An interdisciplinary approach to host-pathogen interactions in infection. This project aims to understand the molecular and cellular interactions between host and parasite, as well as providing a quantitative framework for analysing infection dynamics in other systems. Infection involves a complex interaction between the host and the parasite, which is very dynamic and therefore difficult to study by traditional sampling and analysis approaches. This project has combined mathematical modelling w ....An interdisciplinary approach to host-pathogen interactions in infection. This project aims to understand the molecular and cellular interactions between host and parasite, as well as providing a quantitative framework for analysing infection dynamics in other systems. Infection involves a complex interaction between the host and the parasite, which is very dynamic and therefore difficult to study by traditional sampling and analysis approaches. This project has combined mathematical modelling with a novel experimental protocol to allow the study of kinetics of parasite replication in vivo. Expected outcomes will provide significant benefits, such as new avenues for vaccination and immune intervention.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100316
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$435,431.00
Summary
Population genomic methods for modelling bacterial pathogen evolution. This project aims to develop novel techniques to model bacterial genome evolution and improve our understanding of how major agricultural and human pathogens, including Enterococcus, Salmonella and E. coli, evolve. The project expects to generate new knowledge about how horizontal gene transfer shapes the evolution of bacteria and how these dynamics vary over different temporal scales. Expected outcomes include methodological ....Population genomic methods for modelling bacterial pathogen evolution. This project aims to develop novel techniques to model bacterial genome evolution and improve our understanding of how major agricultural and human pathogens, including Enterococcus, Salmonella and E. coli, evolve. The project expects to generate new knowledge about how horizontal gene transfer shapes the evolution of bacteria and how these dynamics vary over different temporal scales. Expected outcomes include methodological advances that will enable the analysis of massive contemporary datasets. These methods and resulting analyses will provide significant benefits including informing the design of superior long-term interventions to reduce bacterial disease in both agriculture and health that are robust to the evolution of bacteria.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100911
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$365,058.00
Summary
The mechanisms driving microbial navigation in marine systems. This project aims to apply advanced video-microscopy to characterise microbial motion at the single cell level, interrogating their navigational responses in precisely controlled physical and chemical conditions. Ocean carbon cycling is driven by the concerted action of marine microbes, but the fine-scale interactions between these microbes and their physical and chemical environments remains elusive. The project findings will unrave ....The mechanisms driving microbial navigation in marine systems. This project aims to apply advanced video-microscopy to characterise microbial motion at the single cell level, interrogating their navigational responses in precisely controlled physical and chemical conditions. Ocean carbon cycling is driven by the concerted action of marine microbes, but the fine-scale interactions between these microbes and their physical and chemical environments remains elusive. The project findings will unravel the fundamental processes governing microbial motion in real environments, and develop the mechanistic modelling tools required to make quantitative ecosystem-level predictions of how soil-atmosphere-water-marine systems respond in the face of environmental change.Read moreRead less
Data-led bioengineering to uncover hidden chemical wealth in bacteria. The soil bacteria Nocardia are an untapped source of industrially prized chemical compounds called natural products. This project aims to develop innovative bioprospecting genomics technologies built from the disciplines of microbiology, biochemistry and computational statistics to discover hundreds of new natural products in Nocardia. This project will unlock the diversity of potent new enzymes and molecules with high econom ....Data-led bioengineering to uncover hidden chemical wealth in bacteria. The soil bacteria Nocardia are an untapped source of industrially prized chemical compounds called natural products. This project aims to develop innovative bioprospecting genomics technologies built from the disciplines of microbiology, biochemistry and computational statistics to discover hundreds of new natural products in Nocardia. This project will unlock the diversity of potent new enzymes and molecules with high economic value that could include insecticides to protect crops, bioactives to fight diseases, or new enzymes for food and biofuel production. This research unlocks enormous hidden chemical potential in soil bacteria, to build sustainable national economic growth through innovative, high-value industrial chemical development.Read moreRead less
Gating, specificity and regulation of the YggB channel protein from Corynebacterium glutamicum. The proposed research will greatly contribute to our understanding of the functioning of a bacterial membrane channel/transporter, which has played a significant role in biotechnology of commercially important amino acids. A direct national benefit will result from establishing collaboration with a leading German laboratory providing expertise in protein biochemistry and molecular microbiology not ava ....Gating, specificity and regulation of the YggB channel protein from Corynebacterium glutamicum. The proposed research will greatly contribute to our understanding of the functioning of a bacterial membrane channel/transporter, which has played a significant role in biotechnology of commercially important amino acids. A direct national benefit will result from establishing collaboration with a leading German laboratory providing expertise in protein biochemistry and molecular microbiology not available in Australia. The acquired knowledge will present an original contribution which will have a strong impact on a very competitive field of molecular microbiology and biotechnology.Read moreRead less
