Summary
How ecology shapes the viromes of wild birds. This project will reveal the host factors associated with the diversity, evolution and dynamics of viruses using state-of-the-art metatranscriptomics in Australian wild birds. The structure of virus communities and their associated ecological drivers in wild animal hosts remain a black-box, even though they are the largest source of viral diversity in nature. This project expects to generate key insights into host-associated drivers of viral communit ....How ecology shapes the viromes of wild birds. This project will reveal the host factors associated with the diversity, evolution and dynamics of viruses using state-of-the-art metatranscriptomics in Australian wild birds. The structure of virus communities and their associated ecological drivers in wild animal hosts remain a black-box, even though they are the largest source of viral diversity in nature. This project expects to generate key insights into host-associated drivers of viral community dynamics and the subsequent effect of anthropogenic factors such as urbanisation and poultry production. Identifying host factors that affect viral ecology in wild birds will constitute a cornerstone in understanding the emergence of virulent viruses and/or their spread to poultry or humansRead moreRead less
Safeguarding Australia against vector-borne disease bio-incursions. Traditional diagnostic tests limited by their accuracy and ability to detect more than a few pathogens at one time, presents a major hurdle to protecting Australia's companion animals from a plethora of exotic and emerging vector-borne diseases (VBD). Many of these diseases also pose a major risk to public health. This project aims to develop, validate and verify a highly accurate, cost-effective, portable metabarcoding diagnost ....Safeguarding Australia against vector-borne disease bio-incursions. Traditional diagnostic tests limited by their accuracy and ability to detect more than a few pathogens at one time, presents a major hurdle to protecting Australia's companion animals from a plethora of exotic and emerging vector-borne diseases (VBD). Many of these diseases also pose a major risk to public health. This project aims to develop, validate and verify a highly accurate, cost-effective, portable metabarcoding diagnostic test capable of detecting known, emerging and novel parasitic, bacterial and viral VBD pathogens simultaneously, from clinical samples. The assay will represent a potential paradigm shift in the way VBD are tested, for the purpose of safeguarding Australia against VBD bio-incursions.Read moreRead less