Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine
Michael Smout
- Senior Research Fellow
- michael.smout@jcu.edu.au
Socorro Miranda-Hernandez
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- socorro.mirandahernandez1@jcu.edu.au
Andreas Kupz
- Professorial Research Fellow
- andreas.kupz@jcu.edu.au
Petrina Johnson
- Postdoctoral Scientist
- petrina.johnson@jcu.edu.au
Robyn McDermott
- Adjunct Professor
- robyn.mcdermott@jcu.edu.au
Norelle Daly
- Professorial Research Fellow
- norelle.daly@jcu.edu.au
Farouq Sharifpour
- Adjunct Research Fellow
- farouq.sharifpour@jcu.edu.au
Alec Henderson
- Adjunct Research Fellow
- alec.henderson@jcu.edu.au
Ana Maria Valencia Hernandez
- Adjunct Research Associate
- ana.valenciahernandez@jcu.edu.au
Guangzu Zhao
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- guangzu.zhao@jcu.edu.au
Forecasting of Vector Borne Diseases (VBD) Capability Development for Improve Deployed Force Planning (Old ID 27925)
This research project will utilise existing data on vector trapping, weather and disease prevalence to provide capability for outbreak detection and forecasting that are relevant to both military and civilian settings. Thus, we aim that this project will deliver a VB disease surveillance and forecasting system that is capable of: • Incorporating lessons from COVID-19 pandemic responses in coordinating smooth data fusion techniques in gathering VB health data applicable to military and civilian settings. • Extend existing model on ento-epidemiological and climate models, fusing the two models to understand the dynamics of both vector and diseases in region of interest. • Adopt Pypfilt/EpiFX for forecasting and parameter estimation for VB diseases (currently only used for COVID-19). This is to help inform the commander in understanding the risk of VBD to members at AO.
Tropical Disease - Immunity, pathogenesis and vaccine development: global translation (Old ID 20729)
Tropical diseases create a significant human and economic burden worldwide - particularly in resource-poor settings. Around half of the world's population is at risk of malaria. In Australia, Streptococcal and parasitic worm infections are particularly common in indigenous communities. This Program brings together leading experts to tackle these major health challenges. They are investigating how the body reacts to infection and creating new drugs and vaccines to eradicate these diseases.
Traditional Bush Foods in the Top End - Can they prevent chronic disease? (Old ID 26561)
This project will document the traditional uses of 9 key plants sold by the Corporation in Maningrida (with ethnobotanists from the NT Herbarium), perform a detailed analysis of their nutrient profile including phenolic and flavonoid content and anti-oxidant analysis with UniSA scientists.
Principal Research Fellowship (Old ID 19984)
My expertise is in the area of host-parasite interactions with a particular focus on the molecular basis of the interactions between helminth parasites of humans and host tissues. I use genomic and proteomic approaches to characterise the parasite secretome and the impact of these proteins on host tissues and immune responses. A major focus is in the development of antigen discovery approaches to aid the discovery and development of anthelmintic vaccines.
Development of a T cell based vaccine against malaria from proteome-wide T cell screening (Old ID 27815)
This proposal is targeting the development of a malaria vaccine that induced robust and protective T cell responses against the liver stage of the Plasmodium parasite. From the complete P. falciparum pre-erythrocytic (sporozoite/liver) stage proteome, we will identify, characterize, and credential priority antigens discovered by proteome-based T cell screening; and will progress protective antigens through preclinical development to provide a vaccine candidate capable of inducing robust and sustained protective immunity against malaria.
Tropical partnerships to strengthen health systems responses to infectious diseases threats (Old ID 23015)
The Asia Pacific Region is facing frequent threats from emerging and existing infectious diseases. The capacity to mount a timely effective response is compromised in poorly functioning health systems seen in parts of the region. The resulting vulnerability affects the whole region, including Australia. Strengthening capacity to prepare and respond to these threats is thus a shared responsibility. This proposal aims to tackle the problem through collaboration with institutions, researchers and policy makers across the region, building on long held partnerships.
Personal Protective Biosystems - Membranes and commensal helminths (MaCH) (Old ID 26776)
The proposed work will design a 2-part protective biosystem capable of dramatically reducing the burden of personal protective equipmetn (PPE). The first component consists of a garmetn system with a dynamic, selectively permeable graphene composite barrier laqyer and integrated self-cleaning functionality provided by metal oranic frameworks. The sedon component (including work to be done at JCU) leverages genetic modification of human helminth parasites (hookworms and/or schistosomes) to provide prophylaxis and neutralisation of various chemical and/or biological agents.
Exploiting a wound healing helminth granulin protein to treat diabetic ulcers (Old ID 22939)
Exploiting a wound healing helminth granulin protein to treat diabetic ulcers. It is estimated that 1.7 million Australians have diabetes and 100,000 are newly diagnosed every year. Of these diabetes pateients15% will suffer from non-healing wounds that cost on average $21,480 per patient per wound. I have shown a helminth protein names granulin, from the liver fluke Opisthorchis viverinni might hold the key to developing a highly efficacious wound-healing agent. I aim to evaluate fragments of this granulin protein for wound healing potential. This granulin treatment has the potential to alleviate suffering from diabetic wounds and decrease the AUD$14.6 billion burden of diabetics on the healthcare system.
SAPOT Clinical Trial: Treatment in pregnancy to prevent malaria (Old ID 30066)
The project aims to provide the Papua New Guinea National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) and WHO with evidence to determine whether monthly intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp) with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) plus dihydroartemsinin-piperaquine (DP) is a safe and efficacious alternative to the current strategy of IPTp with SP to control malaria infection in pregnant women and improve birth outcomes.
Allocative efficiency modelling to support National TB programs (Old ID 25074)
Tuberculosis (TB) has now been unequivocally identified as the world's leading infectious killer, with global control failing to make significant inroads into the huge burden of disease. TB in Australia is driven by this huge global burden, with around 60% of all TB cases occurring in our region and nearly 90% of Australia's cases occurring in the overseas born. Our group has an established track record of undertaking country-level simulations to better understand TB epidemiology and predict the effectiveness of programmatic interventions in the local context. These applications are linked to a program of theoretical and epidemiological research to improve understanding of TB transmission and strengthen model underpinnings. Recently, we have been working to develop our model into a flexible and robust platform by using principles of software engineering, including object-oriented and modular programming. This approach allows rapid adaptation of our tool ("AuTuMN") to new objectives without the need to modify many of the constituent modules. In this project, we will extend the AuTuMN structures to undertake country implementations in up to six additional countries, funded by The Global Fund Against AIDS, Malaria and tuberculosis (TGF). These countries are: Myanmar Timor L'este The Kingdom of Bhutan Cambodia The Philippines Sri Lanka This RFAF is an indicative budget, as airfares and other direct costs will only be paid upon submission of receipts. Additionally, TGF produces contracts in US dollar amounts so amounts below are subject to change. Which of the above countries elect to undertake this work has not yet been determineJCU will administer the grant but University of Melbourne and Monash University will send invoices for work undertaken as part of this grant.
Spontaneous fermentation of traditional sago starch in Papua New Guinea
- 2009
- Academic Press
- Researchers:Andreas KupzJeffrey Warner
Role for MyD88, TLR2 and TLR9 but not TLR1, TLR4 or TLR6 in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis
- 2011
- American Association of Immunologists
- Researchers:Socorro Miranda-Hernandez
Immature murine NKT cells pass through a stage of developmentally programmed innate IL-4 secretion
- 2012
- Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
- Researchers:Socorro Miranda-Hernandez
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AITHM - Scientist for a Day
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