“Our immune system protects us from infection and helps us fight many diseases. Sometimes this vital bodyguard over-reacts and causes disease. Hunter researchers are asking why this happens.”
Program Leader, Professor Paul Foster
The HMRI VIVA Program draws together 120 clinical and biomedical researchers from the University of Newcastle and Hunter New England Health who are investigating characteristics and mechanisms of infectious diseases and of asthma, viral vectors in disease mechanisms and treatment, and vaccines for the prevention and treatment of disease.
Researchers in the VIVA Program also work closely with other HMRI research programs, such as collaborations with the Pregnancy and Reproduction Program to investigate the mechanisms of asthma in pregnancy and the effects of infections during pregnancy. There is also a collaboration with the Information Based Medicine Program on the genetic influences in susceptibility to infections diseases and SIDS, and the group maintains extensive links with industry and has a history of successful commercialisation of basic science in the vaccine area.
The major research themes of the VIVA Program are:
