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Taking the jab (and the chill) out of vaccination
A team led by Associate Professor John Miles from James Cook University and Cardiff University’s Professor Andrew Sewell describe how they engineered a new vaccine production platform and built a fully synthetic prototype flu vaccine. The vaccine, which did not require refrigeration and could be taken orally, was proven successful in protecting mice from a potentially lethal dose of swine flu, and also worked on human cells when tested in the laboratory.
Find out more
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AITHM's Research Output Snapshot
January to July 2018
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Recently Awarded
July - Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation
Influence of maternal pathogen infections in the composition of the infant gut microbiome and immune health
Funding: $5,000
The aim of this project is to understand how pathogen infections modify maternal microbiome and shape bacterial colonization in children. The influence of the microbiome on immune system maturation in infants directly impacts on pathogen susceptibility and persistence.
Chief Investigators: Severine Navarro, Paul Horwood and Andrew Greenhill (Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine and Federation University)
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June - NHMRC - Centres of Research Excellence
Australian Partnership (for) Preparedness Research on Infectious (disease) Emergencies (APPRISE)
Funding: $20,000 over 5 years, administered by University of Melbourne
To ensure national and regional health security, emergency responses to infectious diseases must be highly effective, coordinated and based on the best available evidence. Research coordination, adaptable research protocols and efficient, secure data sharing are needed to develop a strong evidence base for preparedness, response and recovery from such events. This national consortium, with engagement of key animal health, community and international collaborators will focus on the major infectious diseases threats including influenza, coronaviruses, haemorrhagic viral diseases, arboviruses, syndromic presentations of novel pathogens and antimicrobial resistance. JCU involvement is through Prof. Ritchie and Peter Massey who are AIs on the project, offering advice. No funds are provided to JCU.
Chief Investigators: Sharon Lewin, Tania Sorrell, Jodie McVernon, Steve Webb, John Kaldor, Ross Andrews, Allen Cheng, Gwendolyn Gilbert, David Smith, Soren Alexandersen and Scott Ritchie with the help of Peter Massey (The University of Melbourne, Westmead Millennium Institute, The University of Western Australia, The University of New South Wales, Menzies School of Health Research, Monash University, The University of Sydney, PathWest Laboratory Medicine, Deakin University, College of Public Health, Medical & Vet Sciences and College of Medicine & Dentistry)
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June - ParaGen Bio Pty Ltd
Funding: $698,763
The first tranche of funding will support the first 6 months of a two-year development program to (1) generate a novel biologic for the treatment of inflammation, and (2) create a pipeline of related biologics with distinct MoAs and potentially for use in different indications. At the completion of the 2 year program we anticipate the lead biologic will be at a stage that is ready to commence a pilot clinical trial. The first tranche will specifically fund: (1) pre-clinical development of hookworm AIP proteins and peptides as the therapeutics for colitis; and (2) develop a pipeline of new hookworm-derived therapeutics for treating inflammation.
Chief Investigators: Alex Loukas, John Miles, Paul Giacomin and Norelle Daly with the help of Darren Pickering, Roland Ruscher, Stephanie Ryan and Geraldine Buitrago (Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine)
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May - Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation
Field collection of the Irukandji jellyfish Carukia barnesi for venom extraction to facilitate future advances in toxicology research
Funding: $5,000
Access to venom for experimentation is a major factor that impedes toxicology research on Irukandji jellyfish. This project proposes to collect approximately 100 Irukandji jellyfish from the Cairns region, to be used for venom extraction, which will be utilised in ongoing toxicology research.
Chief Investigator: Robert Courtney (Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine)
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May - Queensland Health
Developing a companion handbook to the Midwifery Continuity of Care Handbook
Funding: $10,200 administered by Griffith University
A number of cost modelling examples will be produced that will assist service managers to identify the cost benefits that can be realised with redesign that are relevant in their service setting. These may be unique / dependent on service setting, volume, maternal demographic, health issues, resourcing requirements and funding model.
