Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL120100030
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,779,572.00
Summary
Engineering materials for advances in nanomedicine. Nanomedicine is one of the fastest growing areas in nanotechnology. This project will develop next-generation particle systems with engineered properties that are expected to underpin advances in the delivery of therapeutics in the areas of cancer, vaccines, cardiovascular disease and neural health.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100988
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$425,333.00
Summary
From cells to whales: A mathematical framework to understand navigation. This project aims to understand what drives the navigation of small and large organisms. To achieve this, the project seeks to develop a mathematical framework that unifies models of navigation, communication and uncertainty, for the first time. This is significant as navigation underpins fundamental behaviour such as migration. Expected outcomes of this project include novel insights into the mechanisms underlying navigati ....From cells to whales: A mathematical framework to understand navigation. This project aims to understand what drives the navigation of small and large organisms. To achieve this, the project seeks to develop a mathematical framework that unifies models of navigation, communication and uncertainty, for the first time. This is significant as navigation underpins fundamental behaviour such as migration. Expected outcomes of this project include novel insights into the mechanisms underlying navigation, and new mathematical techniques required to construct the framework. The mathematical framework will be employed to explore and explain critical biological phenomena such as the impact of noise pollution on whale migration, and the conditions required for successful cellular navigation.Read moreRead less
New Directions in Bayesian Statistics: formulation, computation and application to exemplar challenges. Bayesian statistics is a fundamental statistical and machine learning approach for density estimation, data analysis and inference. However, there remain open questions regarding the formulation of the model, the likelihood and priors, and efficient computation. This project proposes new approaches that address these issues, and applies them to two exemplar challenges: the impact of climate ch ....New Directions in Bayesian Statistics: formulation, computation and application to exemplar challenges. Bayesian statistics is a fundamental statistical and machine learning approach for density estimation, data analysis and inference. However, there remain open questions regarding the formulation of the model, the likelihood and priors, and efficient computation. This project proposes new approaches that address these issues, and applies them to two exemplar challenges: the impact of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef and better understanding neurological diseases related aging, in particular Parkinson's Disease. Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100200
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$418,398.00
Summary
Next generation causal inference methods for biological data. This project aims to develop next generation causal inference methods for analysing biological data especially the single cell sequencing data and their applications in cell biology. Although Artificial Intelligence and Statistical Machine Learning have been applied successfully in many fields, including biological research, there is still a serious lack of methods for interpreting and reasoning about the mechanism of biological syste ....Next generation causal inference methods for biological data. This project aims to develop next generation causal inference methods for analysing biological data especially the single cell sequencing data and their applications in cell biology. Although Artificial Intelligence and Statistical Machine Learning have been applied successfully in many fields, including biological research, there is still a serious lack of methods for interpreting and reasoning about the mechanism of biological systems, the ultimate goal of research in many areas. Efficient data-driven causality discovery approaches developed by the project will be a timely and significant contribution to the knowledge of biology and statistics as well as the battle against health threats.
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Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE180100160
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$297,463.00
Summary
Femtosecond laser micropyrolysis gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. This project aims to build a femtosecond-laser, micropyrolysis gas-chromatographmass spectrometer. The facility will have the capability to selectively analyse very small petrographically-recognisable organic components, hence bridging the analytical gap between organic petrography and organic geochemistry. The project aims to understand the early evolution of life, the response of the biosphere to mass extinction, the migrati ....Femtosecond laser micropyrolysis gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. This project aims to build a femtosecond-laser, micropyrolysis gas-chromatographmass spectrometer. The facility will have the capability to selectively analyse very small petrographically-recognisable organic components, hence bridging the analytical gap between organic petrography and organic geochemistry. The project aims to understand the early evolution of life, the response of the biosphere to mass extinction, the migration of fluids in petroleum reservoirs, the heterogeneity of organic matter in shale gas reservoirs, and the composition of macromolecules in biominerals and macerals. The facility will contribute to a broad range of Australia’s theoretical and applied problems in geoscience and geobiology.Read moreRead less
How microbes build their environments through evolutionary feedback. The fitness landscape, a key evolutionary concept, relates genes or traits to reproductive fitness. However, this has been challenged by organisms that distort the landscape by changing their environments. This project aims to develop a new mathematical model that restores the landscape concept by extending it to accommodate niche construction. This framework will be applied to microorganisms that alter their environments, for ....How microbes build their environments through evolutionary feedback. The fitness landscape, a key evolutionary concept, relates genes or traits to reproductive fitness. However, this has been challenged by organisms that distort the landscape by changing their environments. This project aims to develop a new mathematical model that restores the landscape concept by extending it to accommodate niche construction. This framework will be applied to microorganisms that alter their environments, for example, by provoking and subverting the host immune system, and by inducing behavioural change in hosts. These processes alter how natural selection operates on microbes and thus lead to important evolutionary feedback. The model will be used to examine antibiotic resistance, pathogen virulence and how microbiomes develop.Read moreRead less
Nanoengineered Polymeric Materials for Environmental and Biological Applications. The development of advanced materials with nanoengineered properties promises to revolutionise future industries, including the energy and healthcare sectors. This research program will involve the design, synthesis and assembly of tailored polymers to prepare next-generation, engineered materials. The research will deliver advanced polymeric membranes, tissue engineering scaffolds and vaccine delivery systems. The ....Nanoengineered Polymeric Materials for Environmental and Biological Applications. The development of advanced materials with nanoengineered properties promises to revolutionise future industries, including the energy and healthcare sectors. This research program will involve the design, synthesis and assembly of tailored polymers to prepare next-generation, engineered materials. The research will deliver advanced polymeric membranes, tissue engineering scaffolds and vaccine delivery systems. These materials are expected to provide benefits for Australian citizens in the energy and health sectors and contribute to the development of a robust Australian nanotechnology industry. The projects will also provide opportunities for the development of outstanding young scientists and will foster multidisciplinary collaborations.Read moreRead less
Neural spike variability: unifying conflicting views of neural dynamics. The project aims to improve our understanding of neural dynamics. The brain represents and processes information by means of neural voltage spikes, which show great variability in their timing. Understanding the origin of such variable neural dynamics is a long-standing problem in neuroscience. The aim of this project is to develop a novel account of variable neural dynamics, unravelling their computational principles in th ....Neural spike variability: unifying conflicting views of neural dynamics. The project aims to improve our understanding of neural dynamics. The brain represents and processes information by means of neural voltage spikes, which show great variability in their timing. Understanding the origin of such variable neural dynamics is a long-standing problem in neuroscience. The aim of this project is to develop a novel account of variable neural dynamics, unravelling their computational principles in the brain, and unifying current leading but conflicting theories. The model developed in this project would be used to explain a range of empirical observations, and the principles unravelled would be applied to understand spike-timing based neural coding. The new knowledge gained in this project may have profound implications for designing brain-like computing devices.Read moreRead less
The evolution of cooperative communication. This interdisciplinary project will provide a broad understanding of communication in a model ecological system involving ants, lycaenid butterflies, and host-plants. The project will reveal the nature of the chemical signals used to communicate, and their role in the origin, maintenance, and loss of mutualistic and parasitic associations.
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