Discovery And Development Of Novel Venom Peptide Analgesics
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$763,845.00
Summary
Professor Lewis will discover and develop new research tools and potential therapeutics from toxins acting on pain pathways. The Fellowship will leverage (i) well-funded collaborations with top Australian and international scientists (ii) the recently established IMB Centre for Pain Research that I lead as inaugural Director, and (iii) an outstanding Institute equipped with leading edge technologies for high throughput and high content discovery and proteomic and transcriptomic analysis.
New Therapeutic Approaches For Genetic Skeletal Disorders
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$961,150.00
Summary
Genetic skeletal disorders are a significant disease burden with limited therapeutic options. We will use mouse models of cartilage and bone disorders and human induced pluripotent stem cell derived bone and cartilage 'disease in a dish' models to test repurposed FDA-approved drugs and new drug candidates as novel therapeutic strategies.
Destructive bone loss is a serious complication of many common inflammatory diseases. Three important examples are are, periodontal disease, rheumatoid arthritis and peri-implant osteolysis. The mechanism of osteoclast formation in these diseases is distinctly different from physiologic osteoclast formation. Despite the prevalence of these diseases until recently little is known about how bone erosion occurs However, recent advances in the understanding of these diseases has allow us to better i ....Destructive bone loss is a serious complication of many common inflammatory diseases. Three important examples are are, periodontal disease, rheumatoid arthritis and peri-implant osteolysis. The mechanism of osteoclast formation in these diseases is distinctly different from physiologic osteoclast formation. Despite the prevalence of these diseases until recently little is known about how bone erosion occurs However, recent advances in the understanding of these diseases has allow us to better investigate the mechanisms of the bone loss. Drugs to stop the loss of bone have only recently been available to patients and many new treatments are being developed. While most of these drugs are proving useful to treat osteoporosis, their suitability for the treatment of bone loss in diseases such as periodontal disease, rheumatoid arthritis and peri-implant osteolysis is largely unknown. As the way bone is lost in these inflammatory diseases quite different from osteoporosis different treatments are needed. This project aims to better understand bone loss in these diseases and identify new treatments to prevent the debilitating bone loss associated with inflammation in disease.Read moreRead less
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is one of the leading causes of chronic pain both world-wide and in Australia for which there is a lack of treatments. Chronic pain arises from nerve fibres in the colon wall, which fail to 'reset' back to normal following inflammation. Targeting these nerve endings with drugs is a key advance in IBS treatment. This project will identify selective oxytocin analogues that act in the colon to lower pain in sensory nerves thus providing efficacious pain relief in IBS.
A Targeted Approach To Age Related Disease: Nanomedicines And The Liver Sinusoidal Endothelium
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$560,241.00
Summary
Cells that line the liver blood vessels undergo predictable and distinct changes with age that increase the risk of developing diseases of older age like Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease. We can now selectively target the changes in the liver cells with nanomedicines to prevent and treat these changes. The implications of this study are vast – a new therapy for the prevention and treatment of age-related cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Neuropathic pain is particularly difficult to treat and existing medications have considerable side effects. This project will develop a new set of glycine transport inhibitors that have the potential to provide pain relief without side effects.
High-Throughput Discovery Of Synergistic Drug Combinations For Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,526,568.00
Summary
Treatment outcomes for patients with metastatic bowel cancer remain poor, with most tumours developing resistance within 24 months. A key problem is that cancers are genetically diverse, with some cells inevitably resistant to any given treatment. This study aims to discover effective drug combinations targeting distinct essential tumour cell functions through robotics-based pairwise testing of known drugs on bowel cancer cell lines representing the genetic diversity of the disease.
Developing Subtype-selective Blockers Of Acid-sensing Ion Channels For Treating Peripheral Pain
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$641,407.00
Summary
Chronic pain is a huge medical problem that affects 1 in 5 adults. There are few drugs available for treating chronic pain, and many of these have limited efficacy and dose-limiting side-effects. Acid-sensing ion channels are proteins that play an essential role in the specialised nerves that sense pain signals. The ultimate goal of this project is to engineer highly selective blockers of these channels that can be used to develop effective analgesics for treating patients with chronic pain.
Insights Into The Biology Of The Carcinogenic Blood Fluke, Schistosoma Haematobium – A First Response To The Wake-up Call
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$307,946.00
Summary
Schistosoma haematobium is a seriously neglected parasite that infects > 100 million people. Chronic infection severely affects the urino-genital system and causes malignant bladder cancer. Advanced technologies will be used to explore, for the first time, the molecular biology of this parasite, design new strategies to fight this insidious pathogen and understand how it induces cancer.
Mapping In Atrial Fibrillation: A 3-dimensional Electrophysiological Evaluation Of The Electro-pathological Substrate
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$416,961.00
Summary
Atrial fibrillation is the most frequently encountered heart rhythm disorder. However, mechanisms underlying the progressive nature of this disease remain poorly understood. This study aims to characterize the 3-D electrical dissociation and its relation to pathological changes in conditions predisposing to atrial fibrillation. This knowledge will facilitate the development of individualized, substrate-oriented pharmacological treatment and targeted therapeutic procedures for atrial fibrillation ....Atrial fibrillation is the most frequently encountered heart rhythm disorder. However, mechanisms underlying the progressive nature of this disease remain poorly understood. This study aims to characterize the 3-D electrical dissociation and its relation to pathological changes in conditions predisposing to atrial fibrillation. This knowledge will facilitate the development of individualized, substrate-oriented pharmacological treatment and targeted therapeutic procedures for atrial fibrillation.Read moreRead less