ARC grants to help fight against bacterial infection
Two Discovery Grants from the Australian Research Council (ARC) will help Sydney researchers develop novel new ways of protecting against dangerous bacterial infection.
The ARC will provide funding of $300 000 to assist research at the University of New South Wales investigating the possibility of disrupting chemical communication in bacteria as a new way to fight infection. Research at Macquarie University seeking to develop new and natural methods to protect humans and animals against pathogens – before they invade the body – will receive $320 000.
According to the researchers, serious health problems caused by pathogenic microorganisms are in sharp increase due to an aging population, escalating numbers of immunocompromised people and the increased resistance of microorganisms to currently available antibiotics.
Professor Mark Willcox, Chief Scientific Officer at the Institute for Eye Research, and a member of both project teams, says that due to the increased application of antibiotics for disease control, many pathogenic bacteria have developed resistance to existing treatments. He says, “The infections associated with these resistant bacteria incur a high cost in human health, well-being and health care, so we need to develop new antimicrobials that act differently.”
The ARC grants will also lead to broader economic and educational benefits according to Professor Willcox. “The ARC grants will support research that aims to not only yield health care improvements in this area but also provide an important opportunity for postgraduate researchers to engage in novel multidisciplinary research and potentially lead to significant economic gains for Australia,” he says.
“The commercial possibilities for new and natural antimicrobials are present in both the health and agricultural sectors in Australia and abroad. The technologies used and further developed will serve as a state-of-the-art training ground for the next generation of postgraduate students, encompassing the integration of genomics, proteomics, chemistry, microbiology and glycomics technologies”.
The Australian Government’s ARC Discovery Projects scheme provides funding to support fundamental research that will expand Australia's knowledge base and research capability, foster the international competitiveness of Australian research and encourage research training in high-quality research environments.
