Strain-level Characterisation And Visualisation Of The Mucosal Microbial Communities Associated With Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) For The Development Of Novel Biotherapeutics
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,181,878.00
Summary
Australia has one of the highest incidence rates in the world of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), a debilitating inflammatory condition of the gastrointestinal tract. Cutting-edge molecular and visualisation technologies will be used to examine the role of the gut microbiome in IBD, and identify specific members of this community to be used as new therapies to suppress inflammation and improve outcomes for patients with IBD.
This study combines sophisticated molecular techniques with state-of-the-art biochemical and physiological analyses to determine how gut hormones regulate satiety. By utilising unique conditional and germline KO mice , this research will make highly original and internationally competitive contributions to the understanding of the regulation of satiety and energy expenditure. Knowledge as to the causes of lack of satiety will be of great benefit in the search for novel treatments for obesity.
Molecular Profiling Of Sarcomas To Enable Clinical Prediction And Elucidate Molecular Pathogenesis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$441,000.00
Summary
Sarcomas are uncommon cancers which affect the young, with a 50% mortality. Treatment involves an expert multidisciplinary approach, and even when effective often entails long-term loss of quality of life. Most sarcomas are treated with a combination of radiotherapy and surgery, which improves survival significantly compared to surgery alone. Radiotherapy does not help all patients, has side-effects and is expensive and time consuming. It would be useful to be able to identify patients who will ....Sarcomas are uncommon cancers which affect the young, with a 50% mortality. Treatment involves an expert multidisciplinary approach, and even when effective often entails long-term loss of quality of life. Most sarcomas are treated with a combination of radiotherapy and surgery, which improves survival significantly compared to surgery alone. Radiotherapy does not help all patients, has side-effects and is expensive and time consuming. It would be useful to be able to identify patients who will not benefit from radiotherapy, to minimise unnecessary harm from treatment and offer alternate more effective therapies. Unfortunately, we cannot yet distinguish which tumours will respond and which will not. Moreover, the uderlying causes of sarcoma are poorly understood. This project has two aims: first to make our current therapies more effective by targeting those who will not benefit from standard treatment; and second to better understand the causes of sarcoma, in order to develop better treatment. Microarrays enable the simultaneous study of thousands of genes, which when combined form a unique portrait of each tumour. Our unit, one of the largest sarcoma sevices in Australia, has access to large numbers of tumour samples, with excellent basic science support. It is now possible to ask what the molecular 'portrait' is of sarcomas which are responsive to radiotherapy, using tiny amounts of tumour material which can be obtained before treatment starts. We also hope to identify the molecular basis of sarcomas by finding the key genes whose inactivation is central to the development of this form of cancer. Such genes can then form the basis of targeted therapy. This approach will lay a solid foundation for future research into sarcomas, and has the potential to reduce unnecessary cost and suffering patients experience from treatments which are unlikely to be effective.Read moreRead less