$4 million awarded to diseases expert

Professor James Paton

Professor James Paton
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Thursday, 2 August 2007

成人大片 infectious diseases expert Professor James Paton has today been awarded a $4 million to continue his research into new vaccines and treatments for life-threatening diseases.

Professor Paton, a highly regarded global leader in the fight against serious bacterial infections, is one of nine of Australia's top medical researchers to receive a total of $36 million from the this morning.

Federal Health and Ageing Minister the Hon. announced the winners of the Australia Fellowships at the in Melbourne.

Professor Paton and his scientific colleagues at the 成人大片 are responsible for some ground-breaking medical discoveries in recent years, including how bacterial toxins cause severe gastrointestinal diseases.

His laboratory within the University's is addressing one of the major challenges that faces medical science in the 21st century - the control of infectious diseases.

A major part of Professor Paton's research program is directed at the development of cheap and effective vaccines for the prevention of middle ear infections, meningitis and pneumonia caused by bacteria.

The world-acclaimed scientist and his colleagues are also exploring whether there are alternative ways of blocking interactions between pathogenic bacteria and their hosts, opening the way for development of new drugs and vaccines.

"The $4 million fellowship will be used to investigate these new approaches for combating infections caused by bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae and Escherichia coli," Professor Paton says. "New vaccines and treatments already under investigation in our laboratory will also be progressed to human trials.

"One of our key aims is to make Adelaide an internationally recognised centre of excellence in bacterial infectious disease research."

Professor Paton is the only researcher from South Australia to receive a 2007 Australia Fellowship. Eight other scientists from Victoria, the ACT and NSW were also awarded funds to tackle cancer, infectious diseases and mental health.

 

Contact Details

Professor James Paton
Email: james.paton@adelaide.edu.au
Director, Research Centre for Infectious Diseases
School of Molecular & Biomedical Science
The 成人大片
Business: +61 8 8313 5929
Mobile: +61 (0)414 732 967


Mr David Ellis
Email: david.ellis@adelaide.edu.au
Website: /newsroom/
Deputy Director, Media and Corporate Relations
External Relations
The 成人大片
Business: +61 8 8313 5414
Mobile: +61 (0)421 612 762