The Otago Medical Research Foundation announced the outcomes of their Annual Grant round this week. The Department of Microbiology and Immunology were successful in receiving funding for the following projects:
A function was held yesterday to celebrate the opening of the University's PC3 Lab. Researchers will soon be using the facility for cutting edge research into tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.
Professor Andy Mercer and his Virus Research Unit colleagues have been successful in gaining funding in the latest HRC round for their programme 'Exploiting the therapeutic potential of viruses'.
We are proud to announce the winners of the Department's 'Best Research Paper of the Year by a Postgraduate Student 2012'
Congratulations to Alex Morrison, whose Summer Studentship Report 'Mapping sites of colonization of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in experimentally infected Johne's deer' received a Highly Commended Award by the Otago School of Medical Sciences Dean's Advisory Committee.
Congratulations to Assoc Prof Alex McLellan and Dr Matloob Husain, who have both been granted funding from the Otago School of Medical Sciences Dean's Bequest Fund.
Congratulations to Elyse Dunn, who received a Todd Foundation Award for Excellence (University), which will allow her to travel to Cambridge University to conduct research in Dr Judy Hirst's Lab in the Mitochondrial Biology Unit. Elyse is a PhD student in Greg Cook's Lab.
Congratulations to Elliott Dunn, who was runner up at the OMSRS Summer Student Presentation Evening, held on May 1. The evening showcased a great series of student talks. Elliott is a MSc student in Dr Ros Kemp’s lab, and presented his work: ‘Long-term in vitro expansion of human intestinal organoids’ which was performed in the lab of Assoc Prof Grant Butt.
Congratulations to Dayle Keown, for winning a prize for the best summer scholarship report. Dayle’s project, conducted in Dr Joanna Kirman’s lab, was part of the multidisciplinary Whiti Te Ra study, which aims to understand the causes of early childhood respiratory infection in New Zealand. Dayle's project was to investigate whether the presence of rhinovirus correlated with respiratory disease severity. Unlike similar studies conducted on infants overseas, Dayle did not find that the presence of human rhinovirus in nasal swab samples was associated with disease severity. Interestingly, the number of human rhinovirus positive samples was twice as high as those detected in a similar study population in the US. The aim is to publish these findings, along with the investigations on other viruses present in the samples, later this year.
Congratulations to our 400-level students, Hannah Greenhough, Kieran Jongerius, Rebecca McKenzie and Adrian Patterson, who were recently awarded a University of Otago Scholarship in Science. These scholarships are awarded to excellent students, by the University Council, on the basis of high academic achievement. For further information on scholarships click here.
