A UQ project to find and study the genes that control whether an embryo develops as a male or a female has attracted $720,000 funding in the latest Federal Government round.
The project also studies the genes that are responsible for proper development of the gonads, organs that control an individual’s sexual development.
The project headed by Dr Josephine Bowles and Professor Peter Koopman of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) attracted the most funding among UQ grant recipients this week in the competitive National Health and Medical Research Council round.
UQ attracted a total $12.8 million for 37 projects in the National Health and Medical Research Council Project Grant round for 2003.
This was the third highest nationally and the top Queensland recipient. Nationally, more than $150 million was awarded for 406 projects, and in Queensland $21.85 million was awarded to 58 projects.
Dr Bowles said it was thought that a genetic chain of events was important for gonadal development. The project aims to find the missing links of that chain and to work out how they fit together, as well as how genetic defects can lead to disorders of sexual development.
“Defects in sexual development in the human embryo not only result in some of the most common forms of birth defects but also have profound physiological and psychosexual ramification for the afflicted individuals,” Dr Bowles said. “A fuller understanding of the causes of these defects is expected to lead to improved patient management.”
Professor Greg Seymour of the School of Dentistry will investigate a novel mechanism for the association between gum infection and heart disease in a $585,000 project.
Team member and heart researcher Professor Malcolm West of the School of Medicine said the project followed from earlier studies which showed that people with periodontal or gum infection, had a higher risk of heart disease.
“Vice-versa, people with heart attacks have a higher prevalence of periodontal disease,” he said.
“As both conditions are common in the community, we don’t know whether this is just by chance or whether there is a real link.
“The project aims to find proof for the hypothesis that the infection that causes gum disease is a trigger or seed for atherosclerosis, or coronary heart disease.”
Professor West said the grant would enable researchers to study the mechanisms supporting the hypothesis that gum infection created antibodies which reacted with proteins in the blood vessels, causing areas of inflammation.
Funding will enable basic laboratory work and further clinical studies associating the two illnesses. Researchers will also investigate whether the treatment of gum disease reduces the risk of heart attack.
Professor Brandon Wainwright, Deputy Director (Research) of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience heads a project which has attracted $575,000 to study the molecular genetics of the common human genetic disease, cystic fibrosis.
Using embryonal stem cell technology, the researchers have created a unique animal model for cystic fibrosis in mice.
Co-Chief Investigator Professor David Hume said the new project continued their work on how the cystic fibrosis mutation actually caused lung disease, and specifically, how it was linked to the process of inflammation of the lung and susceptibility to specific kinds of bacterial infections.
Ten research teams at the IMB gained more than $4 million of the UQ total.
Media: Further information, Dr Josephine Bowles, telephone 3365 4387/3365 4566, Professor Malcolm West, telephone 07 3365 5114 or Professor David Hume, telephone 07 3365 4493 or Helen Weatherley at the IMB telephone 3365 1264.
