Search Marsden awards 2008–2017
Search awarded Marsden Fund grants 2008–2017
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2013
Title: What makes a good egg?
Recipient(s): Dr JL Pitman | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Professor KP McNatty | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Dr JL Juengel | AI | AgResearch
Professor TD Mueller | AI | Julius-Maximilians University of Wuerzburg
Dr JC Peek | AI | Fertility Associates
Public Summary: Litter size is dependent upon both the number of eggs (oocytes) released at each ovulation and the ability of an oocyte to develop into a viable embryo (oocyte competency). Elucidating the mechanisms that regulate oocyte competency is crucial for improving success rates of assisted reproductive technologies where quality, rather than numbers, of oocytes is critical. For example, oocyte competency is lower following an IVF, compared to a natural, cycle in humans. Our recent research in human IVF indicates that oocyte competency is highly-correlated with candidate gene expression in adjacent cumulus cells (CC). The gene expression profile in CC is regulated by growth factors secreted by the oocyte (OSGF). Our preliminary evidence indicates that oocytes from mammals with differing litter sizes secrete key OSGF that are unique between species in both concentration and potency, but that they drive CC function and oocyte competency in all species. Our experienced team will utilise state-of-the-art genomic and proteomic technologies and exclusive reagents to test this hypothesis. We propose to examine species-specific differences in concentrations, molecular forms and bioactivities of OSGF, identify CC-derived molecular markers of oocyte competency and, test for the first time the effects of same- and cross-species OSGF combinations on oocyte competency.
Total Awarded: $756,522
Duration: 3
Host: Victoria University of Wellington
Contact Person: Dr JL Pitman
Panel: CMP
Project ID: 13-VUW-153
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2012
Title: What makes us share food with others? The role of neurohormone oxytocin in social aspects of eating behaviour
Recipient(s): Dr PK Olszewski | PI | University of Waikato
Prof JR Waas | AI | University of Waikato
Public Summary: As a society, we share resources even when they are extremely scarce. Remarkably, almost on a daily basis - in the family or in other social groups - we, just as other mammals, are willing to share one of the most crucial resources, food. Herein, we put forth the hypothesis that there are biological mechanisms facilitating this behaviour. We propose that oxytocin, a neurohormone whose roles include inducing social bond and promoting satiation, reduces appetite in order to propel the individual to commit the remarkable act of giving up food and sharing this resource with others.
Total Awarded: $660,870
Duration: 3
Host: University of Waikato
Contact Person: Dr PK Olszewski
Panel: EHB
Project ID: 12-UOW-006
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2015
Title: What was the first smell?
Recipient(s): Professor RD Newcomb | PI | Plant and Food Research
Associate Professor TR Buckley | AI | Landcare Research
Dr MD Jordan | AI | Plant and Food Research
Ms AH Thrimawithana | AI | Plant and Food Research
Public Summary: A major innovation in sensory biology has been the evolution of olfactory receptors, which in insects are now one of the largest gene families within their genomes. But what did the original receptors smell to drive their evolution and expansion? We will mine the genomes of ancient insects and examine this question using cell-based assays and then compare ancient genomes to understand how this family expanded. This project will address the origins of a key innovation in insect molecular evolution as these animals transitioned from the sea, onto land and into the air.
Total Awarded: $840,000
Duration: 3
Host: Plant and Food Research
Contact Person: Professor RD Newcomb
Panel: EEB
Project ID: 15-PAF-007
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2015
Title: Whanau violence: Indigenous women keeping safe in unsafe intimate relationships
Recipient(s): Professor DL Wilson | PI | Auckland University of Technology
Professor DE Jackson | AI | Auckland University of Technology
Professor J Sherwood | AI | Auckland University of Technology
Public Summary: Maaori women are at significant risk of serious harm or death from partner violence in comparison to other women in New Zealand - similar to other indigenous women internationally. Yet, they are often characterised as perpetrators of violence with their partner (or ex-partner), neglectful mothers, and 'victims'. In fact, most often partners in violent relationships inflict deliberate acts of emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse and violence on these women and their children to intimidate, threaten and control them. Current thinking about Maaori women and partner violence (a little known aspect of domestic violence), does little to help women keep safe. Research shows many Maaori women actively navigate, react to and resist violence in unsafe partner relationships to keep safe and protect their children. This research seeks to challenge the common perception that Maaori women are passive 'victims' of domestic violence, and explore new and culturally appropriate ways of thinking about how Maaori women are active in protecting themselves and their children. A three year study involving kaumaatua, kuia and Maaori women (including young Maaori women), will produce new culturally-informed knowledge about how Maaori women keep safe in unsafe partner relationships. This will also be beneficial to other indigenous women internationally.
