Development of therapeutic agents that target carbonic anhydrase enzymes. This research will discover new chemical entities (compounds) that may lead to therapies for the treatment of cancer, glaucoma and malaria. The research underpins a mechanism to add value to our compounds before partnering with industry to transform the discoveries made here to deliverable therapies that could benefit the health of millions, thus offering a potentially high value contribution to the Australian economy. The ....Development of therapeutic agents that target carbonic anhydrase enzymes. This research will discover new chemical entities (compounds) that may lead to therapies for the treatment of cancer, glaucoma and malaria. The research underpins a mechanism to add value to our compounds before partnering with industry to transform the discoveries made here to deliverable therapies that could benefit the health of millions, thus offering a potentially high value contribution to the Australian economy. The experience and commitment of the multi-disciplinary network of researchers offers exceptional training and employment opportunities for tomorrow's scientists in techniques for discovery and characterisation of novel chemicals, and their interaction with disease targets.Read moreRead less
Levelling the Playing Field: Starting with the School Playground. This project aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of simple, cost-effective programs for changing the way parents and teachers view manageable risk-taking for children with disabilities and increasing the level of responsibility that children take for their own actions. The well-being of all children with disabilities is at risk and the gap continues to widen. New programs, such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme, will p ....Levelling the Playing Field: Starting with the School Playground. This project aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of simple, cost-effective programs for changing the way parents and teachers view manageable risk-taking for children with disabilities and increasing the level of responsibility that children take for their own actions. The well-being of all children with disabilities is at risk and the gap continues to widen. New programs, such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme, will place increasing demands on young people with disabilities. Innovative approaches are desperately. Such programming must begin early, by including children in an age-appropriate ways and simultaneously addressing the issues of adults who have the most significant influence: parents and teachers.Read moreRead less
Sibling influence on development of children with autism spectrum disorder. This project aims to investigate how typically-developing siblings affect the development of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD involves difficulties with language, executive functions and social understanding. For typically-developing children, growing up with siblings gives an advantage in these cognitive functions. Yet little is known about how having siblings’ impacts on cognitive development of childr ....Sibling influence on development of children with autism spectrum disorder. This project aims to investigate how typically-developing siblings affect the development of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). ASD involves difficulties with language, executive functions and social understanding. For typically-developing children, growing up with siblings gives an advantage in these cognitive functions. Yet little is known about how having siblings’ impacts on cognitive development of children with ASD. The project intends to longitudinally explore the mechanisms of sibling impact in families with and without a child with ASD. The outcomes will deepen understanding of child development, providing an evidence base for effective interventions to increase child competence and aiming ultimately to reduce the social costs of ASD.Read moreRead less
The flipside of noise: Does it benefit listening and learning? People with low attention capacity can experience improvements in cognitive function (eg memory) in the presence of external white noise. This project aims to determine the brain mechanisms for this improvement and how it affects oral language comprehension and verbal learning. In doing so, the research would change the prevailing view that noise is always detrimental to mental processes, and provide a theoretical framework for predi ....The flipside of noise: Does it benefit listening and learning? People with low attention capacity can experience improvements in cognitive function (eg memory) in the presence of external white noise. This project aims to determine the brain mechanisms for this improvement and how it affects oral language comprehension and verbal learning. In doing so, the research would change the prevailing view that noise is always detrimental to mental processes, and provide a theoretical framework for predicting how an individual’s cognitive capacity is affected by the presence of noise. It may support the development of methods to improve educational participation and outcomes for children, particularly those with lower attention, and for older adults.Read moreRead less
Control of language production and its neural substrates. The ability of humans to say the right word at the right time is a critical, complex and poorly understood function. This research will determine the brain circuits responsible for language production and how this process is affected in Parkinson's disease.
Poly(amino acids) as immune stimulators. This project aims to develop nanoparticles built from natural hydrophobic amino acids as an immune stimulatory delivery system for peptide antigens. Currently available immune stimulants (adjuvants) are often toxic and/or are poorly chemically defined fragments of bacteria or toxins and vary from batch-to-batch. New adjuvants are in high demand; especially to facilitate the use of optimal, but weakly immunogenic, peptide antigens. It is expected that the ....Poly(amino acids) as immune stimulators. This project aims to develop nanoparticles built from natural hydrophobic amino acids as an immune stimulatory delivery system for peptide antigens. Currently available immune stimulants (adjuvants) are often toxic and/or are poorly chemically defined fragments of bacteria or toxins and vary from batch-to-batch. New adjuvants are in high demand; especially to facilitate the use of optimal, but weakly immunogenic, peptide antigens. It is expected that the proposed project will develop a novel efficient, safe and notably biodegradable self-adjuvanting delivery system that can be fully customised to match an antigen of choice. This foundational research should provide important advances for commercial immune stimulatory applications.Read moreRead less
Stem cell-based interface tissue engineering. Osteoarthritis (OA) causes extreme pain, disability, and reduced quality of life and overall productivity. It is the musculoskeletal disorder with the greatest social and economic implications internationally, with 9.3% of the adult population projected to suffer from OA by 2030. A tissue engineered product capable of functional repair of ligament-cartilage-bone tissue interfaces will have significant benefits. It will improve patient activity and qu ....Stem cell-based interface tissue engineering. Osteoarthritis (OA) causes extreme pain, disability, and reduced quality of life and overall productivity. It is the musculoskeletal disorder with the greatest social and economic implications internationally, with 9.3% of the adult population projected to suffer from OA by 2030. A tissue engineered product capable of functional repair of ligament-cartilage-bone tissue interfaces will have significant benefits. It will improve patient activity and quality of life, and significantly reduce OA-associated health care costs. This proposal will train a total of 12 new generation researchers in the emergent fields of stem cell biology and tissue engineering, having important benefits for the Australian scientific and industrial communities.Read moreRead less