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Search Marsden awards 2008–2017

Search awarded Marsden Fund grants 2008–2017

Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2009

Title: How air affects mutation and adaptation - a dissection of the evolutionary process

Recipient(s): Dr CD Moon | PI | AgResearch
Dr R Kassen | AI | University of Ottawa
Dr SC Leahy | AI | AgResearch

Public Summary: Many organisms thrive in both the presence and absence of oxygen. However, how each of these environments affects their evolutionary potential has only been indirectly inferred from studies based on few genes. Here, we will directly examine whole genome sequences from evolving bacterial populations to determine the effects of oxygen on the main processes that underpin evolution. Such information will reveal significantly deeper levels of understanding of evolution and anaerobic physiology, while contributing broadly to areas such as medicine and biotechnology. Furthermore, this study will continue NZ’s prominent heritage in molecular evolution while providing valuable training in leading-edge genomics technologies.

Total Awarded: $675,556

Duration: 3

Host: AgResearch

Contact Person: Dr CD Moon

Panel: EEB

Project ID: 09-AGR-003


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2009

Title: How are the correct synaptic connections maintained to ensure correct sensory function?

Recipient(s): Dr JM Montgomery | PI | The University of Auckland
Professor PR Thorne | PI | The University of Auckland
Professor GD Housley | AI | University of New South Wales

Public Summary: Synapses are constantly formed and eliminated during development to ensure the central and peripheral nervous systems are correctly wired together. We have established that the developing cochlea presents a powerful model system for examining how synapses are eliminated. We aim to use electrophysiology and imaging to determine the molecular and functional events that define synapses as 'persistent' or 'transient'. We will then examine how sound can influence the molecular events occurring at these synapses. These multi-disciplinary data will reveal how synapse elimination proceeds and also link events occurring at the synaptic and behavioural level as the nervous system is established.

Total Awarded: $747,556

Duration: 3

Host: The University of Auckland

Contact Person: Dr JM Montgomery

Panel: BMS

Project ID: 09-UOA-078


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2015

Title: How do bacteria scavenge sialic acids from their human host?

Recipient(s): Dr RCJ Dobson | PI | University of Canterbury
Professor R Neutze | AI | Gothenburg / Goteborg University

Public Summary: .
Sialic acids are extremely important sugars for mammalian cell recognition. However, they are also a recognition point and energy source for bacterial pathogens. Sialic acid import and processing has been demonstrated to be important for bacterial pathogen colonisation and persistence and is therefore a target for antimicrobial development.

Our programme first explores how bacteria transport sialic acids across their plasma membrane and into the cell. We then examine how bacteria switch on the proteins responsible for the uptake and degradation of sialic acids.

We are studying the sialic acid pathway in pathogens to inform drug design, develop powerful biocatalysts, and build a fundamental understanding of the frontier problems in sialobiology.

The team combines world-class expertise in biointeractions and structural biology (Dr Dobson), with state-of-the-art methods in structural biology and membrane protein structure and function (Prof. Neutze), and supports four talented emerging New Zealand researchers.

Together, our experiments will provide the first detailed 'picture' of how sialic acids are imported into the cell and a detailed mechanistic understanding of how the nanRepressor protein regulates the expression of genes within the pathway. Our results will enhance our understanding of general systems for membrane transport and gene regulation.

Total Awarded: $770,000

Duration: 3

Host: University of Canterbury

Contact Person: Dr RCJ Dobson

Panel: PCB

Project ID: 15-UOC-032


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Fast-Start

Year Awarded: 2012

Title: How do males adjust their sperm quality in response to social cues?

