Reducing Colorectal Cancer Burden In Young Adults: Precision Prevention And Early Detection
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,449,800.00
Summary
Bowel cancer rate in young adults before age 50 is increasing worldwide including Australia. Since it is impossible to screen everyone, it is critical to identify who is likely to develop the disease, to optimise screening. Using the world's largest resource for young-onset bowel cancer, I will conduct studies to generate high-quality evidence to inform how to best prevent bowel cancer in young adults and translate into the policy and practice, to reduce colorectal cancer burden in young adults.
Develop A Strong Current Warning System And Inform Knowledge Of The Nearshore Current Regime Influencing The Western Rock Lobster Fishery
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$199,000.00
Summary
By combining this greater coverage with information derived from commercial fishers (e.g. days when gear is drowned or lost to determine key current velocities) a purpose built webapp can be developed, hosted on an existing service, which allows fishers to asses the risks posed by ocean currents to their fishing operation before they set their gear. This would also allow for fishers to predict days when drowned gear may resurface and therefore the fishing operation may continue.
In addi ....By combining this greater coverage with information derived from commercial fishers (e.g. days when gear is drowned or lost to determine key current velocities) a purpose built webapp can be developed, hosted on an existing service, which allows fishers to asses the risks posed by ocean currents to their fishing operation before they set their gear. This would also allow for fishers to predict days when drowned gear may resurface and therefore the fishing operation may continue.
In addition to this helping the fishing operation, greater current modelling coverage over this part of the fishery will allow for the fine-scale assessment of the links between water movement and puerulus settlement. As part of FRDC project “2016-260 WRL IPA: assess causes and implications of anomalous low lobster catch rates in the shallow water areas near the centre of the Western Rock Lobster fishery” 40 additional puerulus collectors will be added to the current DOF monitoring program which will provide extensive coverage of settlement rates between Seven Mile, Dongara and Jurien Bay.
Objectives: 1. Establish additional coastal radar station 2. Establish a predictive warning system for ocean conditions that can be used by the WRL fishery to improve efficiency 3. Assess the relationship between water circulation and puerulus settlement rates Read moreRead less
The Detection Of Ciguatera Toxins In NSW Spanish Mackerel
Funder
Fisheries Research and Development Corporation
Funding Amount
$490,000.00
Summary
Ciguatera Fish Poisoning (CFP) causes the largest number of seafood-related food safety incidents in Australia. In NSW and southern QLD waters, CFP is mostly related to Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson). Ciguatoxins (CTXs) produced by marine microalgae (Gambierdiscus spp), are polyether toxins that accumulate in fish and cause CFP when fish are eaten. CTXs are heat stable, odourless, tasteless, and toxic at low concentrations, therefore it is very difficult to distinguish toxic fish. In ....Ciguatera Fish Poisoning (CFP) causes the largest number of seafood-related food safety incidents in Australia. In NSW and southern QLD waters, CFP is mostly related to Spanish Mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson). Ciguatoxins (CTXs) produced by marine microalgae (Gambierdiscus spp), are polyether toxins that accumulate in fish and cause CFP when fish are eaten. CTXs are heat stable, odourless, tasteless, and toxic at low concentrations, therefore it is very difficult to distinguish toxic fish. In NSW, since 2014, 31 people have contracted CFP after consuming Spanish Mackerel caught locally, mostly through recreational fishing.
Validated commercial monitoring methods for CTXs are unavailable internationally, although research tools for CTX measurement have been developed. Regulatory methods for CFP prevention are to avoid certain fish species, fish of certain sizes (ie >10kg), or fish from certain regions. In Australia, effective prevention methods have not been clearly evaluated. This results in Spanish Mackerel that are safe to eat potentially being excluded from sale, resulting in significant losses (ie > ~$200k p.a in NSW). This project addresses this issue, which was identified as high priority in the Australian ciguatera research strategy formulated at a recent workshop (27-28th March, 2019).
In 2014, FRDC (Tactical Response) and the NSW Recreational Fisheries Trust funded an initial study on the incidence of CTXs in NSW Spanish Mackerel. CTX was present in flesh and liver samples (1-7% incidence), and was not clearly correlated with the weight of individual fish. This information showed that CFP risk management may require reassessment. This project will advance knowledge by: evaluating methods of detection of CTXs; determining detailed predictive data on CTX incidence; and evaluating environmental and biological factors associated with CTX in Spanish Mackerel to allow for an evaluation of risk assessment strategies. This information will benefit industry by enhancing consumer safety and industry confidence, and enabling the sale of safe Spanish Mackerel.
