DEEPER FEELING, WIDER VISION Group M and the Moggs Creek Clickers

Group M was an association of principally amateur photographers active in Melbourne from 1959 until late 1960s. Imbued with a humanist intent, current in the post-warr period, they sought to use their work to help people better understand the world and each other. To achieve ths goal they worked predominantly in a documentary style, seeking to render their subjects naturally, and avoid the staged compostions and painterly effects of the earlier 'pictorialist' style, still favoured by the salons of the day. This thesis tells the story of Group M: its members, activities, philosophies and exhibitions. It also presents the tale of the social network out of which it grew, the unusually titled Moggs Creek Clickers. Whilst photography is its primary concern it also emcompasses wider notions relevant to post-war society in general and that in Melbourne in particular

Tobacco Mosaic Virus as a New Carrier for Tumor Associated Carbohydrate Antigens

Tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs) are being actively studied as targets for antitumor vaccine development. One serious challenge was the low immunogenecity of these antigens. Herein, we report the results of using the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) capsid as a promising carrier of a weakly immunogenic TACA, the monomeric Tn antigen. The copper­(I) catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition reaction was highly efficient in covalently linking Tn onto the TMV capsid without resorting to a large excess of the Tn antigen. The location of Tn attachment turned out to be important. Tn introduced at the N terminus of TMV was immunosilent, while that attached to tyrosine 139 elicited strong immune responses. Both Tn specific IgG and IgM antibodies were generated as determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and a glycan microarray screening study. The production of high titers of IgG antibodies suggested that the TMV platform contained the requisite epitopes for helper T cells and was able to induce antibody isotype switching. The antibodies exhibited strong reactivities toward Tn antigen displayed in its native environment, i.e., cancer cell surface, thus highlighting the potential of TMV as a promising TACA carrier

Boosting Immunity to Small Tumor-Associated Carbohydrates with Bacteriophage Qβ Capsids

The development of an effective immunotherapy is an attractive strategy toward cancer treatment. Tumor associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs) are overexpressed on a variety of cancer cell surfaces, which present tempting targets for anticancer vaccine development. However, such carbohydrates are often poorly immunogenic. To overcome this challenge, we show here that the display of a very weak TACA, the monomeric Tn antigen, on bacteriophage Qβ virus-like particles elicits powerful humoral responses to the carbohydrate. The effects of adjuvants, antigen display pattern, and vaccine dose on the strength and subclasses of antibody responses were established. The local density of antigen rather than the total amount of antigen administered was found to be crucial for induction of high Tn-specific IgG titers. The ability to display antigens in an organized and high density manner is a key advantage of virus-like particles such as Qβ as vaccine carriers. Glycan microarray analysis showed that the antibodies generated were highly selective toward Tn antigens. Furthermore, Qβ elicited much higher levels of IgG antibodies than other types of virus-like particles, and the IgG antibodies produced reacted strongly with the native Tn antigens on human leukemia cells. Thus, Qβ presents a highly attractive platform for the development of carbohydrate-based anticancer vaccines