Search Marsden awards 2008–2017
Search awarded Marsden Fund grants 2008–2017
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2011
Title: From soils to seas: how does the long-term fate of aerosol iron impact on ocean productivity and global climate?
Recipient(s): Dr SG Sander | PI | University of Otago
Prof PW Boyd | AI | NIWA - The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd
Dr MJ Ellwood | AI | Australian National University
Prof KA Hunter | AI | University of Otago
Dr CH Stirling | AI | University of Otago
Public Summary: The oceans provide half of Earth’s primary production. This photosynthetic fixation of carbon by
microscopic plants (phytoplankton) is controlled by iron-supply over much of the ocean, making
the global iron-cycle central to Earth’s functioning. While phytoplankton in remote regions (e.g. the
Southern-Ocean) are anaemic, desert dusts are iron-laden. Long-distance atmospheric transport of
this dust helps to alleviate oceanic anaemia, boosting productivity. The immediate dissolution of
iron from this dust into the ocean (2%) has been well studied, yet the fate of the remaining dust has
been ignored. Does more of it dissolve and enhance primary production? Or does it just sink into
the abyss? With dust storms forecast to increase in the future, understanding the destiny of this remaining 98% will improve predictions of the impact of dust-storms on the ocean’s ability to
sequester carbon. Using iron stable-isotopes (iron atoms with different masses), we will trace the
different sources and pathways within the oceanic cycling of iron over the long term. Due to their
relatively light mass, these iron-isotopes fractionate through a wide range of natural biotic and
abiotic processes, providing the discriminatory power needed to resolve the fate of aerosols as they
are altered during weeks and months in the upper ocean.
Total Awarded: $711,304
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Dr SG Sander
Panel: ESA
Project ID: 11-UOO-077
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2013
Title: From Vocalism to Nominalism: the twelfth century Parisian schools of philosophy and their logics
Recipient(s): Associate Professor CJ Martin | PI | The University of Auckland
Public Summary: The twelfth-century in Paris was one of the most exciting times in the history of logic but it is one of the least studied. In 1100 Peter Abaelard, the greatest philosopher of his age, arrived there to challenge the opinions of the established teaching masters with a revolutionary new theory of logic. Tragically for Abaelard his new logic was fatally flawed by inconsistency. The present project will explore the relationship of Abaelard’s new logic to that of his own teachers, the Vocalists, and his use of it against the leading early twelfth century master William of Champeaux. It will go on to consider the discovery thirty years later by Alberic of Paris of an argument exposing the contradiction at the heart of Abaelard’s system and the resulting crisis in which each of the Parisian Schools, including Abaelard’s followers the Nominalists, proposed alternative logics to solve the problem. It will be the first systematic study of the development of logic in the Parisian schools and of the arguments that were offered for and against alternative logics in debates which strikingly parallel those over the foundations of logic which have exercised philosophers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Total Awarded: $434,783
Duration: 3
Host: The University of Auckland
Contact Person: Associate Professor CJ Martin
Panel: HUM
Project ID: 13-UOA-279
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: Function from structure: accurate reduced models of neuronal networks
Recipient(s): Professor CR Laing | PI | Massey University Auckland
Professor IG Kevrekidis | AI | Princeton University
Public Summary: Understanding the human brain is one of the grand scientific challenges. It is becoming clear that the brain can be usefully thought of as a network of subnetworks, each comprising many thousands of neurons. We will contribute to the understanding of such networks by investigating the effects of the structure of networks of model neurons on the function of such networks. We will simulate and analyse networks of 'theta neurons' and 'Winfree oscillators' - both models of neurons - and use recent mathematical developments (the Ott/Antonsen ansatz, and results on 'graph limits') to derive accurate, yet reduced, models of these networks. Having these reduced models will allow us to efficiently investigate the effects of network structure on the network's function using tools from numerical bifurcation analysis, rather than just simulating many large networks. We will investigate the effects of in- and out-degree distributions, correlations between these quantities, network assortativity, and the effects of correlated heterogeneity in networks. We will also develop algorithms to generate networks with the required structure. The results of these investigations will provide a greatly increased understanding of the possible behaviour of networks of neurons, specifically the effects of network structure on those behaviours.
Total Awarded: $670,000
Duration: 3
Host: Massey University Auckland
Contact Person: Professor CR Laing
Panel: MIS
Project ID: 17-MAU-054
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: Functional analysis of MtING2 – Uncovering an independent mechanism for control of flowering by winter cold
Recipient(s): Professor JJ Putterill | PI | The University of Auckland
Professor Y He | AI | Chinese Academy of Sciences
Dr M Jaudal | AI | University of Auckand
Public Summary: The timing of the transition to flowering is critical for plants because it is a key factor in the success of sexual reproduction and the production of flowers, grains and fruits. The timing of flowering also strongly influences vegetative productivity. Plants integrate environmental cues to ensure that flowering occurs at optimal times of the year. To avoid setting seed in harsh winters, many temperate-climate plants flower in spring after vernalisation (extended winter cold). We study flowering-time control in the reference legume Medicago, which has powerful genomic resources for research. Legumes are nitrogen-fixing plants, the third most abundant plant group on the planet and the second most important group of crops after the grasses. Flowering-time genes have been identified in the classical garden pea model, but vernalisation has not been extensively studied in legumes. Medicago flowers in response to vernalisation and long days, but lacks the repressor that is epigenetically silenced by vernalisation in the model Brassica Arabidopsis. This proposal tests the hypothesis that Medicago uses MtING2, a predicted epigenome reader, as a key part of an independent vernalisation mechanism. This work will yield fundamental insights into plant epigenetics and flowering regulation, an important adaptive trait in plants and agriculture.
