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18 October 2007
Research Grants Edition
The Australian Research Council has announced
the winners of its 2007National Competitive Grants. Below are those
projects which will contribute to the national research priority of
Safeguarding Australia. It is important to note that the funding figures
may underestimate the actual project budgets as they do not include
the projects' industry contributions.
- Linkage grants
- Nanotechnology‑Enhanced Vaccines: New inulin bioconjugates to defeat global pandemic threats
- Can and should we link data at a national level? Vaccine safety surveillance: A case study
- Discovery Projects
- Microfluidic device for microbial separation and concentration
- Terrorism, Pandemic Influenza, and Global Warming: Future Conceptualisations and Societal Resilience
- Quantifying the adaptive immune response
- Containing H5N1: the role of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and East Asian states
- Extreme weather and population health in Australia: risk assessment, prediction of health impacts and disease burden, and adaptive strategy exploration
- A high performance and environment‑friendly piezoelectric detector platform for biosensor applications
- Intelligent Image Processing Techniques for Novel Biomarker Discovery
Nanotechnology‑Enhanced Vaccines: New inulin bioconjugates to defeat global pandemic threats
2008: $ 45,000
2009: $ 45,000
2010: $ 45,000
Collaborating/Partner Organisation(s) Vaxine Pty Ltd
Administering Organisation The Flinders University of South Australia
Researchers Dr M Ginic‑Markovic; Prof JG Matisons; Prof N Petrovsky; Dr PD Cooper
Project Summary
Inulin‑based adjuvants have the potential to revolutionise the vaccine arena; man's critical first line of defence against infectious disease. Any breakthrough in developing completely safe new adjuvants, will therefore be of major global significance, and will play a vital role in the maintenance of global health for decades. New and completely safe vaccine adjuvants are a vital step in the development of improved vaccine technology in the 21st century. This project addresses two National Research Priorities, Namely Promoting and Maintaining Good Health and Safeguarding Australia. On commercialization, this will then be an important Australian contribution towards protecting the nation against any future pandemic outbreaks.
Can and should we link data at a national level? Vaccine safety surveillance: A case study
2008: $ 165,154
2009: $ 146,254
2010: $ 142,824
Collaborating/Partner Organisation(s) NSW Department of Health, Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU), Department of Health SA, Royal Children's Hospital
Administering Organisation The University of Adelaide
Researchers Dr MS Gold; A/Prof AJ Braunack‑Mayer; A/Prof P Ryan; Prof CA Gericke; Prof JJ McNeil; Dr CJ Freemantle; Prof CJ Thomson; Dr EE Roughead; Dr LK Taylor; Prof E Elliott; Dr DR Filby; Dr JP Buttery
Project Summary
This project provides many benefits for the community, exploring the legal and ethical issues around consent for data linkage, convening Citizens' Juries to weigh the evidence and make recommendations. It addresses National Research Priorities: Promoting and Maintaining Good Health and Safeguarding Australia as well as National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy priorities. It uses vaccine safety surveillance as a case study to evaluate the effectiveness of data linkage (through linking Commonwealth immunisation data to state hospital data) and the methodologies and lessons learnt from cross jurisdictional data linkage can be transferred to other areas.
Project Summary
This project will enhance Australia's capabilities and presence in the rapidly expanding field of chemical and biological analysis systems on a chip. We will develop and build handheld devices for microbial concentration that will facilitate earlier and easier detection of potentially pathogenic organisms in critical situations such as epidemiological crises or forensics. The portability and ease of operation of our integrated microfluidic devices and their increased resilience to blockages make them ideal for use in remote areas and non‑laboratory settings. Application areas will include disease detection, microbial contamination in food industries and water quality monitoring.
Project Summary
Understanding the potential and actual impact of mass adversity on individual and societal resilience and conceptualisation of the future will help improve the preparedness, response, and recovery by emergency workers, individuals, and society to these events. Guiding likely individual and social behaviours at an appropriate time will help to avoid or mitigate negative social, economic, and health impacts. Studying Bali survivors will lead to an understanding of how their experiences and recoveries have impacted their behaviours and perception of the future, and will identify the most effective professional and community responses to future threat.
Quantifying the adaptive immune response
2008: $ 78,648
2009: $ 78,648
2010: $ 78,648
Administering Organisation The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Researcher Mr M Dowling
Project Summary
The aim of this project is to develop mathematical models and computer software capable of predicting immune responses in infection and disease. The ability to predict immune responses should allow better vaccine design and better understanding of what causes the immune system to attack its own body, causing autoimmune disease, or fail to respond, causing immunodeficiency. The models and software will also be applicable to other areas of cell biology, such as describing growth and development. Thus, this project will lead to advances in understanding of fundamental biology, as well as potential improvements in treatments for a range of diseases.
Project Summary
International cooperation through the World Health Organisation (WHO) is seen as a primary defence mechanism for protecting countries from the spread of infectious diseases. By studying the efficacy of WHO's mechanisms for forging international cooperation, this project will provide new insight on the effectiveness of international measures for preventing the spread of infectious disease and the possibilities for improving those measures. A pandemic influenza would have a devastating impact on Australia. With the threat of H5N1 becoming a pandemic influenza, the possible failure of cooperation between states and WHO makes this study of crucial importance to the Australian government.
Extreme weather and population health in Australia: risk assessment, prediction of health impacts and disease burden, and adaptive strategy exploration
2008: $ 70,000
2009: $ 56,899
2010: $ 62,586
Administering Organisation The University of Adelaide
Researchers Dr P Bi; A/Prof P Ryan; Prof P Weinstein; A/Prof DL Pisaniello; Prof KA Parton; Mr JR Moss; A/Prof AJ Braunack‑Mayer
Project Summary
This is the first systematic assessment of the effect of heatwaves on daily mortality/hospitalisations/emergency department visits/ambulance callouts, and the burden of disease due to climate change in major Australian cities. It will explore relevant health specific adaptation strategies. The results will help relevant government agencies with policy‑making, such as public service and resource allocation, infrastructure establishment, disaster prevention and response, including establishing the national heatwaves response system. They will help relevant industry for their adaptation to climate change, i.e. aged care industries. The results will also benefit local communities with their attention and behaviour changes for climate change.
Project Summary
The development of high performance, lead‑free, piezoelectric films and their incorporation into devices is rapidly becoming an urgent task as a result of recent legislation banning the use of lead in electronic components. The successful development of piezoelectric biosensors, as proposed in this project, has numerous potential benefits including the prospect of rapid and cheap biosensor devices as well as an environment‑friendly, sensitive and real time solution for on‑site drug, chemical and biological sensing. Successful development of the latter would provide immediate benefit in the areas of national security, food safety as well as in environmental and health monitoring.
Intelligent Image Processing Techniques for Novel Biomarker Discovery
2008: $ 85,000
2009: $ 85,000
2010: $ 80,000
Administering Organisation James Cook University
Researchers A/Prof TD Pham; Dr X Zhou; Prof H Yan; A/Prof DI Crane
Project Summary
This project will make an impact on Australia's international research profile by seeking a solution to a worldwide challenging problem in biomarker discovery for the detection of diseases at an early stage which requires the incorporation of the skills and knowledge from biology, medicine, engineering, computer science, and information technology. The successful outcomes of this research will make an impact on Australia's engagement in using advanced image analysis and intelligent methods for the emerging research and development of targeted drug discovery.
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