Search Marsden awards 2008–2017
Search awarded Marsden Fund grants 2008–2017
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2010
Title: Counting Sheep: NZ Merino wool in an internet of things
Recipient(s): Dr AM Galloway | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Public Summary: Emerging communications technologies promise a world where people, places and objects are connected. In our project we aim to understand one way by which people and animals are connected. We will look at the production and consumption of New Zealand 'ethical' wool, and compare the marketers' ideal of the high country sheep station with the reality. We will present scenarios describing how the roles and relationships might change with the future implementation of networked tracking technologies. A set of short videos will be produced that explore possible futures for wool production and consumption by presenting fictional scenarios of interactions between people, animals and new technologies. Photographs of real life on a sheep station will be juxtaposed with fictional videos through a video installation and photography exhibition at Victoria University of Wellington's School of Design. The visual exhibition will also be presented online through a website that allows for public comment and discussion. Ultimately, we seek to understand the role that cultural and design research can play in supporting public understandings of new technologies and promoting more active participation in their development and implementation. The research will also produce critical insights for New Zealand's wool industry and government policymakers.
Total Awarded: $260,870
Duration: 3
Host: Victoria University of Wellington
Contact Person: Dr AM Galloway
Panel: SOC
Project ID: 10-VUW-085
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2016
Title: Counting the number and distribution of planets in the Galaxy.
Recipient(s): Associate Professor MD Albrow | PI | University of Canterbury
Professor AP Gould | AI | Ohio State University
Public Summary: The search for life elsewhere in the Universe has been a driver of scientific and philosophical reasoning for millennia. Since the ground-breaking discovery of the first planet outside our Solar System 21 years ago, exoplanet science has emerged as a significant research field that seeks to explain the origin and evolution of planetary systems and life. With the help of the Marsden Fund, we will use 3 new telescopes to discover how many Earth-like planets exist in our Milky Way galaxy. This will contribute significantly to our understanding of the prospects for life outside planet Earth.
Total Awarded: $870,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Canterbury
Contact Person: Associate Professor MD Albrow
Panel: ESA
Project ID: 16-UOC-063
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2008
Title: Cows, starlings and Campylobacter in New Zealand: unifying phylogeny, genealogy and epidemiology to gain insight into pathogen evolution
Recipient(s): Prof NP French | PI | Massey University
Dr PJ Biggs | AI | Massey University
Dr P Carter | AI | Institute of Environmental Science and Research
Prof P Fearnhead | AI | Lancaster University
Dr G Hotter | AI | AgResearch
Prof MCJ Maiden | AI | University of Oxford
Public Summary: The introduction of European wildlife and livestock into New Zealand has provided us with a unique opportunity to study the evolution of a globally important human pathogen: Campylobacter jejuni. Using analytical tools developed by our research team, and detailed laboratory studies including whole genome sequencing, we aim to exploit the newly-discovered host specificity of C. jejuni strains and the historical separation of both host and bacterial populations, to improve our understanding of C. jejuni evolution. Ultimately we can: learn why C. jejuni emerged to become such a prominent pathogen; anticipate further evolution; and restrict emergence and spread of new strains.
Total Awarded: $657,778
Duration: 3
Host: Massey University
Contact Person: Prof NP French
Panel: EEB
Project ID: 08-MAU-099
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2009
Title: Cracking the non-ribosomal code
Recipient(s): Dr DF Ackerley | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Associate Professor IL Lamont | AI | University of Otago
Public Summary: This work will develop new routes to the synthesis of bioactive peptides by enabling recombination and expression of non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS). NRPS are large multi-modular enzymes which condense specific - often highly unusual - amino acids into short peptide products. 'Cracking the non-ribosomal code' will allow generation of modified or entirely new products. This will require understanding how adjoining amino acids are recognised during peptide bond formation, and enabling expression of NRPS modules in a non-native host. This work will employ two new model systems to address these issues and innovative directed evolution strategies to overcome them.
