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
XML Views of Relational Databases: Semantics and Update Problems. XML is the standard for representing, publishing and exchanging data over the Internet and relational database is the dominant technology for data management. Updating XML views over relational data is fundamental to bring these two technologies together to serve Internet-based applications. Australia has been a leading country in both developing and applying internet technologies. The theoretic outcomes of this project will contr ....XML Views of Relational Databases: Semantics and Update Problems. XML is the standard for representing, publishing and exchanging data over the Internet and relational database is the dominant technology for data management. Updating XML views over relational data is fundamental to bring these two technologies together to serve Internet-based applications. Australia has been a leading country in both developing and applying internet technologies. The theoretic outcomes of this project will contribute to the advance in database and web research communities and establish us as an internationally leading group in this research area. The technological outcomes will help organisations in Australia effectively and efficiently conduct e-Business on the Internet. Read moreRead less
Easing the Squeeze: Dynamic and Distributed Resource Allocation with Cognitive Radio. The radio spectrum is a scarce and valuable natural resource which is being squeezed by the rapid growth in wireless communications. Cognitive radios make efficient use of radio spectrum by dynamically reusing frequencies. This requires cognitive radios to sense the local environment and to control the interference caused to existing users of the spectrum. This project will design novel dynamic and distributed ....Easing the Squeeze: Dynamic and Distributed Resource Allocation with Cognitive Radio. The radio spectrum is a scarce and valuable natural resource which is being squeezed by the rapid growth in wireless communications. Cognitive radios make efficient use of radio spectrum by dynamically reusing frequencies. This requires cognitive radios to sense the local environment and to control the interference caused to existing users of the spectrum. This project will design novel dynamic and distributed resource allocation algorithms for cognitive radios in order to significantly improve their performance using techniques from extreme value theory, game theory and mechanism design and large random matrix theory. Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE150100030
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$270,000.00
Summary
Test-bed for Wide-Area Software Defined Networking Research. Test bed for wide-area software defined networking research: This project aims to develop a wide-area test bed, spanning ten organisations, for conducting research and experimentation in the emerging disruptive technology of Software Defined Networking (SDN). SDN is likely to bring long-term transformation to the networking industry, much like cloud computing did, by enabling dynamic virtualised elastic network services under software ....Test-bed for Wide-Area Software Defined Networking Research. Test bed for wide-area software defined networking research: This project aims to develop a wide-area test bed, spanning ten organisations, for conducting research and experimentation in the emerging disruptive technology of Software Defined Networking (SDN). SDN is likely to bring long-term transformation to the networking industry, much like cloud computing did, by enabling dynamic virtualised elastic network services under software control. The test bed will empower Australian researchers in network technologies and dependent applications (for example, multimedia and security) to collaboratively develop and demonstrate novel ideas at scale. This is expected to benefit Australia by giving our researchers international recognition in this nascent area, and developing a national talent pool for local industry.Read moreRead less
ARC Centre for Nanostructured Electromaterials. Electromaterials transport electrons or ions and facilitate charge transfer, underpinning most energy capture/storage processes and cell communication. We propose a national Centre to develop nanostructured electromaterials with exceptional properties. The Centre aims to synthesise novel nanomaterials and assemble them into innovative nanoscale devices. We will exploit these materials to enhance performance in energy conversion/storage systems (eg. ....ARC Centre for Nanostructured Electromaterials. Electromaterials transport electrons or ions and facilitate charge transfer, underpinning most energy capture/storage processes and cell communication. We propose a national Centre to develop nanostructured electromaterials with exceptional properties. The Centre aims to synthesise novel nanomaterials and assemble them into innovative nanoscale devices. We will exploit these materials to enhance performance in energy conversion/storage systems (eg. photovoltaics, batteries, including wearable systems), and novel energy transfer in bioapplications (eg. Bionic Ear). These advances, together with the resource of trained personnel, will assist Australian industry to exploit this exciting area.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE180100158
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$348,026.00
Summary
A large-scale distributed experimental facility for the internet of things. This project aims to establish a large-scale, real-world experimental facility for the Internet of Things (IoT), which is currently missing in Australia, as well as in the rest of the world. The project is expected to be an essential instrument to achieve Australia’s leadership on key enabling technologies of the IoT, and to provide Australian research community with a unique platform for large-scale experimentation and ....A large-scale distributed experimental facility for the internet of things. This project aims to establish a large-scale, real-world experimental facility for the Internet of Things (IoT), which is currently missing in Australia, as well as in the rest of the world. The project is expected to be an essential instrument to achieve Australia’s leadership on key enabling technologies of the IoT, and to provide Australian research community with a unique platform for large-scale experimentation and evaluation of IoT technologies and services. The project will also serve as a vehicle for the education and training of Australia’s next generation of scholars and engineers, and contribute to Australia’s scientific visibility.Read moreRead less
Legal and social dynamics of eBook lending in Australia’s public libraries. Legal and social dynamics of eBook lending in Australia’s public libraries. This project aims to develop an evidence base of quantitative and qualitative data about how eBooks are used in libraries. EBooks have tremendous beneficial potential, particularly for Australians in remote areas and those with impaired mobility or vision. However, libraries’ rights to acquire and lend them are more restricted than for physical b ....Legal and social dynamics of eBook lending in Australia’s public libraries. Legal and social dynamics of eBook lending in Australia’s public libraries. This project aims to develop an evidence base of quantitative and qualitative data about how eBooks are used in libraries. EBooks have tremendous beneficial potential, particularly for Australians in remote areas and those with impaired mobility or vision. However, libraries’ rights to acquire and lend them are more restricted than for physical books. Libraries and legal, social and data science researchers will investigate eBook lending practices and understand their social impacts. The project will identify ways of reforming policy, law, and practice to help libraries fulfil their public interest missions. This project is expected to enable libraries to extract more value from existing public investments.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE130100156
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$210,000.00
Summary
Computational infrastructure for machine learning in computer vision. The many trillions of images stored on computers around the world, including more than 100 billion on Facebook alone, represent exactly the information needed to develop artificial vision. All we need do is extract it. This project will develop the computational infrastructure required to allow Australian researchers to achieve this goal.
Economic analysis of child maltreatment and child protection. This project aims to investigate the economic causes and consequences of child maltreatment. It expects to generate new knowledge by applying microeconometric methods to large Australian administrative databases that track children’s health, education and welfare receipt over time. The expected outcomes of this project include an expanded knowledge base on how economic shocks affect maltreatment, the economic consequences of placing c ....Economic analysis of child maltreatment and child protection. This project aims to investigate the economic causes and consequences of child maltreatment. It expects to generate new knowledge by applying microeconometric methods to large Australian administrative databases that track children’s health, education and welfare receipt over time. The expected outcomes of this project include an expanded knowledge base on how economic shocks affect maltreatment, the economic consequences of placing children in out-of-home care, and the value of economic policies for reducing the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment. This should provide significant benefits, such as providing practical evidence to policy makers and service providers that help prevent child maltreatment and reduce its harms.Read moreRead less
Intelligent Technologies for Smart Cryptography. This project aims to improve cybersecurity by automating the process of generating cryptographic software for smart devices. The expected outcomes are tools that automatically produce efficient cryptographic software that resists attacks. The main benefit of this project is to reduce the amount of expert labour required when developing secure software.