Chief Investigators: Roslyn Donnellan-Fernandez, Emily Callander and Hazel Brittain (Griffith University, Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine and Gold Coast Hospital)
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In recognition of the impact of suicide on every Australian, the Australian Government has dedicated $12million to the establishment of the first National Suicide Prevention Research Fund (SPRF). The world-first fund is designed to provide sustainable financial support for Australian suicide prevention research and ensure outcomes have the greatest impact by addressing nationally agreed priorities.
Fogarty International Centre – Advancing Science for Global Health
Numerous funding opportunities are currently available from the link below.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Scientist Travelling Research Award
Applications close on 9:00AM Friday 27th July 2018
NHMRC
Targeted call for research into Healthy Ageing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples - $5m funding available.
Open for Submissions in RGMS: 20 June 2018
Minimum data due in RGMS*: 15 August 2018
Close of Submissions in RGMS: 12 September 2018
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NEWS
National Healthy Skin Guideline – Now live!
Louis Schofield was a part of the team that generated the National Healthy Skin Guideline.
Stories Gaining Traction
July – Kyran Staunton reached over 33 news outlets online and offline with - “Dengue, Zika, and yellow fever could soon be a thing of the past.”
June – Richard Franklin and Amy Penden reached over 15 news outlets online and offline with “JCU study on drinking and swimming/river use.”
May – Maxine Whittaker’s piece in The Conversation reached 5 news outlets online with “Villages wiped out: why infectious diseases are so much more harmful to isolated peoples”
WATCH THIS SPACE
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AITHM @ 1st Malaria World Congress
1st September 2018 - 5th September 2018
TheatreGoldfields Melbourne
AITHM had the privilege to participate and sponsor the final session of the First Malaria World Congress. See session detail below.
Moving Towards Elimination and Eradication - Roadmap for the future
Chair: Norman Swan
Facilitator: Dr Norman Swan, ABC
Panelists:
- Dr Winnie Mpanju-Shumbusho, Board Chair, RBM Partnership to End Malaria
- Peter Sands, The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria
- Olivia Ngou Zangue, Deputy Director Africa, Malaria No More
- Prof Brendan Murphy, Australian Government Chief Medical Officer
- Philip Welkhoff, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Kenneth Staley, Global Malaria Coordinator, United States President’s Malaria Initiative
- Ray Nishimoto, Representative Director & Senior Managing Executive Officer, Sumitomo Chemical
Congress Statement Announcement - A/Prof Helen Evans AO, Nossal Institute for Global Health and Burnet Institute
Keynote Closing - Prof Brendan Crabb AC, Burnet Institute |
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AITHM @ Inspiration on Tap
Associate Professor Jamie Seymour presented at the JCU Discover event in Cairns. Inspiring North Queenslanders to understand the most venomous creatures on earth – many found in our region - and how they can kill you in more than one way.
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AITHM @ Pint of Science
Dr Joseph Moxon raised a glass and delivered an interesting tall to Townsville Locals on ‘What is PAD?’ For diseases that affects up to a quarter of the adult population, peripheral artery disease (PAD) is surprisingly neglected. He discussed some of the ongoing work to improve patient care and wellbeing.
Dr Aya Taki shed some light on the allergy capital of the world – Australia. There are no cure for food allergies, so we all need to be aware. Aya will talked about the complexities of food allergies, and the vital work of the scientists at James Cook University.
A/Prof Jamie Seymour Most venomous animals have the ability to kill you in more than just one way. These can vary from attacking your heart, your nervous system or your blood through to turning you into a zombie.
Professor Scott Ritchie The insecticidal dengue control method has been challenged by releases of mosquitoes. Cairns leads the way, with two programs that use the bacteria Wolbachia to either prevent dengue transmission or get rid of the mozzie all together.
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Professor Denise Doolan
A welcome to Professor Denise Doolan to the role of Deputy Director of AITHM. Denise will undertake the Deputy Director role on a 0.2 FTE basis in addition to her roles as Professorial Research Fellow – Infectious Diseases Immunology and Director of JCU’s Centre for Molecular Therapeutics. Denise has been appointed to the Deputy Director role following a call for expressions of interest from AITHM senior researchers.
