Search Marsden awards 2008–2017
Search awarded Marsden Fund grants 2008–2017
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2011
Title: Cell invasion: interactions across scales
Recipient(s): Dr MJ Plank | PI | University of Canterbury
Prof R Law | AI | University of York
Dr MJ Simpson | AI | Queensland University of Technology
Public Summary: Cell invasion underpins a range of physiological and pathological process, for example embryonic development, wound healing and malignant invasion. All these processes span a huge range of spatial scales, from the microscopic cues and interactions that determine the behaviour of an individual cell, to the macroscopic behaviour of the invading population. Understanding the complex relationships between these scales is crucial because clinical interventions aimed at either enhancing (e.g. in a wound healing context) or retarding (e.g. in malignant invasion) cell invasion depend on modulating the behaviour of individual cells.
We will develop a new mathematical theory for how the effects of these microscopic interactions are felt across biological scales. This will require a novel, multiscale approach that takes account of important effects like cell crowding and spatial structure, many of which are neglected by previous mathematical models. The new theory will be used in conjunction with experimental data to predict clinically relevant outcomes, such as invasion speed and population growth rates. The model will also be used to test the efficacy of various intervention strategies aimed at modifying the invasion process.
Total Awarded: $270,434
Duration: 3
Host: University of Canterbury
Contact Person: Dr MJ Plank
Panel: MIS
Project ID: 11-UOC-005
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: Cells and whistles: supercharging our biodiversity monitoring toolkit using genetic and acoustic records
Recipient(s): Associate Professor RM Fewster | PI | The University of Auckland
Professor DL Borchers | AI | University of St Andrews
Professor SR Marsland | AI | Massey University Manawatu
Dr BC Stevenson | AI | The University of Auckland
Public Summary: An incredible conservation movement is unfolding in New Zealand, with thousands of community volunteers driving a groundswell of public enterprise for revitalising our natural habitats. However, for effective species conservation we need to know what is happening. Are populations growing or declining, and which interventions work best? These questions are notoriously hard to answer, especially in dense forest or vast tracts of ocean. We will use new ideas in statistics and acoustics to create a framework for estimating population size using only recordings from widely-available microphones. Our ideas are groundbreaking because we do not need song syllables to be perfectly detected, identified, or matched between multiple microphones. Instead, we model imperfections in these processes through the clustered detection patterns they generate. This removes the need for manual scrutiny of recordings and empowers us to build fully-automated analysis systems, capable of processing vast amounts of data to produce conclusive estimates of population size and trend. Similar ideas will unlock new power in genetic monitoring data, by leveraging kinship information to boost estimates of breeding and survival. Our work is fundamental for critically-endangered species whose populations are so small that existing methods are unable to extract the information needed for conclusive management.
Total Awarded: $680,000
Duration: 3
Host: The University of Auckland
Contact Person: Associate Professor RM Fewster
Panel: MIS
Project ID: 17-UOA-295
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: Challenging the gene silencing dogma: DNA methylation as a mechanism for gene activation
Recipient(s): Dr A Chatterjee | PI | University of Otago
Dr PA Stockwell | AI | University of Otago
Public Summary: DNA methylation provides a stable mechanism for modulating the gene expression program of a cell. Promoter methylation is associated with chromatin condensation and suppression of gene expression; thus, methylation is widely regarded as a gene silencing mechanism. Strikingly, contrary to this dogma, we have identified several instances where densely methylated promoters coinside with high gene expression. If found to be causal, this observation could overturn tightly held views about the function of DNA methylation. We will use state-of-the-art epigenomic tools and a well-characterised melanoma model to connect methylation with chromatin biology and 3D genome organisation to establish causation for DNA methylation-mediated gene activation in the mammalian genome.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Dr A Chatterjee
Panel: BMS
Project ID: 17-UOO-240
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2009
Title: Channelling scent: how insects smell using ligand-gated calcium channels
Recipient(s): Associate Professor RD Newcomb | PI | The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited
Associate Professor DL Christie | AI | The University of Auckland
Dr C Hamiaux | AI | The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited
Dr AV Kralicek | AI | The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited
Public Summary: We recently discovered that insects have evolved an olfactory system that employs ligand-gated calcium channels to detect odours, while most animals use G protein-coupled receptors to smell. Following on from this important discovery, we intend to determine the nature of receptor complexes and address questions of how this novel class of receptors recognises odorants and to generate neuronal signals. As well as establishing a basic understanding of the molecular basis of insect olfaction, this research will develop essential skills in receptor biology and the study of membrane proteins to safeguard New Zealands future contribution to biomedical and biotechnology research.