Total Awarded: $670,000
Duration: 3
Host: Auckland University of Technology
Contact Person: Professor DL Wilson
Panel: SOC
Project ID: 15-AUT-024
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2014
Title: When genomes collide: how allopolyploids respond to genome shock
Recipient(s): Associate Professor MP Cox | PI | Massey University
Associate Professor CA Young | AI | Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation
Dr ARD Ganley | AI | Massey University
Dr R Koszul | AI | Institut Pasteur
Public Summary: Allopolyploidy, the formation of new species through the merger of different parent species, has been influential in the evolutionary history of many eukaryotic lineages. To flourish, new allopolyploid species must survive ‘genome shock’, the suite of molecular incompatibilities that arise when different genomes co-occur in the same cell. Determining how allopolyploid genomes respond to genome shock has been limited by technical hurdles. Building on our high-profile pilot study, which identified commonalities in the transcriptional response to genome shock across very different allopolyploid species, we will develop new tools to overcome these limitations. These tools will enable us to study a broad range of genomic and transcriptional responses to genome shock, including changes in genome structure, transcription, epigenetic control and 3D genome organization. Our proposal leverages a group of fungal endophytes that include independent allopolyploidy events from the same parent species. These natural biological replicates form a strong comparative framework to determine whether responses to genome shock are reproducible, and to what extent they are shaped by natural selection. We will also extend our methods to a more challenging three-parent fungal allopolyploid. This research will transform our understanding of how allopolyploids overcome genome merger, with direct applications for many economically-important allopolyploids.
Total Awarded: $808,000
Duration: 3
Host: Massey University
Contact Person: Associate Professor MP Cox
Panel: EEB
Project ID: 14-MAU-007
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2008
Title: When will the global ozone layer recover? A semi-empirical approach
Recipient(s): Dr PE Huck | PI | NIWA - The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd
Dr GE Bodeker | AI | NIWA - The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd
Dr M Meinshausen | AI | Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Public Summary: In this study, we will develop a new method to project the recovery of the global ozone layer. The models currently used to make such projections are global climate models, as used in IPCC assessments, to which interactive stratospheric chemistry has been added. However, these models are extremely computationally demanding and they cannont provide ensembles of simulations that span the full range of uncertainty required for policy relevant decision making. Our novel approach builds a fast emulator of these highly complex models using semi-empirical equations describing key stratospheric processes related to ozone destruction which are 'trained' on real world observations.
Total Awarded: $266,667
Duration: 3
Host: National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
Contact Person: Dr PE Huck
Panel: ESA
Project ID: 08-NIW-015
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2008
Title: Where do new enzymes come from?
Recipient(s): Dr WM Patrick | PI | Massey University
Prof DI Andersson | AI | Uppsala University
Public Summary: All species must adapt to survive in changing environments; however, the molecular mechanisms that underlie adaptation are poorly understood. My goal is to understand a key aspect of adaptation: the origins and evolution of new enzymes. Here, I propose to use the high-throughput tools of functional genomics and in vitro evolution to observe the emergence of hundreds of new enzymes in the model organism, Escherichia coli. This work will provide unique genome- and proteome-wide insights into the fundamental biological processes of adaptive molecular evolution, as well as into applied problems such as the evolution of antibiotic resistance.
Total Awarded: $266,667
Duration: 3
Host: Massey University
Contact Person: Dr WM Patrick
Panel: EEB
Project ID: 08-MAU-006
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: Where is the missing CO2? A novel multi-species approach to trace the fate of atmospheric CO2.
