Research Projects

Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) is one of the most common serious bacterial infections seen in Aotearoa New Zealand. A conservative estimate for the incidence of SAB in the country is around 1100 people per year, which is amongst the highest reported in the developed world.

Currently, we have very few approved antivirals or vaccines available for the many viral pathogens that threaten our health. For the few viruses where we do have approved antivirals available, we are facing increasing drug-resistance and constant viral evolution continues to create new challenges to ensure our vaccines and antivirals remain effective. Therefore, it is essential to develop new safe and effective antiviral therapies. We need to use our scientific tools and local expertise to develop our own therapeutic strategies to actively protect our own people. Additionally, we need broad-spectrum antivirals in our toolkit to use as a first line of defence against any emerging novel viruses to give us time to develop and test vaccines for prevention.  

At present there is no standard to both guide antibiotic prescribing and measure the appropriateness of treatment. While we know there are marked inequities in the rates of infections for Māori and Pacific peoples in Aotearoa, very little is known about the inequities in infection treatment. Our solution: We plan to develop a national antibiotic guideline in Aotearoa that sets out the optimal treatment of infections.  

Traditional randomised clinical trials take too long for design, approval, and completion to be able to respond to pandemic infectious diseases threats. REMAP-CAP represents an innovation where an established learning healthcare platform trial, asking questions about respiratory tract infections between pandemics, can adapt quickly to respond to new respiratory infectious diseases.