Recipient(s): Dr P Rosengrave | PI | University of Otago
Prof B Baer | AI | The University of Western Australia
Prof R Montgomerie | AI | Queen's University

Public Summary: Males of many species respond to a variety of social cues—like the presence of a female or competitor—by making rapid adjustments to sperm quality (sperm number, swimming speed and morphology) that maximizes their reproductive success. How such ejaculate adjustments occur remains largely unknown, and whether such adjustment actually alters a male’s reproductive success against a competitor has seldom been examined. Using a series of innovative social manipulation experiments in chinook salmon, we will determine: (i) how ejaculate quality adjusts to changes in social status, and (ii) which characteristics of the ejaculate actually change—the gametes themselves, the seminal fluid released with the sperm, or both. We will also explore whether sex hormones have a role in mediating ejaculate adjustments, and whether changes in the ejaculate actually affect a male’s reproductive success when competing with other males to fertilise a batch of eggs. Improved knowledge of the effects of seminal fluid on sperm function and its effects on male reproductive performance and fitness will increase our understanding of male fertility in humans, livestock, and aquaculture.

Total Awarded: $300,000

Duration: 3

Host: University of Otago

Contact Person: Dr P Rosengrave

Panel: EEB

Project ID: 12-UOO-133


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Fast-Start

Year Awarded: 2011

Title: How do sulfate aerosols get in the stratosphere?

Recipient(s): Ms S Kremser | PI | Bodeker Scientific
Dr K Kreher | AI | NIWA - The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd
Prof J Notholt | AI | University of Bremen
Dr M Rex | AI | Alfred Wegener Institute
Dr R Schofield | AI | University of Melbourne

Public Summary: Sulfate aerosols in the stratosphere affect both the chemistry and the absorption and scattering of radiation in this region. The capacity of stratospheric sulfate aerosols (SSAs) to scatter incoming solar radiation and thus cool climate has prompted proposals for intentional injection of sulfur into the stratosphere. However, because of its stratospheric chemical role, increased SSA concentrations exacerbate ozone depletion. Recent research indicates that SSAs are more important than previously thought in facilitating polar ozone depletion. The processes governing the transport of sulfur to the stratosphere are poorly quantified. I will investigate the transport of carbonyl sulfide (COS) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) from the base of the tropical tropopause layer (TTL), through the TTL, and into the stratosphere. COS and SO2 are the primary sources for stratospheric sulfate under volcanically quiescent conditions. SO2 is an important anthropogenic source of sulfur. In collaboration with international partners, I will measure COS, SO2 and related compounds in the Tropical Western Pacific where gases are efficiently transported to the stratosphere. Microphysical and chemical models will simulate the processing of these source gases along trajectories through the TTL and into the lower stratosphere. This research will improve understanding of the mechanisms sustaining the stratospheric aerosol layer.

Total Awarded: $300,000

Duration: 3

Host: Bodeker Scientific

Contact Person: Ms S Kremser

Panel: ESA

Project ID: 11-BDS-001


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2008

Title: How do tectonic plates lock together?

Recipient(s): Dr M Reyners | PI | GNS Science
Dr S Bannister | AI | GNS Science
Dr DM Eberhart-Phillips | AI | University of California, Davis
Prof A Hasegawa | AI | Tohoku University

Public Summary: Understanding how the interface between tectonic plates locks up is important for plate boundaries worldwide, as locked regions accumulate elastic strain which will eventually be released in large earthquakes. Here we investigate the physical parameters controlling plate locking at the plate boundary beneath the North Island using two techniques: 1) detailed 3-D seismic tomography near the plate interface (the earthquake-wave equivalent of a medical CAT scan) and 2) analysis of how the distribution of small earthquakes near a locked part of the plate interface changes in response to slip on an adjacent part of the interface.

Total Awarded: $600,000

Duration: 3

Host: GNS Science

Contact Person: Dr M Reyners

Panel: ESA

Project ID: 08-GNS-004


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2008

Title: How do viruses get inside protein crystals?

Recipient(s): Assoc Prof P Metcalf | PI | The University of Auckland
Assoc Prof K Ward | AI | University of Otago

Public Summary: Protein crystals are very rare in nature. An exception to this rule are the masses of microscopic crystals found in diseased insect larvae infected with polyhedrosis viruses. These crystals are unique because they are infectious, containing virus particles embedded in the crystal lattice. They are also remarkably stable. We are interested in the fascinating fundamental question of how the complex virus particles interact with the periodic crystal lattice. We will investigate this question by analysing the crystals in atomic detail using micro-beam X-ray crystallography, high voltage electron microscopy and protein mass spectrometry in collaboration with researchers in Europe and Japan.