Objectives: 1. Determine industry CTX needs and conduct of review of available CTX measurement tools (including cell based assays, ELISA kits, and LCMS) against these needs. Conduct an assessment of the currently available screening tools to determine which, if any, hold promise for industry use. Conduct a viability assessment for how a tool might be used in industry or, if none of the currently available tools are appropriate, make recommendations for future activities to develop a rapid screening tool that meets industry needs. 2. Obtain samples of flesh and liver from ~300 individual Spanish Mackerel of all sizes caught in Industry relevant regions of NSW waters over a period of 2 years, as well as length, weight, sex and site information, with the participation of the Sydney Fish Market and commercial fishing Cooperatives. Obtain samples from any individual Spanish Mackerel associated with illnesses in NSW or QLD. Measure CTX1B and other available CTX analogs using best practice methods identified in Objective 1. 3. Conduct statistical data analyses of all available data on CTX concentrations in Spanish Mackerel in comparison to biological and environmental variables.Develop recommended options for food safety risk management for Spanish Mackerel in NSW that will allow for a viable industry while protecting public health. Read moreRead less
Tuning parallel applications on software-defined supercomputers. Supercomputers are used by many Australian industries and laboratories to make better products and perform critical predictions, and it is essential that codes operate efficiently. This project aims to assist programmers in identifying performance bottlenecks in their code quickly and easily. The project expects to supersede the current methods, which are often complex and time-consuming, by developing innovative software tools and ....Tuning parallel applications on software-defined supercomputers. Supercomputers are used by many Australian industries and laboratories to make better products and perform critical predictions, and it is essential that codes operate efficiently. This project aims to assist programmers in identifying performance bottlenecks in their code quickly and easily. The project expects to supersede the current methods, which are often complex and time-consuming, by developing innovative software tools and techniques. The expected outcomes include novel software, verified by industry partners in real world case studies, ranging from life sciences to hypersonic transport. This should provide significant benefits, including the capacity for Australian industries to access world-class supercomputing technology.Read moreRead less
Detecting Asynchronous Event-Driven Order Violations in Android Apps. This project aims to develop an event-interleaving analysis for detecting asynchronous event-driven order violations in Android apps. This project therefore expects to deliver a program analysis foundation that can provide stronger security guarantees than the state of the art against advanced exploits that abuse such asynchronous vulnerabilities. The intended outcomes of this project are a new program analysis technology and ....Detecting Asynchronous Event-Driven Order Violations in Android Apps. This project aims to develop an event-interleaving analysis for detecting asynchronous event-driven order violations in Android apps. This project therefore expects to deliver a program analysis foundation that can provide stronger security guarantees than the state of the art against advanced exploits that abuse such asynchronous vulnerabilities. The intended outcomes of this project are a new program analysis technology and an industrial-strength open-source framework that can significantly raise the bar on mobile software quality and security for Android, the dominant smartphone platform accounting a current market share at 87.0% with 2.9 million apps at Google Play in December 2019.Read moreRead less
To update assessment reports on Whichfish.com to keep the site current for users. Objectives: 1. 1. Re-organise existing report format in line with the new methodology 2. 2. Update relevant information for the 20 species on Whichfish 3. 3. Reassess risk scores and future outlook sections using draft methodology 4. 4. Provide written feedback about any issues and/or challenges encountered in applying the draft risk assessment which will be incorporated into a guid ....To update assessment reports on Whichfish.com to keep the site current for users. Objectives: 1. 1. Re-organise existing report format in line with the new methodology 2. 2. Update relevant information for the 20 species on Whichfish 3. 3. Reassess risk scores and future outlook sections using draft methodology 4. 4. Provide written feedback about any issues and/or challenges encountered in applying the draft risk assessment which will be incorporated into a guidance document for future assessors and suggestions to improve risk assessment criteria. Read moreRead less
Preventing sensitive data exfiltration from insiders . Confidential data such as military secrets or intellectual property must never be disclosed outside the organisation; formally protecting data exfiltration from insider attacks is a major challenge. This project aims to develop a pattern matching based systematic methodology for data exfiltration in database systems. We will devise highly accurate detection tools and secure provenance techniques that can effectively protect against insider a ....Preventing sensitive data exfiltration from insiders . Confidential data such as military secrets or intellectual property must never be disclosed outside the organisation; formally protecting data exfiltration from insider attacks is a major challenge. This project aims to develop a pattern matching based systematic methodology for data exfiltration in database systems. We will devise highly accurate detection tools and secure provenance techniques that can effectively protect against insider attacks. The outcomes of the project will incorporate new security constraints and policies raised by emerging technologies to enable better protection of sensitive information. Read moreRead less
Resource Allocation for High-Volume Streaming Data in Data Centers. Almost all chip vendors are producing new hardware accelerators by combining several units into a single main-board, and therefore making the execution of parallel and distributed run-time primitives not efficient/scalable. This project aims to develop innovative ways to building incremental and iterative computations over massive data sets in a cluster of heterogeneous systems. This will provide a significant reduction of perfo ....Resource Allocation for High-Volume Streaming Data in Data Centers. Almost all chip vendors are producing new hardware accelerators by combining several units into a single main-board, and therefore making the execution of parallel and distributed run-time primitives not efficient/scalable. This project aims to develop innovative ways to building incremental and iterative computations over massive data sets in a cluster of heterogeneous systems. This will provide a significant reduction of performance bottlenecks when running heavily distributed data-driven applications. Expected outcomes will include resource management algorithms that optimise performance at large scale. The project will benefit many areas, including running stateful iterative stream-based data-analysis applications in data centres. Read moreRead less