Research Projects
Securing the frontline for health secure communities (Old ID 26522)
Maxine Whittaker
01 Aug 2020 - 31 Dec 2023
The aim is to build capacity to detect/respond to infectious disease outbreaks through frontline public health (human and animal) workforce which includes community members, volunteers, community health workers, environmental health workers, biosecurity and environmental officers and primary health care staff. This will be achieved through: Strengthened capability at community/primary care levels to anticipate outbreaks; Improved response at early stages of potential outbreaks; A quality timely and thorough response to outbreaks at the frontline level ; An operational learning and feedback process for continued improvement and currency of detection of and response to infectious diseases outbreaks.
Pathogen Genomics North Queensland (Old ID 26564)
Emma McBryde
03 Jul 2019 - 03 Dec 2020
This project will develop pathogen genomics to improve time to best treatment of serious infectious diseases. We aim to incorporate pathogen genomics into the workflow of clinical microbiology units in regional Queensland Health Hospitals for investigation of potential or known infectious disease.
Development of disulfide-rich peptides for drug design (Old ID 19353)
Norelle Daly
01 Mar 2012 - 31 Dec 2016
Peptides are an outstanding source of potential drug candidates for therapeutic applications because of their potency and specificity for a range of different drug targets. However, the inherent poor stability of peptides limits their application. This project seeks to overcome this limitation by using tightly folded scaffolds, such as those found in the venom of spiders and scorpions, to improve stability. It is anticipated that these studies will significantly expand the potential of peptides as therapeutics. In particular, peptide-based drug leads for cancer and autoimmune diseases will be explored because of the enormous impact they have on health care in Australia and the urgent need for more effective treatments.
2014 Archaeological Excavation & Training Project, MMG-LXML, Lao PDR (Old ID 21821)
Nigel Chang
30 Sep 2014 - 31 Dec 2019
This project is a continuation of an ongoing collaboration, under the terms of an MOU (that is in its 3rd iteration) between JCU, the Lao Dept, of National Heritage and MMG-LXML to conduct archaeological excavations on archaeological sites threatened by modern mining practices. These projects also include an element of training and capacity building with Government staff (at National, Provincial and District levels) and students from the National University of Laos. Finally, the offer an important opportunity for JCU students to gain experience in the industry environment.
The Deep History of Sea Country: climate, sea level and culture (Old ID 22582)
Sean Ulm
15 Feb 2017 - 14 Feb 2020
This is a pioneering, multi-disciplinary study of submerged landscape archaeology in Australia designed to investigate the records of the now-submerged Pilbara coast (spanning 50,000 to 7000 years ago). Information from drowned contexts will help address critical debates in Australian prehistory relating to past sea-level rise, population resilience, mobility, and diet. The project integrates cultural and environmental studies and contributes a unique southern hemisphere insight into world prehistory through material analysis and an adaptation of method from the world’s only confirmed submarine middens. A suite of cutting edge marine and aerial survey techniques will be developed to investigate physical and cultural submerged landscapes.
Joint Huawei-JCU Internet of Things Laboratory (Old ID 23113)
Wei Xiang
19 Dec 2016 - 31 Dec 2021
To enable the collaboration on opportunities that include: a) establishing a joint Huawei-JCU Internet of Things (loT) Laboratory: b) use the joint loT Lab to promote strong academic-industry collaboration; leveraging on Australia's first loT Engineering degree program run by JCU etc.
Pre-clinical development of a liver fluke growth factor for treating non-healing wounds (Old ID 23529)
Alex Loukas
01 Aug 2017 - 30 Jun 2020
This research proposal aims to develop more effective treatments for wound healing, improving treatment options for diabetic patients in Australia and eventually worldwide. This is likely to alleviate suffering from the disease and also decrease the AUD$3.6 billion financial burden of diabetic wound ulcers on the healthcare system. Although we showed that the liver fluke granulin protein has wound healing properties, it is difficult to produce in recombinant form. We have now developed a minimized version of granulin and produce it as a synthetic peptide that when applied topically displays wound-healing properties as potent as the full-length protein. Using the peptide as a topical agent is ideal because it capitalizes on the potency and specificity often associated with peptide-based drugs but does not require the high levels of bioavailability necessary for orally administered drugs. Our research will also provide advances in the field regarding the structure and folding of Ov-GRN-1, which will be of significant interest to researchers working specifically on growth factors and more broadly for those working on disulphide-rich peptides and proteins. Moreover, we believe that our decision to be guided in drug discovery by millennia of host-parasite coevolution will ensure that the most efficacious and safe drugs are identified and developed.
Application of new prawn viral strain and prevalence data to determine viral infection risk (Old ID 24887)
Dean Jerry
05 Mar 2018 - 05 Mar 2019
The project will monitor the presence and viral load of a number of endemic prawn viruses in farmed prawns collected at Seafarm. The data collected will be used to prepare evidence based management protocols to improve biosecurity management on the farm.
GBR Coral Replenishment (Old ID 26328)
Terry Hughes
01 Jan 2019 - 01 Dec 2024
This funding will be used to support our research on the capacity of coral reefs to cope with climate change. Specifically, in 2019 we will examine the rate of coral replenishment along the length of the Great Barrier Reef, in the aftermath of the two bleaching events in 2016 and 2017. The objective is to compare stock-recruitment relationships today with earlier, to better understand the recoverability of reefs.
Improving coral condition through better-informed resilience-based management (Old ID 26962)
Catherine Collier
01 Jan 2020 - 10 Dec 2020
Resilience-based management and integrated monitoring and reporting through the Reef Integrated Monitoring and Reporting (RIMRep) program are key initiatives for managing the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) ecosystem. A wide range of NESP TWQ Hub projects have focused on resilience-based management and decision making for maintaining and improving coral reef condition in the GBR. These projects directly contribute to the goals outlined in the Great Barrier Reef Blueprint for Resilience (2017) and support the development of RIMRep. Many of these research investments are in direct response to the 2016-17 mass thermal bleaching events. This synthesis will bring together the learnings of many research projects and initiatives driven by the same goals into a succinct coherent story.