Total Awarded: $675,556

Duration: 3

Host: The University of Auckland

Contact Person: Assoc Prof P Metcalf

Panel: PSE

Project ID: 08-UOA-138


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2008

Title: How do we generate potent immune responses when infection strikes? A new role for T cell help in the immune response

Recipient(s): Dr AD McLellan | PI | University of Otago
Prof N Koch | AI | University of Bonn

Public Summary: Our new finding that T cells stimulate B cells to release nanoparticles (exosomes) containing antigen together with associated signalling complexes is a major break through in understanding how immune responses are amplified. We will investigate if the transfer of antigen to other antigen presenting cells increases antigen availability at the start of infections. In addition, we will determine if the incorporation of exosomes into the plasma membrane imparts sensitivity to antigen and cytokine signals upon 'receiver cells'. This would explain how immune responses are initiated and maintained when antigen availability and subsequent signal transduction levels are low.

Total Awarded: $507,556

Duration: 3

Host: University of Otago

Contact Person: Dr AD McLellan

Panel: BMS

Project ID: 08-UOO-106


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Fast-Start

Year Awarded: 2010

Title: How do ZnO nanowires measure up as biosensors?

Recipient(s): Dr NOV Plank | PI | Victoria University of Wellington

Public Summary: This project will investigate how to exploit nanowires for exceptionally sensitive lab-on-a-chip electronic biosensors. With electronic current flow constrained to nanometer sized channels, biosensors can detect very weak interactions between biological molecules and the surface of the nanowire. Sensitivity in the parts-per-billion range can be easily achieved. However, sensitivity is a double-edged sword; the electronic properties of nanowire devices are so sensitive to the environment that some electronic signals may have a variety of causes. The signals that a biosensor is designed to detect can easily be overwhelmed by the effects of other molecules on various parts of the nanowire device.

This project aims to confront this lack of ‘selectivity’ in nanowire sensors by fabricating a series of devices designed to isolate the effects of the various molecules to which the device is exposed. Starting with single-nanowire devices in which only specific regions are exposed to specific parts of the environment, a selectivity profile will be built. The relative influence of each effect will then be elucidated upon scaling up to multi-nanowire devices. The outcome of these experiments will provide a roadmap for development of nanowire biosensor devices that exhibit both exceptional sensitivity and selectivity.

Total Awarded: $260,870

Duration: 3

Host: Victoria University of Wellington

Contact Person: Dr NOV Plank

Panel: EIS

Project ID: 10-VUW-133


Fund Type: Marsden Fund

Category: Standard

Year Awarded: 2009

Title: How does Antarctica ride the Milankovitch cycle?

Recipient(s): Professor TR Naish | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Professor L Carter | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Professor JA Baker | AI | Victoria University of Wellington
Associate Professor RM DeConto | AI | University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Associate Professor P Huybers | AI | Harvard University
Dr RM MacKay | AI | Victoria University of Wellington
Professor ME Raymo | AI | Boston University

Public Summary: This proposal directly addresses the question, 'How do Earths orbital cycles control Antarctic ice sheet fluctuations?' Two hypotheses propose fundamentally different mechanisms. That polar ice sheets respond to local insolation forcing from the interhemispherically-out of phase 20,000y precession cycle, or that they are in phase and respond to the globally-synchronous 41,000y obliquity cycle. Our team will analyse new sediment cores to be recovered from the Wilkes Land margin by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, which have the potential to provide the first physical record of Antarctic Ice Sheet fluctuations with sufficient chronological precision to address this fundamental issue.

Total Awarded: $773,333

Duration: 3

Host: Victoria University of Wellington

Contact Person: Professor TR Naish

Panel: ESA

Project ID: 09-VUW-008


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