Murdoch researchers have won major grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council to pursue improved management of lung disease in cystic fibrosis and the accurate identification and treatment of blood infections among patients.

Progressive lung disease – which is characterised by inflammation and infection of the lungs – is common among kids with cystic fibrosis and commences soon after birth. 

Murdoch University’s Premier Professional Fellow of Phenomics and Director of Systems Medicine, Professor Elaine Holmes, is part of a team that has won funding for new research into the disease with the goal of developing better treatment and prevention of irreversible lung disease.

The funding is part of the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Synergy grant scheme, aimed at encouraging innovation and creativity in research. 

“Ultimately, it is anticipated that every individual with cystic fibrosis will have some form of modulator therapy available to them,” Prof. Holmes said. 

“Deep molecular characterisation of these patients will enable new biochemical pathways involved in the disease to be identified.”

The research group, which is being led by Telethon Kids Institute respiratory researcher and Perth Children’s Hospital clinician, Professor Steve Stick, will undertake a comprehensive assessment of kids with cystic fibrosis – tracking disease progression and identifying targets for intervention.

“The outcomes will provide the global cystic fibrosis community with the information required to assess the risks and benefits of early therapy and the development of a personalised approach to early intervention,” Prof. Stick said.

The second National Health and Medical Research Council grant involving Murdoch researchers is aimed at addressing the urgent need to develop new ways of diagnosing sepsis, the bacterial infection of blood.  

Sepsis is a common cause of disease in babies and adults that remains difficult to diagnose and treat. Current tests are too slow and often misdiagnose patients. 

Murdoch Senior Lecturer in Immunology, Dr Andrew Currie, is leading a team to develop new methods to rapidly and accurately diagnose the infection. 

Infections remain a major cause of illness and death in vulnerable patients, even in developed nations such as Australia, and we have much to learn about treating serious infections,” Dr Currie said.

“This starts with improving the diagnostic tools for infections such as those that cause sepsis – you can’t understand a disease and learn to fight it if you can’t first identify and diagnose it.”

“We have developed two new molecular tests that each improve sepsis diagnosis. We now want to combine these tests into a single test and optimise this to work in hospital laboratories,” Dr Currie explained.

Once optimised, the final test will be evaluated using standard hospital laboratory equipment by Dr Garth Maker at Murdoch University and Dr Stacey Reinke at ECU.

“Such an outcome would improve patient clinical outcomes and has much potential for reducing the human and economic burden associated with sepsis.”

A third grant involves Murdoch’s Dr Joel Gummer, Analytical Specialist at the Australian National Phenome Centre, who is part of a team that’s won funding to trial a new synthetic antimicrobial peptide to treat sepsis in preterm infants. 

If successful, the research will develop into clinical trials that may deliver a substantial shift in the care of newborn infants by removing the need for prophylactic antibiotics. 

“The impact of this change has extremely significant implications for the preterm infant in terms of reducing unnecessary exposure to antibiotics and consequent disruption of the microbiome,” Dr Gummer explained.

“A key innovative component of our proposal is the focus on enteral rather than intravenous administration. This represents the least invasive route for therapy.”

The three projects continue Murdoch’s work to deliver ground-breaking health and medical research that informs better treatments, diagnosis and care for the local and global community.