DsbA Foldases From Multidrug Resistant Pathogens As Targets For New Antimicrobials
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$743,401.00
Summary
Bacteria that cause common human infections, such as cystitis and diarrhoea, are now resistant to many antibiotics. If no action is taken, by 2050 antibiotic resistant infections will kill more people each year than cancer. This project aims to address this global public health crisis by characterising promising new bacterial targets and inhibitors designed to disarm multidrug resistant pathogens. Longer term this work could provide new infection therapies that are urgently needed.
Antibiotic resistance is a looming public health crisis. New antibiotics with new mechanisms of action are desperately needed. The long-term goal of this research is to develop new drugs that disarm bacteria to overcome the problem of antibiotic resistance.
Evolution And Pathogenicity Of NDM-1 Positive Escherichia Coli
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$643,275.00
Summary
Antibiotic resistance (AR), as highlighted by the WHO, is the most pressing medical need of the 21C – some infections are now untreatable. Our research will focus on the new "superbug" NDM-1 positive E. coli. We will correlate AR and pathogenicity and explore the evolution of these "superbugs" using state-of-the-art sequencing. This research will benefit Australian medicine by predicting timelines of AR epidemics and by conducting the first analyses on the virulence potential of these strains.
A Genome-wide Association Study In 2000 Glaucoma Cases With Matched Controls Using Equimoloar DNA Pools
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$610,267.00
Summary
Glaucoma is a common cause of loss of vision worldwide but we are unable to predict which people are at high risk of blindness. We aim to discover the genetic risk factors for glaucoma. We will use cutting edge genetic technology to assess the whole genome in thousands of patients with glaucoma. We hope to identify important new glaucoma genes, which could lead to the development of diagnostic tests and treatments which will provide the most cost-efficient ways to prevent glaucoma blindness.
This program will investigate the strategies used by pathogenic bacteria to cause human diseases. The research will focus on how bacteria initiate infections, how they invade, cause cell and tissue damage and respond to their human host. It will also examine how the host’s innate immune system interacts with these bacteria. The results will provide new insights into host-pathogen interactions and reveal new targets for the development of novel antibacterial drugs and vaccines.
Functional And Genomic Analysis Of The Globally Disseminated Multidrug Resistant Escherichia Coli ST131 Clone
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$825,537.00
Summary
Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is a major cause of urinary tract infections (UTI) and sepsis. Recently, a highly virulent clone of UPEC (E. coli ST131) that is resistant to multiple types of antibiotics has emerged and spread worldwide. This project uses genomic and high-throughput functional analysis methods to understand E. coli ST131 virulence and resistance. The outcomes of the work will be a better understanding of how E. coli ST131 causes disease, and potentially new treatment regim ....Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is a major cause of urinary tract infections (UTI) and sepsis. Recently, a highly virulent clone of UPEC (E. coli ST131) that is resistant to multiple types of antibiotics has emerged and spread worldwide. This project uses genomic and high-throughput functional analysis methods to understand E. coli ST131 virulence and resistance. The outcomes of the work will be a better understanding of how E. coli ST131 causes disease, and potentially new treatment regimes for UTI.Read moreRead less
Hedgehog Signalling In Limb And Craniofacial Development And Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$494,544.00
Summary
Anomalies of the face and limbs are amongst the most common features of human birth defects, and their frequent association suggests that the same genes are involved in governing the development of the limbs and face during embryogenesis. We have used a genomics-based approach to identify genes involved in limb development based on their alteration in a mouse model which develops extra fingers and toes. Defects in this mouse result from changes in Gli3, a gene which is known to be important in b ....Anomalies of the face and limbs are amongst the most common features of human birth defects, and their frequent association suggests that the same genes are involved in governing the development of the limbs and face during embryogenesis. We have used a genomics-based approach to identify genes involved in limb development based on their alteration in a mouse model which develops extra fingers and toes. Defects in this mouse result from changes in Gli3, a gene which is known to be important in both limb and face development. Based on the organs in which our genes of interest are active, we believe that they will also play key roles in embryonic development of the limbs, face and other organs. We now plan to investigate the regulation of a subset of these genes based on analysis in mouse models of limb and face development. In addition, we have chosen to further analyse the function of a completely novel gene we have identified which our preliminary studies suggest may play a role in the normal development of the lip and palate. These studies have the potential to shed light on the processes governing how organs develop, as well as on the molecular basis of common birth defects such as polydactyly (extra fingers and toes) and cleft palate.Read moreRead less
Identifying Long-range Regulatory Elements Of The Breast Cancer Susceptibility Gene, BRCA1
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$612,842.00
Summary
BRCA1 is a breast cancer susceptibility gene implicated in both familial and sporadic breast cancers. The mechanisms controlling BRCA1 expression are poorly understood. We will identify DNA sequences critical for regulation of the BRCA1 gene. We hypothesise that these regions are mutational hot spots conferring an increased breast cancer risk. A better understanding of the pathways responsible for promoting BRCA1-associated breast cancer will provide important diagnostic and treatment targets.