Understanding And Overcoming Cardiovascular And Diabetes Inequalities In Indigenous Australians
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$707,370.00
Summary
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders experience the highest rates of heart disease and diabetes of all Australians. The reasons for this large disparity is not yet fully understood. I propose to investigate the patterns, causes, complications and links between heart disease and diabetes in Indigenous populations to identify better ways of managing and preventing chronic disease in high risk communities.
Identifying potential barriers to transplanting modified forms of the CO2-fixing enzyme, Rubisco, into plants. Improving the ability of crops to use water, light and fertiliser more efficiently would have economic benefits and ease the environmental impacts associated with agricultural practices. It is thought that such improvements can be made by enhancing the efficiency of the photosynthetic protein, Rubisco, which fixes most of the CO2 in the biosphere. The research proposed here uses unique ....Identifying potential barriers to transplanting modified forms of the CO2-fixing enzyme, Rubisco, into plants. Improving the ability of crops to use water, light and fertiliser more efficiently would have economic benefits and ease the environmental impacts associated with agricultural practices. It is thought that such improvements can be made by enhancing the efficiency of the photosynthetic protein, Rubisco, which fixes most of the CO2 in the biosphere. The research proposed here uses unique Rubisco transplantation capabilities that I have developed to improve our fundamental understanding of how Rubisco is processed and its activity regulated in plants. This will pave the way for our ongoing efforts to engineer and transplant more efficient Rubisco into crops.Read moreRead less
The Role Of Duffy And PF4 In The Platelet Killing Of Malaria Parasites.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$350,045.00
Summary
Platelets in the blood can kill the Plasmodium parasite, which lives inside red blood cells and causes malaria. Platelets bind parasite-infected red cells and release a molecule that is toxic to the parasite. This project will study why a red cell molecule called Duffy is also needed for this function of platelets. Most Africans carry a gene for Duffy that stops its expression in red cells, and may therefore be more susceptible to malaria because their platelets cannot kill the malaria parasite.
Understanding The Impact Of Social, Economic And Geographic Disadvantage On The Health Of Australians In Mid - Later Lif
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,943,571.00
Summary
This research will examine the ways in which social, economic and environmental factors contribute to the health of Australians in mid to later life. It will help identify ways in which policy and preventive programs can contribute to improving health in mid to later life particularly among disadvantaged Australians. We will explore in detail social, economic and environmental factors in 100,000 people aged 45 and over; this will be the largest study of its kind ever undertaken in Australia. We ....This research will examine the ways in which social, economic and environmental factors contribute to the health of Australians in mid to later life. It will help identify ways in which policy and preventive programs can contribute to improving health in mid to later life particularly among disadvantaged Australians. We will explore in detail social, economic and environmental factors in 100,000 people aged 45 and over; this will be the largest study of its kind ever undertaken in Australia. We will examine the relationship between these social, economic factors, and lifestyle factors such as smoking, physical activity, environmental and obesity. This will enable us to identify where programs and policies should be directed to most rapidly improve the health of disadvantaged Australians.Read moreRead less
Can efficient algal variants of the photosynthetic CO2-fixing enzyme, Rubisco, be folded and assembled in functional forms in higher-plant plastids? We have shown that it is possible to alter the photosynthetic phenotype of a plant predictably and profoundly by engineering the plastid genome to replace the plant's CO2-fixing enzyme, Rubisco, with a bacterial homolog. Thus it may be possible to replace the plant enzyme with more efficient algal Rubiscos that would allow plants to grow with less l ....Can efficient algal variants of the photosynthetic CO2-fixing enzyme, Rubisco, be folded and assembled in functional forms in higher-plant plastids? We have shown that it is possible to alter the photosynthetic phenotype of a plant predictably and profoundly by engineering the plastid genome to replace the plant's CO2-fixing enzyme, Rubisco, with a bacterial homolog. Thus it may be possible to replace the plant enzyme with more efficient algal Rubiscos that would allow plants to grow with less light, less water or less fertiliser. Before such desirable changes to the plant phenotype can be realised, some complex issues of modification, folding and assembly of Rubisco subunits need to be resolved. This proposal addresses them.Read moreRead less
Role of alanine aminotransferase in improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in cereals. The use of nitrogen-based fertilisers by crop plants is poor where efficiencies (nitrogen taken up to that applied) is often less than 40%. Nitrogen not used is often lost to the environment through leaching and or volatilisation. Improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in agriculture will decrease overall nitrogen fertiliser use and minimise its environmental footprint. This project will characterise a nov ....Role of alanine aminotransferase in improved nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in cereals. The use of nitrogen-based fertilisers by crop plants is poor where efficiencies (nitrogen taken up to that applied) is often less than 40%. Nitrogen not used is often lost to the environment through leaching and or volatilisation. Improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in agriculture will decrease overall nitrogen fertiliser use and minimise its environmental footprint. This project will characterise a novel NUE technology that when transferred to plants significantly improves NUE. We will define the phenotype at the molecular, biochemical and physiological levels to maximise its adoption to other agricultural crops such as wheat, barley and maize.Read moreRead less
Ageing Well And Productively: Pathways To Healthy Workforce Participation And Caregiving.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$143,660.00
Summary
Good health is vital to increase workforce participation,which enables us to pay for rising health care costs. This study will examine how socio-economic, behavioural, environmental and health-related factors impact on healthy workforce participation among older Australians. It will identify ways to prevent people having to retire early because of ill-health and will inform policy makers and health program developers about how best to maintain or increase a healthy workforce participation.
Evolution in microsatellite DNA: testing models of mutation in an Australian marsupial. We aim to compare mutational events between microsatellite loci that vary in their exposure to recombination. We are able to do this because of a remarkable finding that Australian brushtail possums have multiple occurrences of a single microsatellite repeat element within the Y-chromosome and among autosomal loci. We will compare variation between the Y-linked and non Y-linked loci within and among individu ....Evolution in microsatellite DNA: testing models of mutation in an Australian marsupial. We aim to compare mutational events between microsatellite loci that vary in their exposure to recombination. We are able to do this because of a remarkable finding that Australian brushtail possums have multiple occurrences of a single microsatellite repeat element within the Y-chromosome and among autosomal loci. We will compare variation between the Y-linked and non Y-linked loci within and among individual possums and use those comparisons to distinguish between recombinant and non- recombinant mutational mechanisms. These data will provide new insights into the mutational mechanisms that drive variation in these most important molecular markers.Read moreRead less
Sex in Dragons: Evolution of sex determination in reptiles. Australia is a leader in sex determination research with major advances in our understanding attributable to Australian researchers and laboratories. This project will contribute to our prestige as a nation capable of contributing cutting edge research directions and stimulating ideas in human sex determination. Moreover, many reptiles have temperature-dependent sex determination, and so would appear appallingly vulnerable to climate ch ....Sex in Dragons: Evolution of sex determination in reptiles. Australia is a leader in sex determination research with major advances in our understanding attributable to Australian researchers and laboratories. This project will contribute to our prestige as a nation capable of contributing cutting edge research directions and stimulating ideas in human sex determination. Moreover, many reptiles have temperature-dependent sex determination, and so would appear appallingly vulnerable to climate change. Our project, will bring improved understanding of sex determination in reptiles, identify evolutionary responses of reptiles to climate change, and assist by informing society on how we might manage this issue into the future conservation of these unique Australian reptiles. Read moreRead less
Sex in Dragons: The molecular basis of genetic and environmental sex determination. How animals determine sex has been debated over decades. Particularly mysterious is that sex is determined by genes in some animals, and by temperature in others. We will study closely related dragon lizards which determine sex via genes (GSD) or temperature (TSD). We will use novel genetic, molecular and cytological aproaches to discover genes and chromosomes that control sex determination in the GSD species, an ....Sex in Dragons: The molecular basis of genetic and environmental sex determination. How animals determine sex has been debated over decades. Particularly mysterious is that sex is determined by genes in some animals, and by temperature in others. We will study closely related dragon lizards which determine sex via genes (GSD) or temperature (TSD). We will use novel genetic, molecular and cytological aproaches to discover genes and chromosomes that control sex determination in the GSD species, and explore their homologues in the TSD species. We expect this study will provide new insights to mechanisms of sex determination in all vertebrates, and demonstrate how genes and the environment interact to control the process.Read moreRead less