Total Awarded: $810,667
Duration: 3
Host: Victoria University of Wellington
Contact Person: Dr DF Ackerley
Panel: CMP
Project ID: 09-VUW-142
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2014
Title: Creating neural bridges: a conducting polymer neurotransmitter releasing system
Recipient(s): Dr DM Svirskis | PI | The University of Auckland
Professor J Travas-Sejdic | AI | The University of Auckland
Associate Professor J Montgomery | AI | The University of Auckland
Public Summary: To date, conducting polymers (CPs) have been used to release bioactive molecules in response to non-biologically derived electrical triggers. We hypothesise that neurotransmitter loaded CPs can function as neural bridges, modifying neuronal action potential firing patterns and facilitating neuronal communication. We propose to develop a glutamate releasing conducting polymer responsive to the intrinsic electrical activity of neurons. We will culture neurons together with CPs in vitro, forming neural bridges. For the first time, we will study how action potentials in living neurons alter the properties of stimuli-responsive CPs. Using these neural bridges, we will determine if the firing of one neuron can trigger a CP to release a neurotransmitter and subsequently influence the firing rate of a second neuron. The data from this research will provide a platform to develop new treatment strategies for conditions of abnormal neuronal signalling, such as autism, epilepsy, nerve injuries and hereditary sensory impairments. The methods developed in this research could be used to study and manipulate other electrically active cells such as those found in the heart and gastro-intestinal tract.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: The University of Auckland
Contact Person: Dr DM Svirskis
Panel: BMS
Project ID: 14-UOA-148
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2010
Title: Creating nothing out of something: A route to ultraporous metal-organic frameworks
Recipient(s): Dr SG Telfer | PI | Massey University
Public Summary: Research on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is one of the most exciting and dynamic areas of modern chemical science. A key feature of these materials is their porosity, which allows small molecules to freely diffuse in and out via the voids and channels. Real-world applications in gas sorption, separations, catalysis, and drug delivery are rapidly emerging. We plan to pioneer a general method for the synthesis of open, ultraporous MOFs with unique attributes by creating large pockets of empty space in pre-formed frameworks. We will use a recent breakthrough made in our laboratory as a springboard for this research project. This breakthrough came in the form of a successful strategy for combating the natural tendency for frameworks to interpenetrate. Bulky units are appended to the ligands struts, which are specifically designed to 'self-destruct' upon heating to produce small, volatile molecules that escape from the material. Thus 'nothing' is created out of 'something' to enhance the porosity of these materials. We will capitalise on this for the development of catalysts that facilitate ‘greener’ industrial processes and materials that are able to sieve carbon dioxide from streams of gas.
Total Awarded: $678,261
Duration: 3
Host: Massey University
Contact Person: Dr SG Telfer
Panel: PCB
Project ID: 10-MAU-001
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: Credit constraints and human capital: The effects of student loans on educational attainment, labour market success, and health outcomes
Recipient(s): Dr YWL Chu | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Dr HE Cuffe | AI | Victoria University of Wellington
Public Summary: Access to student loans can remove credit constraints and help foster human capital acquisition. However, students may acquire large amounts of debt without achieving a qualification or the ability to repay. Concerns exist that instead of reducing educational disparities between the rich and poor, student loans may widen existing socioeconomic inequality. One challenge for evaluating the impacts of student loans is to disentangle the effects of student ability from the effects of access to loans, as eligibility for student loans often depends on academic performance. Moreover, most datasets are limited to the education sector and do not have information on later life outcomes such as earnings. This project will tackle these challenges by making use of a state-of-the-art econometric technique known as a regression discontinuity design and the unique Integrated Data Infrastructure from Statistics New Zealand that links various administrative records at the individual level. This project will estimate the causal effects of access to student loans and associated debts on educational attainment, labour market success, and health outcomes. These causal effects are vital to the understanding of the role of credit constraints in human capital acquisition and the full costs and benefits of student loans.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: Victoria University of Wellington
Contact Person: Dr YWL Chu
Panel: EHB
Project ID: 17-VUW-032
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2012
Title: Criminal minds: a history of forensic psychology, 1850-1950
Recipient(s): Dr HM Wolffram | PI | University of Canterbury
Public Summary: The application of psychological knowledge to forensic questions has in the course of the last century become a common feature of both civil and criminal proceedings in Europe, the United States and Australasia. Within these legal systems psychologists are routinely called upon to assess the competence of defendants and the reliability of witnesses or to advise on jury selection, interrogation technique and public policy as it pertains to crime and rehabilitation.