Total Awarded: $853,333
Duration: 3
Host: Plant and Food Research
Contact Person: Associate Professor RD Newcomb
Panel: CMP
Project ID: 09-PAF-008
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2008
Title: Characterisation of a putative novel bacterial 'two-component' regulatory system conserved in a wide range of enteric bacteria
Recipient(s): Dr P Fineran | PI | University of Otago
Public Summary: We have identified what we believe to be a novel putative 'two component' system in the genetically/phenotypically tractable bacterium, Serratia. Mutation of this two-gene system in Serratia dramatically reduces the production of the easily assayed, pigmented antibiotic/anticancer agent, prodigiosin. We hypothesise that this uncharacterised two-gene system, represents a novel regulatory signalling system conserved in enteric bacteria. We predict that one protein is membrane associated and functions to sense the signal(s), whereas the second protein (similar to a yeast protein) acts via protein-protein interactions to elicit a response. This project will dissect the functionality of the new system.
Total Awarded: $266,667
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Dr P Fineran
Panel: CMP
Project ID: 08-UOO-116
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2013
Title: Characterising gas bubble effects on the droplet spreading process using numerical modelling
Recipient(s): Dr A Tran | PI | The University of Auckland
Public Summary: The substantial distortion of molten droplets (splats), which occurs upon impact with the solid surface during coating, is a significant problem that results in coating inconsistencies and loss of deposition material. This phenomenon is related to gas bubble entrapment at the splat-substrate interface, as bubbles are formed from water vapour desorbed from the substrate surface with heat input from the droplet, or from the release of ambient gas entrained during the flight of the droplet. However, the bubble effects on splat splashing are neither fully understood nor have been adequately addressed by most models to date due to their complexity. The focus of this project is to derive the three-dimensional model of impact of a molten droplet inclusive of gas bubble effects.
The numerical results will be validated with our own empirical data, as well as from other results in the literature. The findings will be a significant step change to enhance the physical understanding of the fluid mechanism that leads to splashing. These results can be used to prepare a process map which will have a direct impact on the practical application of the droplet formation, thus improving the performance and reliability of coatings, metal casting, and soldering
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: The University of Auckland
Contact Person: Dr A Tran
Panel: EIS
Project ID: 13-UOA-291
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2014
Title: Characterising ribosomal RNA gene activation, a novel Achilles heel of cancer
Recipient(s): Dr ARD Ganley | PI | Massey University
Professor RD Hannan | AI | Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Dr S Schmeier | AI | Massey University
Public Summary: Cancer has a long history of association with ribosomal DNA repeats (rDNA), but the nature of this relationship has been unclear. We have found that cancer cells are selectively killed by inhibition of rDNA transcription, but surprisingly, the most obvious explanation for this sensitivity (requirement for high levels of rRNA transcription to fuel proliferation) is incorrect. Instead, we have documented an even more fundamental dependence of cancer cells on an active rDNA chromatin structure found in malignant cells. The goal of this proposal is to identify what this malignant cell-specific rDNA chromatin structure is, and why cancer cells are dependent on it. To achieve this, we will take a genomics approach to, in parallel, investigate the nature of the rDNA chromatin structure in malignant cells, and address three hypotheses for why malignant cells are dependent on this chromatin structure. The research team is ideally positioned for this work, as it brings together a unique blend of expertise in rDNA genomics, rDNA cancer biology, and bioinformatics. This work will clarify the role of the rDNA repeats in cancer, and most importantly will characterize the molecular mechanism underlying this previously-unknown Achilles heel of cancer, that can then be used for therapeutic benefit.
