Towards The Rational Design Of Calcium Sensing Receptor Allosteric Modulators For The Treatment Of Osteoporosis And Calcium Handling Disorders
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$741,390.00
Summary
Drugs that target the human calcium sensing receptor can be too strong or too weak, resulting in side effects or lack of efficacy. This proposal thus seeks to establish whether the strength of drug activity can be rationally altered and exploited to treat different disease states by fine-tuning CaSR activity in a disease-specific manner.
New Positive Allosteric Modulators Of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors For Treatment Of Cognitive Impairment In ADHD
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$612,851.00
Summary
The effects of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can extend well beyond childhood. This project will target the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor family for developing new therapeutics to manage this disease.
Role Of Viruses In The Development Of Lung Disease In Cystic Fibrosis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,223,186.00
Summary
This study will investigate how lung disease starts in babies with cystic fibrosis and the role of viral infections in this process. The new knowledge gained will help us move towards treatments that prevent or delay the start of lung disease, something not currently possible. We believe this new treatment paradigm will lead to improved quality and extent of life of those with cystic fibrosis.
Development Of Peptide-based Scaffolds For Intracellular Cancer Targets
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,479,836.00
Summary
The overall aim of this project is to develop peptide-based drugs that are able to cross cell membranes and inhibit specific targets inside cells leading to more effective, safer and cost effective drugs for cancer. One potential outcome of the project will be new drug leads to treat melanoma and leukemia that are likely to be less toxic, more potent and less likely to develop resistance than current treatments.
Structure-based Design Of Inhibitors Of PimA - A New Target For Tuberculosis Therapy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$666,246.00
Summary
Tuberculosis (TB) is a devastating disease that kills 2 million people worldwide each year and affects one-third of the entire human population. Bacterial resistance to existing antibiotics is an ever increasing problem, highlighting the need to develop new anti-TB drugs. The aim of this project is to develop specific inhibitors to target a protein that is essential for the survival of the tuberculosis bacterium.
Targeting Nucleic Acid Synthesis And Cell Division In Gram-negative Bacterial Pathogens
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$966,800.00
Summary
Some bacteria like Acinetobacter species cause infections in hospitals that are difficult to treat because they have acquired resistance to most antibiotics. This project will combine the complementary expertise of five research groups to develop knowledge of, and how to block, three essential processes in these worrying pathogenic species: copying of DNA, RNA synthesis, and cell division. This promises to lead to development of new antibacterial therapies.
A number of Leukemias, lymphomas and other blood malignancies are caused by mutations in a protein called JAK (Janus Kinase). To combat this human cells produce a protein that inhibits JAK (called SOCS). We aim to study how this process works and to mimic SOCS with a drug in order to treat leukemia.
Targeting Lagging Strand DNA Replication In Model And Pathogenic Bacteria
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$590,426.00
Summary
An increasing concern is the growing number of hospital acquired infections that cannot be treated effectively with antibiotics because the bacteria that cause them are resistant to drug treatments. This project will develop our basic understanding of how DNA is copied in bacteria that are about to reproduce themselves, and we will use this knowledge to discover ways to stop them from copying their DNA, thus killing them. This will provide the foundation for development of new antibiotics.
Characterising The Novel Signalling Mechanism For A New Interferon
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$525,485.00
Summary
We have discovered a new regulatory protein called interferon epsilon, made in the female reproductive tract and is crucial for protection against bacterial( Chlamydia) and viral (Herpes Simplex Virus) infections. However, we are yet to understand how it interacts with target cells. This grant will study how IFN? binds to cells and the nature of the signals it transmits. This will help us understand its role in disease and its clinical potential
Cell survival and death are controlled by two processes known as apoptosis and autophagy. Apoptosis eliminates damaged cells whereas autophagy gets rid of faulty components in the cell. The Bcl-2 proteins regulate both processes. It is well established that dysfunctional Bcl-2 regulation leads to cancer. In this project, we aim to investigate if deregulated Bcl-2 control of autophagy also has a key role in cancer progression and to obtain a molecular picture of how this control is exerted.