A new bacterial species has been named after our very own Greg Cook.
Professor Gerald Tannock was one of twelve top New Zealand researchers elected as Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand at the Annual General Meeting of the Society's Academy in Auckland yesterday (November 2nd).
Last week, the Department of Microbiology and Immunology hosted the 2011 Tu Kahika students on behalf of the Otago School of Medical Sciences. Students met with representative staff and students from all 5 departments in OSMS and also participated in a microbiology practical session, organised by Dr Judith Bateup. Students analysed microbes from their own teeth and, for those who dug deep, their gums too.
More information on the Tu Kahika programme can be found here
4th year students based in Microbiology and Immunology had a chance to present their year’s research at the annual 4th year research symposium held on Friday October 14th.
Congratulations to Professor Margaret Baird and Professor Antony Braithwaite (Department of Pathology) for their success in the latest, highly competititve, round of the Marsden Fund. Margaret and Antony received $860,000 to research "The p53 tumour suppressor and its nemesis – does a p53 isoform promote cancer through an inflammatory pathway?".
The University of Otago’s new modular PC3 facility was craned on to the top of the Microbiology building today.
Congratulations to Professor Greg Cook for the award of a prestigious James Cook Fellowship.
Zarina D'Costa placed second equal at the Otago Medical School Research Society PhD Research Speaker Awards last night. Zarina's talk was titled "Regulation of E-cadherin by Human papillomavirus 16 E6".
Zarina is in the final stages of her PhD under the supervision of Dr Merilyn Hibma in the Virus Research Unit
Prof Gerald Tannock opened the launch of the Gut Health Network on September 21 with a very entertaining talk: "It all starts in the gut..."
The Gut Health Network is a new research initiative bringing together scientists and clinicians from across the university to research the myriad of diseases that are initiated and/or manifested in the gut. This includes Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Colorectal Cancer, Coeliac Disease, Spondyloarthropathies and Diabetes. The Gut Health Network is also actively involved with community and patient groups such as Crohn's and Colitis New Zealand and the Arthritis Society of New Zealand. Further information on the Gut Health Network can be found here
Founding members of the Gut Health Network include three researchers from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology: Gerald Tannock, Frank Griffin and Roslyn Kemp.
Corinna Richter was awarded a highly commended poster prize at the Biointeractions satellite meeting (August 28 and 29, 2011) held during the Queenstown Molecular Biology Meetings. Corinna's poster was titled “Protein-protein interactions and complex formation for CRISPR-mediated defense against foreign genetic elements in Pectobacterium atrosepticum”. Corinna is a PhD student in Peter Fineran’s lab