Total Awarded: $820,000
Duration: 3
Host: Massey University
Contact Person: Dr ARD Ganley
Panel: BMS
Project ID: 14-MAU-053
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2013
Title: Children visiting a museum: information gathering or creative capacity building?
Recipient(s): Professor MA Carr | PI | University of Waikato
Ms JG Clarkin-Phillips | AI | University of Waikato
Associate Professor BM Cowie | AI | University of Waikato
Ms BE Soutar | AI | Te Kohanga Reo o Mana Tamariki
Public Summary: This project builds on very young children’s creative inclinations to puzzle about the unknown, develop innovative working theories, and expect difference. This innovation potential of young children is a precious natural resource that is threatened in a world of readily packaged information, but a museum visit provides a unique design space that can protect and strengthen learner qualities such as: asking and pursuing questions; calling on prior knowledge to make connections across different disciplines, places and times; and taking risks to articulate a viewpoint and debate alternatives. Building on pilot research work, this project will in the first instance focus on boundary objects and conversations as mediating tools, exploring in a series of iterative design experiments the ways in which these tools enable the identification and the strengthening of creative capacities during a well-designed museum visit. Evidence-based theoretical modelling will challenge international monocultural definitions of innovation potential and creative capacity by investigating the mapping or constellation of creative elements in response to a museum collection or artefact, and the affordances, in museum visits from kohanga reo and kura kaupapa Maori. Diverse patterns will be constructed for different children, to describe a range of developing identities with reference to creativity.
Total Awarded: $778,261
Duration: 3
Host: University of Waikato
Contact Person: Professor MA Carr
Panel: SOC
Project ID: 13-UOW-082
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2016
Title: Children's understanding of shared knowledge and its importance for effective communication
Recipient(s): Dr A Martin | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Public Summary: Effective communication is essential to social interaction. However, communication is often ambiguous (for example, if your friend says 'Can I have that?', it is unclear what 'that' is). An understanding of shared knowledge can make communication clearer (your friend is probably asking for something you both know about, not something only you know about). How do children develop an understanding of the role of shared knowledge in communication? I propose to test a novel theory: children's assumptions of shared knowledge depend on their similarity to their communicative partner, and when children assume more shared knowledge they become less likely to engage in communicative perspective-taking. Results will provide insight into the early development of communication skills in children, and provide insight into practical strategies to improve communication with others who are similar to or different from ourselves.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: Victoria University of Wellington
Contact Person: Dr A Martin
Panel: EHB
Project ID: 16-VUW-204
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2016
Title: Citizenship in Aotearoa New Zealand: Young people, belonging and changing times
Recipient(s): Dr BE Wood | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Public Summary: Rapidly growing levels of cultural diversity in New Zealand in recent years have raised questions about social cohesion, belonging and declining levels of participation in our democracy. However, while these demographic changes have been identified as holding national significance, the voices and experiences of young people have been largely left out of contemporary debates and research. This study examines how young people living in New Zealand’s most diverse communities navigate daily encounters with ‘difference’, forge their citizen identities and participate in civic life.
Using an exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach, the study applies multiple sampling techniques and a bricolage of research strategies over a three stage process. Stage one develops in-depth insights from research with young people based in super-diverse communities in Auckland and Wellington. This contributes to the development of a conceptual framework in stage two which aims to provide more flexible and spatially-sensitive conceptions of youth citizenship. In the final stage, a survey tool will be developed to allow a broader survey of youth citizenship. The study will provide much needed exploration of young people’s emergent forms of belonging, citizenship and civic participation in the context of highly diverse communities in New Zealand.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: Victoria University of Wellington
Contact Person: Dr BE Wood
Panel: SOC
Project ID: 16-VUW-030