Mapping cell wall and surface structures of Gram-positive cocci. The synthesis of the Gram-positive cell wall and protein transport are fundamental processes, the improved understanding of which will impact across a range of fields including microbiology, biochemistry and biotechnology, and the application and manipulation of Gram-positive bacteria in agriculture, industry and human health. In the long-term, the analysis of the Gram-positive ExPortal and cell wall will identify proteins that ma ....Mapping cell wall and surface structures of Gram-positive cocci. The synthesis of the Gram-positive cell wall and protein transport are fundamental processes, the improved understanding of which will impact across a range of fields including microbiology, biochemistry and biotechnology, and the application and manipulation of Gram-positive bacteria in agriculture, industry and human health. In the long-term, the analysis of the Gram-positive ExPortal and cell wall will identify proteins that may represent targets for therapeutic intervention. Additionally a precise understanding of the mechanisms of secretion of anchorless proteins will have an important impact in the biotechnology field, as new methodologies for the secretion of recombinant proteins of industrial value is a potential outcome.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE160100127
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$355,000.00
Summary
Superresolution fluorescence imaging in microbiology. Superresolution fluorescence imaging in microbiology:
This project involves the purchase of new, and upgrade of existing, fluorescence imaging tools to facilitate the study of intracellular processes in microbial systems at significantly higher spatial and temporal resolutions than hitherto possible. Visualisation of the structure and dynamics of intracellular molecular assemblies at maximal resolution is required to understand protein funct ....Superresolution fluorescence imaging in microbiology. Superresolution fluorescence imaging in microbiology:
This project involves the purchase of new, and upgrade of existing, fluorescence imaging tools to facilitate the study of intracellular processes in microbial systems at significantly higher spatial and temporal resolutions than hitherto possible. Visualisation of the structure and dynamics of intracellular molecular assemblies at maximal resolution is required to understand protein function inside living cells. The new equipment is designed to provide a fast super-resolution imaging system to study the intracellular dynamics of proteins in vitro and a super-resolution microscope to visualise structures and assemblies inside microbes with a resolution of tens of nanometres, putting in vitro biochemistry into the context of a living cell. Read moreRead less
THE BIOLOGY OF COLD ADAPTED EXTREMOPHILES: AN INTEGRATED GENOMIC-PROTEIN ANALYSIS APPROACH. Extremophiles are microorganisms that can thrive in otherwise inhospitable environments. Most extremophiles are Archaea; an order of life separate from Bacteria and Eucaryotes. The project will generate the first genome sequence that was initiated in Australia, and the first genome sequence of any cold adapted organism. Associated functional studies include global analyses of protein expression (proteo ....THE BIOLOGY OF COLD ADAPTED EXTREMOPHILES: AN INTEGRATED GENOMIC-PROTEIN ANALYSIS APPROACH. Extremophiles are microorganisms that can thrive in otherwise inhospitable environments. Most extremophiles are Archaea; an order of life separate from Bacteria and Eucaryotes. The project will generate the first genome sequence that was initiated in Australia, and the first genome sequence of any cold adapted organism. Associated functional studies include global analyses of protein expression (proteomics) and mRNA expression using micro-arrays, and work targeted at RNA binding proteins and protein folding systems involved in the thermally sensitive process of protein synthesis. The nature and scope of the work will impact on fundamental cellular processes and provide enormous innovative biotechnological potential.Read moreRead less
Quantitative Metagenomics. This project aims to revolutionize our view of the microbial world once more by transforming microbiome studies from relative counts of organisms to actual numbers of microbes. This project expects to impact all the microbiome studies that are being performed worldwide by unveiling the actual numbers of microbes. Expected outcomes of this project include new techniques to enumerate the number of bacteria in different environments and new approaches to measure gene expr ....Quantitative Metagenomics. This project aims to revolutionize our view of the microbial world once more by transforming microbiome studies from relative counts of organisms to actual numbers of microbes. This project expects to impact all the microbiome studies that are being performed worldwide by unveiling the actual numbers of microbes. Expected outcomes of this project include new techniques to enumerate the number of bacteria in different environments and new approaches to measure gene expression within individual bacteria in any environment that will be demonstrated with complex microbial communities. This should provide significant benefits because microbes affect every aspect of our lives and those effects are driven by how many microbes are present.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100963
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$395,220.00
Summary
Biofilms and quorum sensing in pneumococcal biology. Bacteria survive in their environmental niches by development of complex multicellular communities (biofilms), not by operating as individuals. Communication between bacteria is critical for biofilm formation, and is linked to their capacity to exchange DNA within and between species (competence). This is achieved by secretion and detection of small chemical signalling molecules (quorum sensing). Two such systems operate in the pneumococcus, a ....Biofilms and quorum sensing in pneumococcal biology. Bacteria survive in their environmental niches by development of complex multicellular communities (biofilms), not by operating as individuals. Communication between bacteria is critical for biofilm formation, and is linked to their capacity to exchange DNA within and between species (competence). This is achieved by secretion and detection of small chemical signalling molecules (quorum sensing). Two such systems operate in the pneumococcus, a model Gram-positive organism. This project aims to elucidate the mechanism whereby these quorum sensing systems interact and collaborate to regulate biofilm formation and competence, phenotypes critical for bacterial survival. This knowledge will enable future development of novel antimicrobials. Read moreRead less