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Research

Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) causes significant morbidity and mortality worldwide with serogroup B being the predominant serogroup in Australia and other countries for the past few decades. The licensed 4CMenB vaccine is effective in preventing meningococcal B disease. Emerging evidence suggests that although 4CMenB impact on carriage is limited, it may be effective against gonorrhoea due to genetic similarities between Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Research

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that results in demyelination of axons, inefficient signal transmission and reduced muscular mobility. Recent findings suggest that B cells play a significant role in disease development and pathology. To further explore this, B cell profiles in peripheral blood from 28 treatment-naive patients with early MS were assessed using flow cytometry and compared to 17 healthy controls.

Research

Identifying the causal variant for diagnosis of genetic diseases is challenging when using next-generation sequencing approaches and variant prioritization tools can assist in this task. These tools provide in silico predictions of variant pathogenicity, however they are agnostic to the disease under study. We previously performed a disease-specific benchmark of 24 such tools to assess how they perform in different disease contexts.

Research

Composition of leukocyte populations in the first month of life remains incompletely characterised, particularly in preterm infants who go on to develop late-onset sepsis (LOS). The aim of the study was to characterise and compare leukocyte populations in preterm infants with and without LOS during the first month of life.

Research

The Population Health Research Network (PHRN) is an Australian national data linkage infrastructure that links a wide range of health and human services data in privacy-preserving ways. The data linkage infrastructure enables researchers to apply for access to routinely collected, linked, administrative data from the six states and two territories which make up the Commonwealth of Australia, as well as data collected by the Australian Government.

Research

Neisseria meningitidis is a gram-negative diplococcus and a transient commensal of the human nasopharynx. It shares and competes for this niche with a number of other Neisseria species including N. lactamica, N. cinerea and N. mucosa. Unlike these other members of the genus, N. meningitidis may become invasive, crossing the epithelium of the nasopharynx and entering the bloodstream, where it rapidly proliferates causing a syndrome known as Invasive Meningococcal Disease.

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High risk for virus-induced asthma exacerbations in children is associated with an IRF7lo immunophenotype, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Here, we applied a Systems Biology approach to an animal model comprising rat strains manifesting high versus low susceptibility to experimental asthma, induced by virus/allergen coexposure, to elucidate the mechanism(s)-of-action of the high-risk asthma immunophenotype.

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Bacterial and fungal microbiotas are increasingly recognized as important in health and disease starting early in life. However, microbiota composition has not yet been investigated in most rural, low-resource settings, and in such settings, bacterial and fungal microbiotas have not been compared.

Research

Nick Gottardo MBChB FRACP PhD Head of Paediatric and Adolescent Oncology and Haematology, Perth Children’s Hospital; Co-head, Brain Tumour Research

Research

Christopher Blyth MBBS (Hons) DCH FRACP FRCPA PhD Centre Head, Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases; Co-Head, Infectious Diseases