The Wesfarmers Centre is pleased to announce the successful recipients for the 2021 Round 2 Seed Funding Grants.
Julie Hibbert | Validating a micronic blood collection protocol for detecting sepsis protein biomarkers in preterm infants – a critical step to improving sepsis diagnosis
One in four babies born extremely preterm in Australia will develop a bloodstream infection (sepsis). Sepsis in babies can result in death and long-term disability. Tests to diagnosis sepsis are sub-optimal and can take up to 36 hours for the result. Therefore, there is an urgent need to diagnose sepsis early to guide antibiotic therapy and improve outcomes in babies.
Our overall aim is to evaluate the diagnostic performance of our 7 novel plasma protein sepsis biomarkers in a large group of babies. Large-scale biomarker validation is a critical next-step for the translation into a point-of-care diagnostic test (POCT) to diagnose sepsis early. However, methods for validation are limited by blood draws >0.5mL and the infeasibility of processing plasma in NICUs.
Dried blood spots (DBS) require only 1-2 blood drops and no immediate processing, making them an attractive alternative to plasma for measuring sepsis biomarkers. Before applying for a NHMRC Grant for the large-scale DBS collection with our international partner NICUs, we need to perform the necessary proof-of-concept experiments to confirm that our protein biomarkers can be measured in DBS from very preterm infants.
Hannah Moore | Preparing for prevention: Assessing the community awareness of RSV and other childhood infections
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is one of the most common reasons babies are admitted to hospital – with Aboriginal and preterm infants at greatest risk. The World Health Organization has indicated RSV vaccination priority groups as: 1) pregnant women, and 2) infants/young children. Several prevention products are in advanced clinical trials and are likely to be licensed soon.
This presents the opportunity to start building a body of research to understand the RSV information needs of Australian parents for when products are available. Our hypothesis is that community awareness of RSV is low, creating a difficult “sell” of prevention products to parents despite the apparent clinical need – prevention products only work if they are acceptable and received.
We will implement a community survey assessing the level of RSV awareness in comparison to other childhood respiratory infections. We will work with community partners to distribute the survey to pregnant women and families. We will also commence the community consultation process with Aboriginal families, undertaking yarning groups.
This information will a) inform future studies developing RSV prevention communication tools, and b) provide pilot data on the attitudes towards RSV prevention. This evidence will be vital for successful implementation of RSV prevention policies.
Christian Tjiam | High-resolution profiling of vaccine-induced immunity to inform vaccine strategies
Vaccines are central in preventing illness and death due to infectious diseases. However, the exact strategies and formulations to maximise vaccine effectiveness are not known. Reliable immunological methods to select the best vaccine or vaccine strategies are therefore needed.
For the many different types of COVID-19 vaccines, such methods can answer urgent, critical questions. For example, does the mixing-and-matching of different vaccine types (e.g. AstraZeneca with Pfizer) provide superior lasting immunity compared to single vaccine schedules? Which vaccines are best for children, given that initial testing was conducted in adults?
This project aims to use a platform of laboratory measurements that we initially established for the tetanus vaccine, to investigate the quality of immune memory conferred by COVID-19 vaccines. While most laboratories measure only antibodies as an indication of immunity, we have the unique capability of tracking immune cells that ‘remember’ and produce high-quality antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 (immune memory).
We aim to apply our workflow to screen different COVID-19 vaccines/vaccine strategies in adults and children, to determine vaccine approaches that provide the highest level of immune memory. By showing the adaptability of the platform for evaluating different COVID-19 vaccines, we demonstrate its potential for evaluating immunity conferred by any vaccine.
Bella Joubert | Identifying virulence strategies of commensal bacteria in preterm infant sepsis
Preterm infants are highly susceptible to serious bloodstream infections with bacteria, known as sepsis. Bacteria typically found on the skin and gut of healthy newborns are usually harmless in infants born at term but are the most common cause of sepsis in preterm babies. We do not fully understand how and why normally harmless bacteria can cause life-threatening infections in preterm infants. We believe that changes in the activation of genes in both the bacteria (pathogen) and the baby (host) play a critical role in these infections and understanding this will help the development of new treatments.
Using state-of-the-art techniques, this project will use a new tool for spying on the gene changes happening in both a newborn baby’s immune system and in the infecting bacteria during sepsis. Due to their precious nature, we will work with tiny blood samples from newborn infants (preterm and term) and adults to identify the pattern of dual gene activation in preterm infants and validate our approach before applying it to clinical sepsis sample from the neonatal ICU. We expect this research to reveal novel gene targets that can be used to develop better treatments and prevention strategies for sepsis in newborn babies.
Sharon Clark | Grow your own middle ear biofilm – and destroy it!
Middle ear infections affect 80% children by 3 years of age. A quarter of children suffer from chronic or recurrent infections resulting in hearing loss, and delays in speech and language. Middle ear infections disproportionately affect Australian Aboriginal children, with 50% of babies suffering from infections before 6 months of age. These infections are a major reason GPs prescribe antibiotics and children undergo grommet surgery. 30% of children require repeat surgery due to more infections.
The chronic and recurrent nature of middle ear infections is due to the presence of bacterial biofilm which allows bacteria to evade the child’s immune response and resist antibiotics. The main bacteria causing disease is non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi). When the ear drum is perforated in the most severe form of infection, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is also found in biofilms.
We aim to develop a new, clinically-relevant, lab grown biofilm assay to test ways to prevent and disrupt biofilms. We will establish NTHi and P. aeruginosa biofilms on cells from the middle ear to mimic biofilms formed in the middle ear during infection. We will then use this model to determine anti-biofilm function of serum antibodies and drugs. This will inform vaccine design and improve treatments.
Hannah Thomas | The Healthy Skin app: Prototyping an augmented reality app for skin infection recognition
In Australia, Aboriginal children are ten times more likely to be admitted to hospital with a skin infection than their non-Aboriginal peers. Almost half of remote-living Aboriginal children are living with skin sores, which are upstream contributors to major causes of morbidity and mortality, including Rheumatic Heart Disease.
The SToP trial is a large project in the Kimberley that aims to decrease the number of children living with skin sores. Amongst other activities, the trial has a strong focus on building the capacity of community members to recognise skin infections.
Following consultation with children and Aboriginal Teaching Assistants in SToP communities, we would like to develop an app that utilises augmented reality to provide a realistic and informative rendering of skin infections on the user’s skin. This will have direct utility as an educational tool, incorporating an interactive component encouraging users to explore paths of action (doing nothing, washing skin, going to the clinic, taking medicine) and likely outcomes for their skin. In future, with further funding, a large bank of SToP trial skin infection images could be used to further include a ‘self-diagnostic’ tool that provides users with real-time guidance as to whether their skin infections require clinical care.