Denise joined AITHM in 2016 from her previous position as Department Coordinator – Biology and Group Leader at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. Denise’s research focuses on developing novel immunotherapeutics and immunodiagnostics for complex pathogens that cause chronic diseases, using malaria as a model. Much of her career has focused on malaria immunology and vaccine development and more recently she has moved into the area that intersects infectious and chronic disease with a particular focus on molecular immunology, human models of disease, and large metric data sets.
Professor Doolan succeeds Professor Maxine Whittaker as AITHM Deputy Director. Our thanks go to Professor Whittaker for her valuable contribution in supporting the development of AITHM through a period of considerable growth. Maxine provided valuable clarity across the broad remit of Tropical Health and Medicine in various representative leadership positions on behalf of AITHM. Her participation on various panels, Boards, Government and NGO’s, Institutions and collaborating partners helped elevate AITHM’s reputation externally and she brought her substantial experience and skills to the management and leadership of AITHM.
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Leyde Brinceno
Leyde Briceno has joined the OHS team as Research Officer at AITHM in Mackay. Leyde previously held a position as a lecturer and researcher at the National Institute of Bioengineering (Central University of Venezuela). She has a strong background in biomedical and biomechanical modelling, and developed sophisticated algorithms and software of parts and organs of the human body. Leyde was a chief investigator in several competitive funding research projects in Venezuela.
This role will participate in fundamental and translational research projects aimed at developing a Centre for Occupational Health and Safety research as a part of AITHM, collaborating with the Mackay Institute of Research and Innovation (MIRI).
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Dr Roland Rusher
Dr Rusher will be working on the Paragen Bio project. Roland completed his undergraduate and MSc degrees at University of Cologne in Germany and obtained his PhD from the University of Queensland working with Prof Ranjeny Thomas. Roland then did his postdoctoral work with Prof Kristin Hogquist at University of Minnesota in the US.
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Ms Kim Miles
Has come on board this year as a Research Assistant and will be working with Professor Alex Loukas team on the Paragen Bio project. Kim completed her BSc Hons at University of Queensland and has worked as a research assistant at the IMB (UQ), Mater Medical Research Institute, Cardiff University in Wales and most recently at QIMR Berghofer with Prof Mark Smyth.
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Dr Ashely Waardenberg
Dr Waardenberg is a post-doctoral researcher who completed his PhD (Bioinformatics /Systems Biology) jointly at Griffith/CSIRO developing software VMus3D for visualising gene expression data. He was previously a research fellow at the European Biology Molecular Laboratory (EMBL, Germany), studying the effect of natural sequence variation on developmental biology networks using genomics approaches. Before this, he was a bioinformatics researcher with at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (VCCRI, Australia) and the Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI, Australia).
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Ingrid Wise
Ingrid has completed a PhD at Federation University, VIC, following a Bachelor of Biomedical Science (Hons). She brings a wealth of expertise in epigenomics, genomics, transcriptomics and bioinformatics, as well as project management of genomics-based and industry-funded clinical research studies. Ingrid has a keen interest in chronic and infectious diseases. She is joining us a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Doolan group (Infectious Diseases Immunology) working on systems immunology of malaria.
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Jasmine Bell
Jasmine Bell has joined AITHM as a casual Project Office for the Tropical Partnership Project, working with Emma McBryde’s team, at the Townsville Campus. Jasmine has extensive experience in administration positions and will be responsible for the administration and coordination of project components for the Tropical Partnership Project.
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Grace Stanton
Grace Stanton has joined the AIHTM team in Townsville as the new Communication / Administration Officer. Grace has been with JCU since 2015 in various roles within the Biomedicine and brings a wealth of knowledge into this new role.
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Samantha Nightingale
Samantha has joined the Mackay OHS team in Mackay as Administration Officer. Sam has extensive experience in administration positions and will be providing administrative support to Associate Professor Gunther Paul and his team.
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2018 Seminar Series
Natural Killer Cells in Cancer Immunotherapy
Associate Professor Nicholas Huntington
Tuesday 24th July 2018 1:00PM - 2:00PM Cairns
The AITHM Seminar Series is focused on the exchange of research in the field of tropical health and medicine and we are calling for suggestions for potential seminar speakers for 2018.
Information on how to nominate a speaker for the AITHM Seminar Series is available here. |
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In short...
Have something you want to share? Send your stories to aithm@jcu.edu.au |
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