Do insect-specific flaviviruses regulate the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases in Australia? Mosquito-borne viral diseases such as dengue occur in Australia. The research team recently discovered related viruses in mosquitoes from Darwin that do not infect humans, but may inhibit the spread of viral diseases by mosquitoes. This project will investigate the life cycles of these new viruses to understand how they affect the spread of viral diseases by mosquitoes.
Innovative approaches to understanding and limiting the public health risks of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in animals in Australian catchments. Sophisticated molecular typing and modelling will be used to determine if chlorine-resistant parasites in animals in catchments are responsible for infection in humans. Improved catchment management and risk mitigation strategies will be developed during this project, which will make a substantial contribution to the provision of safe drinking water acro ....Innovative approaches to understanding and limiting the public health risks of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in animals in Australian catchments. Sophisticated molecular typing and modelling will be used to determine if chlorine-resistant parasites in animals in catchments are responsible for infection in humans. Improved catchment management and risk mitigation strategies will be developed during this project, which will make a substantial contribution to the provision of safe drinking water across Australia.Read moreRead less
Improving the measurement and surveillance of child abuse in Queensland. Estimates of the prevalence of child abuse suggest 10-20% of children are affected, with financial costs to the community around $5 billion annually, and extensive health and social consequences. Despite these enormous costs, research into risk factors and prevalence of child abuse has been hampered by poorly validated statistics. The use of routine hospital data for the identification of child abuse cases offers an effici ....Improving the measurement and surveillance of child abuse in Queensland. Estimates of the prevalence of child abuse suggest 10-20% of children are affected, with financial costs to the community around $5 billion annually, and extensive health and social consequences. Despite these enormous costs, research into risk factors and prevalence of child abuse has been hampered by poorly validated statistics. The use of routine hospital data for the identification of child abuse cases offers an efficient nationally standardised data source to improve the precision of child protection departmental responses through routine monitoring and audits of linked health and child protection data. Improvement of data will inform identification, intervention and prevention strategies.Read moreRead less
Ecology and transmission of tick-borne disease in Australia. Ecology and transmission of tick-borne disease in Australia. This project aims to determine the bacterial, protozoal and viral biodiversity in wildlife ticks and their native mammal hosts, and provide new information about the biology and transmission dynamics of these microorganisms and their potential to cause disease in wildlife, domesticated animals and humans. Anticipated outcomes are improved diagnostic tests and management proto ....Ecology and transmission of tick-borne disease in Australia. Ecology and transmission of tick-borne disease in Australia. This project aims to determine the bacterial, protozoal and viral biodiversity in wildlife ticks and their native mammal hosts, and provide new information about the biology and transmission dynamics of these microorganisms and their potential to cause disease in wildlife, domesticated animals and humans. Anticipated outcomes are improved diagnostic tests and management protocols for tick-borne disease in Australia.Read moreRead less
From data to action: a new process for developing injury countermeasures. This project aims to understand how reporting systems can improve workplace safety. Workplace injury affects over 600 000 Australian workers per year at a cost of approximately $60 billion. Although the introduction of incident reporting systems has enabled organisations to better understand the causes of injuries, how to translate this knowledge into effective countermeasures remains ambiguous. Moreover, it is not clear w ....From data to action: a new process for developing injury countermeasures. This project aims to understand how reporting systems can improve workplace safety. Workplace injury affects over 600 000 Australian workers per year at a cost of approximately $60 billion. Although the introduction of incident reporting systems has enabled organisations to better understand the causes of injuries, how to translate this knowledge into effective countermeasures remains ambiguous. Moreover, it is not clear whether adopting incident reporting systems actually leads to a safety benefit. This research intends to tackle these critical knowledge gaps by developing, implementing, and testing a process for translating incident reporting system outputs into appropriate and effective injury countermeasures, and then evaluating the safety effects of adopting the new incident reporting and learning cycle.Read moreRead less
Modulation of air-conditioning settings to destroy respiratory viruses. This project aims to prove that manipulating the ambient humidity can rapidly degrade airborne viruses. The relationship between ambient humidity and airborne infection is poorly understood for viral pathogens including influenza and the common cold. The project will prove that indoor environmental conditions can be easily manipulated to kill airborne viruses. The findings will be used to develop indoor air humidity control ....Modulation of air-conditioning settings to destroy respiratory viruses. This project aims to prove that manipulating the ambient humidity can rapidly degrade airborne viruses. The relationship between ambient humidity and airborne infection is poorly understood for viral pathogens including influenza and the common cold. The project will prove that indoor environmental conditions can be easily manipulated to kill airborne viruses. The findings will be used to develop indoor air humidity control guidelines targeting the vulnerabilities of the viruses to minimise airborne infection.Read moreRead less
Estimating per capita use and release of chemicals by wastewater analysis. This project aims to systematically collect and analyse wastewater to assess human exposure to chemicals including drugs, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle chemicals and environmental pollutants. By combining temporal sampling from key sewage treatment plants with comprehensive nationwide sampling over the week of the 2016 census day, the project expects to estimate the per-capita human exposure to chemicals in the Australian po ....Estimating per capita use and release of chemicals by wastewater analysis. This project aims to systematically collect and analyse wastewater to assess human exposure to chemicals including drugs, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle chemicals and environmental pollutants. By combining temporal sampling from key sewage treatment plants with comprehensive nationwide sampling over the week of the 2016 census day, the project expects to estimate the per-capita human exposure to chemicals in the Australian population. Accurate and objective per-capita based consumption and release estimates for a wide range of chemicals is intended to provide a baseline against which to measure changes in our chemosphere.Read moreRead less
Detecting and Understanding Dysfunctional Anomalies in Queensland Healthcare Databases. Healthcare systems are large complex organizations that are required to function effectively and efficiently. As the main healthcare provider of the state, Queensland Health faces significant challenges in managing the complexity of its operations. This project will use visualization and data mining techniques to support Queensland Health in effective utilisation of its information and communications technolo ....Detecting and Understanding Dysfunctional Anomalies in Queensland Healthcare Databases. Healthcare systems are large complex organizations that are required to function effectively and efficiently. As the main healthcare provider of the state, Queensland Health faces significant challenges in managing the complexity of its operations. This project will use visualization and data mining techniques to support Queensland Health in effective utilisation of its information and communications technology. Through the analysis, detection and prediction of anomalies in the system, the project will contribute to improvements in patient outcomes and efficiency of the Queensland healthcare system.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0567386
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$98,000.00
Summary
Mechanisms for Ultra-secure Access to Large Repositories of Sensitive Data over the Grid. Large repositories of data that are typically geographically distributed and are subject to varying degrees of legal and ethical constraints are not available for open scientific research due to the sensitive and private nature of the information they contain, e.g. personal health records offer significant value for medical research, but are not readily available due to privacy legislation and the requireme ....Mechanisms for Ultra-secure Access to Large Repositories of Sensitive Data over the Grid. Large repositories of data that are typically geographically distributed and are subject to varying degrees of legal and ethical constraints are not available for open scientific research due to the sensitive and private nature of the information they contain, e.g. personal health records offer significant value for medical research, but are not readily available due to privacy legislation and the requirement to maintain end-user’s trust in healthcare information system. This project will build a demonstrator, based upon advanced cryptographic and information research and technologies to provide ultra-secure and sanitized access to this data via a data network grid.Read moreRead less
Herpesvirus entry into mammalian hosts. Herpesviruses infect most mammals and cause much chronic disease. Our poor understanding of their host entry pathways limits infection control. The olfactory neuroepithelium has been identified as a key entry portal for both a murid herpesvirus and a human pathogen, Herpes simplex virus, suggesting that many herpesviruses use this route. Virions cross the olfactory mucus on neuronal cilia, then either infect neurons or transfer to glial cells for local spr ....Herpesvirus entry into mammalian hosts. Herpesviruses infect most mammals and cause much chronic disease. Our poor understanding of their host entry pathways limits infection control. The olfactory neuroepithelium has been identified as a key entry portal for both a murid herpesvirus and a human pathogen, Herpes simplex virus, suggesting that many herpesviruses use this route. Virions cross the olfactory mucus on neuronal cilia, then either infect neurons or transfer to glial cells for local spread. This project will identify key receptor interactions and map the extent of invasion. By advancing our basic understanding of these important viruses and their uptake at an abundantly exposed but little explored anatomical site, the project can establish a basis for vaccinating against chronic disease.Read moreRead less