Development of a proto-type vaccine against gastrointestinal nematode larvae. Gastrointestinal parasites are the major cause of production losses in the Australian sheep and wool industries. Drug treatment is predominantly used to control infections but drug resistance has reached critical levels and is threatening the viability of sheep production in many rural areas. In collaboration with an international Animal Health company, we aim to develop vaccines against these parasites and provide a c ....Development of a proto-type vaccine against gastrointestinal nematode larvae. Gastrointestinal parasites are the major cause of production losses in the Australian sheep and wool industries. Drug treatment is predominantly used to control infections but drug resistance has reached critical levels and is threatening the viability of sheep production in many rural areas. In collaboration with an international Animal Health company, we aim to develop vaccines against these parasites and provide a clean, non-toxic alternative to drug treatment. The groundbreaking research involved in this project will also keep Australian animal scientists at the forefront of vaccine research and increase their capacity to attract further support from Industry.Read moreRead less
Characterisation and development of adjuvants for new generation veterinary and human vaccines. Vaccination is the most successful and cost-effective means of combating infectious diseases in both veterinary and human medicine. This project will increase our understanding of how vaccines work and will help the development of new vaccines against infections in both animals and man. The results of these studies will also increase the competitiveness of Australian scientists in the field of vaccine ....Characterisation and development of adjuvants for new generation veterinary and human vaccines. Vaccination is the most successful and cost-effective means of combating infectious diseases in both veterinary and human medicine. This project will increase our understanding of how vaccines work and will help the development of new vaccines against infections in both animals and man. The results of these studies will also increase the competitiveness of Australian scientists in the field of vaccine research and development.Read moreRead less
Using transgenic plant-based production and delivery systems to develop an avian influenza vaccine. This project aims to provide proof-of-concept for the rapid production of plant-made vaccines of high strategic value to the poultry industry. Plant-made AI vaccines would help safeguard primary industries in Australia from exotic influenza strains and shield rural communities from the impact of stock losses. This collaboration will also contribute to the Molecular Farming industry by ensuring tha ....Using transgenic plant-based production and delivery systems to develop an avian influenza vaccine. This project aims to provide proof-of-concept for the rapid production of plant-made vaccines of high strategic value to the poultry industry. Plant-made AI vaccines would help safeguard primary industries in Australia from exotic influenza strains and shield rural communities from the impact of stock losses. This collaboration will also contribute to the Molecular Farming industry by ensuring that Australian interests are considered as this frontier technology tackles the challenges of turning academic research into marketable products. The key features of an oral plant-made AI vaccine, including rapid and non-egg based production, also make this an attractive technology for the future development of swine and human influenza vaccines.Read moreRead less
Application of DNA vaccination to the control of gastrointestinal nematodes in livestock. Gastrointestinal nematode parasites inflict great losses in sheep and cattle and reliance on anthelmintic drugs for their control is problematic. Vaccination would provide a better alternative but has been difficult to achieve. This proposal aims to apply novel DNA vaccination strategies to the development of parasite vaccines through optimisation of DNA delivery, development of new vaccination vectors and ....Application of DNA vaccination to the control of gastrointestinal nematodes in livestock. Gastrointestinal nematode parasites inflict great losses in sheep and cattle and reliance on anthelmintic drugs for their control is problematic. Vaccination would provide a better alternative but has been difficult to achieve. This proposal aims to apply novel DNA vaccination strategies to the development of parasite vaccines through optimisation of DNA delivery, development of new vaccination vectors and modulation of immune responses by co-delivery of cytokine genes. The results of these studies will not only add a new approach to vaccine development against gastrointestinal parasites but will also contribute to our knowledge of DNA vaccination in large animals.Read moreRead less
Equine rhinitis A virus; molecular pathogenesis and methods for control. The horse industry in Australia is primarily based in rural locations and is a major contributor to the national economy both in terms of direct economic contribution to gross domestic product and as a major employer of people in regional Australia. The research proposed in this project will improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of a virus that causes respiratory disease in horses that is related to the virus that c ....Equine rhinitis A virus; molecular pathogenesis and methods for control. The horse industry in Australia is primarily based in rural locations and is a major contributor to the national economy both in terms of direct economic contribution to gross domestic product and as a major employer of people in regional Australia. The research proposed in this project will improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of a virus that causes respiratory disease in horses that is related to the virus that causes foot and mouth disease in ruminants and swine. The technology developed during this project would have a global market.Read moreRead less
Application of in vivo electroporation to DNA immunisation. The in vivo delivery of plasmid DNA induces immune responses to the encoded protein vaccine. In large animals including humans, DNA vaccination needs to be further improved before becoming a commercial reality, at least partially due to the very low levels of expression in vivo. In vivo electroporation has proven to be an effective way to enhance the level of protein expression and increase DNA vaccine efficacy. We combine enhanced in ....Application of in vivo electroporation to DNA immunisation. The in vivo delivery of plasmid DNA induces immune responses to the encoded protein vaccine. In large animals including humans, DNA vaccination needs to be further improved before becoming a commercial reality, at least partially due to the very low levels of expression in vivo. In vivo electroporation has proven to be an effective way to enhance the level of protein expression and increase DNA vaccine efficacy. We combine enhanced in vivo expression using electroporation with the co-delivery of plasmids encoding cytokines to enhance and modulate DNA vaccine in sheep. We will apply our findings to bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV), both as an animal model for humans and as an economically important diseases of livestock.Read moreRead less