The acceptance of psychologists as experts within the legal system has not, however, always been a given, with jurists, psychiatrists and lay people at different times all claiming authority over the application of psychological knowledge in juridical contexts. This project examines the complex interdisciplinary and conflict-ridden history of forensic psychology, a discipline that emerged at the turn of the century, in order to ascertain how psychologists came to dominate the field. Addressing the neglect of forensic psychology’s history, the consequence of a strong focus within the historiography of criminology on biological models of criminality, this project will also demonstrate how late nineteenth-century psychological research has implications for both the broader public’s understanding of the forensic sciences and contemporary specialist debates over the malleability, fallibility and putative repression of memory.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Canterbury
Contact Person: Dr HM Wolffram
Panel: HUM
Project ID: 12-UOC-060
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: CRISPR-Cas immunity in cyanobacteria
Recipient(s): Dr RD Fagerlund | PI | University of Otago
Public Summary: Cyanobacteria represent an ancient and diverse phylum with key roles in fresh and marine water ecosystems and global carbon cycles, and are emerging as a vehicle in solar-powered biotechnology. Cyanobacteria are under constant threat of phage infection and one mechanism used to counter these is the CRISPR-Cas defence system. CRISPR-Cas provide prokaryotes heritable and adaptive immunity by initially capturing a genetic memory of the invading element and then using that memory to produce short RNA molecules to specifically target and eliminate the invader. This ability of CRISPR-Cas systems to seek and destroy invading elements has led to a surge in novel genome editing tools. A poorly understood type of system from cyanobacteria appears to be a chimera of two other distinct systems and it is not clear how it functions, although it is very likely to utilise unique features in viral nucleic acid degradation. I will use a combination of genetic, structural and biochemical approaches to investigate the molecular mechanisms used by this system to orchestrate viral defence. In addition, there is potential for discovery of novel enzymes of biotechnical utility and their application in controlling phage infections during industrial cyanobacterial bioprocessing.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Dr RD Fagerlund
Panel: CMP
Project ID: 17-UOO-257
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2010
Title: Critically ill with a failing kidney: how can we predict what happens next?
Recipient(s): Dr JW Pickering | PI | University of Otago
Public Summary: Kidney failure (acute kidney injury) in critically ill patients is detected by change in plasma creatinine concentration. These changes are compromised by fluid resuscitation, the normal medical practice in these patients. Consequently, diagnosis may be delayed or missed altogether. We will model plasma creatinine concentrations in response to fluid input using an iterative model to derive information about an individual patient’s kidney function and test the model for association with multiple acute kidney injury biomarkers, patient demographics and comorbidities. This model will predict kidney failure earlier than currently detected by plasma creatinine alone and further understanding on the pathophysiology of acute kidney injury and recovery. We will test the model’s ability to predict clinical outcome including further changes in plasma creatinine, need for renal replacement therapy, and death. We will extend the model to investigate the association between fluid input and urine output and use this association to improve the ability of novel acute kidney injury biomarkers to predict adverse outcomes. It is anticipated that the model will help facilitate early detection of kidney failure, optimisation of fluids to preserve function, and pharmaceutical intervention.
Total Awarded: $260,870
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Dr JW Pickering
Panel: BMS
Project ID: 10-UOO-165