Recipient(s): Dr P Sperlich | PI | NIWA - The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd
Mr GW Brailsford | AI | NIWA - The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd
Dr M-C Liang | AI | Academia Sinica
Dr SE Mikaloff-Fletcher | AI | NIWA - The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd
Dr SA Montzka | AI | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Dr JC Turnbull | AI | GNS Science
Public Summary: Projections of future climate change are highly dependent on the anticipated concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. It is therefore important to understand the climate feedback of the terrestrial biosphere, and in particular the response of photosynthetic CO2 uptake and CO2 emission through respiration. Because photosynthesis and respiration are the two largest atmospheric CO2 fluxes, there is great interest to know their magnitude and sensitivity to environmental change.
A recent study found large disagreement between CO2 flux estimates for New Zealand and reported Fiordland’s indigenous forests as unexpectedly large CO2 sink. We propose new atmospheric observations to test the hypothesis that Fiordland’s forest is more productive than previously thought. We will use a range of novel tracers to distinguish between the CO2 fluxes of photosynthetic uptake and respiration, in order to diagnose the underlying mechanisms that cause the different estimates.
Our study has the potential to improve current methods to estimate regional carbon fluxes. This is particularly important in the light of New Zealand’s adoption of the UNFCCC agreement and its ambitious goal to reduce its national CO2 emissions. Accurate carbon accounting tools are crucial for CO2 emission reporting and for efficiency testing of techniques to mitigate CO2 emissions.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: NIWA
Contact Person: Dr P Sperlich
Panel: ESA
Project ID: 17-NIW-022
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2016
Title: While you were sleeping: Nap-dependent emotional memory processing in infants
Recipient(s): Dr S Seehagen | PI | University of Waikato
Associate Professor JS Herbert | AI | University of Wollongong
Professor N Zmyj | AI | University of Dortmund
Public Summary: In human adults, sleep modulates memory processing of factual and emotional information. Although both memory and sleep undergo dramatic changes during infancy, little is known about their relation during this important period of development. Here we test if sleep facilitates a major developmental task in infants: effective processing of emotional stimuli and experiences. Using an experimental approach we will first examine if the timing of prior sleep influences the recognition of emotional faces in 6-month-old infants. Second, we will test the role of sleep for consolidating memories for emotional versus neutral faces in 12-month-old infants. Third, we will explore if sleep influences the way in which emotional information is tagged to a particular prior experience in 6-, 12- and 18-month-old infants. We predict that prior sleep prepares the infant brain for accurate encoding of emotional stimuli. We also predict that post-learning sleep promotes selective retention of emotional information and reduces the emotional tone associated with the recall of an emotional event. Investigating how sleep shapes emotional memory and thus regulates which experiences are likely to stick with an infant, and in which form, will contribute to a deeper understanding of adaptive and maladaptive development.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Waikato
Contact Person: Dr S Seehagen
Panel: EHB
Project ID: 16-UOW-061
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: Whole-genome duplication in plants: what is the pathway to success?
Recipient(s): Professor WG Lee | PI | Landcare Research
Professor DC Albach | AI | Carl von Ossietzky-University Oldenburg
Dr HM Meudt | AI | Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Dr LR Perrie | AI | Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Dr AJ Tanentzap | AI | University of Cambridge
Dr JA Tate | AI | Massey University Manawatu
Public Summary: Many ferns and flowering plants have accumulated multiple chromosome sets from past hybridisation between species or from genome duplications within a species (whole-genome duplication (WGD)). However, WGD has long been considered an evolutionary dead-end because of the complications and costs linked with growth and reproduction caused by expanded genomes. The paradox of widespread occurrence in spite of a high extinction rate is exemplified by the flora of New Zealand, where over 50% of native vascular plant species originate directly from one or more WGD events. The challenge is to understand why and how WGD plant species are so common in New Zealand and elsewhere. Using native plant lineages that include species derived from WGD events, we will identify the morphological, physiological and genetic changes that enable these species to persist in natural ecosystems. We will investigate species-rich groups with at least three WGD levels representing diverse lifeforms occupying lowland to alpine zones (Asplenium (spleenwort ferns), Poa (grasses), Plantago (plantains), Schizeilema (pennywort), Leptinella (button daisy) and Veronica (hebes)). By means of genomic analyses, eco-physiological measurements, comparative experiments and ecological modelling approaches, we will provide a coherent understanding of how WGD facilitates adaptive evolution and why it is so widespread.
Total Awarded: $925,000
Duration: 3
Host: Landcare Research
Contact Person: Professor WG Lee
Panel: EEB
Project ID: 17-LCR-006