Total Awarded: $895,000
Duration: 3
Host: The University of Auckland
Contact Person: Professor JJ Putterill
Panel: CMP
Project ID: 17-UOA-075
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2014
Title: Functional and morphological dissection of a plastic neuroendocrine circuit
Recipient(s): Dr SJ Bunn | PI | University of Otago
Professor DR Grattan | AI | University of Otago
Professor BI Hyland | AI | University of Otago
Public Summary: Many neurons undergo reversible adaptation or ‘plasticity’ to allow them to meet altered physiological demands. This project focuses on a population of hypothalamic dopaminergic neurons (TIDA neurons), which provide a dramatic demonstration of such plasticity during lactation. These neurons normally inhibit prolactin secretion from the pituitary, but during lactation alter their behavior to facilitate its release. This remarkable adaptation is essential for lactation but the mechanisms responsible are unknown. A recently available transgenic rat expressing Cre-recombinase in its dopaminergic neurons will enable us to effectively address this significant physiological issue, and thereby provide an original insight into an under-explored form of neuroplasticity. Stereotaxic injection of viral vectors carrying Cre-dependent indicators into the brains of these animals will be used to meet three interrelated objectives. First, expression of channel-rhodopsin in the TIDA neurons will facilitate the first ever recording of their in vivo activity, allowing lactation-association adaptations to be followed. Second, alterations in the connectivity between multiple TIDA neurons will be determined using a Cre-dependent Ca2+-indicator. Finally, lactation-associated alteration to TIDA neuron morphology will be examined using a Cre-dependent ‘Brainbow’ vector. This project will therefore provide a comprehensive, multilevel insight into the mechanisms underlying this physiologically important example of neuronal plasticity.
Total Awarded: $773,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Dr SJ Bunn
Panel: CMP
Project ID: 14-UOO-186
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2014
Title: Functional dissection of a novel GABAergic pathway in the brain circuitry controlling fertility
Recipient(s): Dr RE Campbell | PI | University of Otago
Professor AE Herbison | AI | University of Otago
Public Summary: Fertility is controlled by a network of neurons within the brain. Our recent morphological studies have identified a surprising new neuronal circuit within this network that, additionally, is altered in a mouse model of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), the most common form of female infertility. We propose here a series of functional studies using the most advanced technical approaches in neuroscience that will characterise the role of this novel neuronal pathway in the regulation of fertility. As this pathway is implicated in the aetiology of PCOS, a full understanding of its function may provide new insights into the treatment of this condition in the clinic.
Total Awarded: $820,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Dr RE Campbell
Panel: BMS
Project ID: 14-UOO-077
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2013
Title: Fungal drug resistance: not as simple as A-B-C
Recipient(s): Professor RD Cannon | PI | University of Otago
Dr E Lamping | PI | University of Otago
Associate Professor AK Mitra | AI | The University of Auckland
Dr M Niimi | AI | University of Otago
Professor R Prasad | AI | Jawaharlal Nehru University
Public Summary: Multidrug resistant fungal infections of humans have high mortality rates. This resistance is usually caused by the overexpression of pleiotropic drug resistance (PDR) ATP-binding cassette (ABC) membrane protein transporters that have a distinct topology compared to other well-studied classes of ABC protein. PDR pumps are predicted to contain large extracellular loops (ELs) that are not present in other ABC proteins. We have extensive preliminary evidence from the analysis of both site-directed and resistance-conferring mutations that existing models of PDR transporters are inaccurate. We propose that the unique ELs form ‘lids’, and transmembrane segments form ‘gates’, essential for substrate selection/transport and inhibitor binding. We will use our powerful set of tools that include an efficient heterologous expression system and over 300 site-directed mutants of PDR efflux pump Cdr1p, including a functional cysteine-less pump, to test this hypothesis. We will employ molecular genetic, biochemical, and biophysical techniques in three complementary approaches to show that the lid and gate structures contribute to a novel ABC protein transport mechanism and represent unique, specific, targets for clinically important PDR proteins.
Total Awarded: $773,913
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Professor RD Cannon
Panel: CMP
Project ID: 13-UOO-128
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2015
Title: Game of clones: unravelling biocide resistance mechanisms in Staphylococcus aureus
Recipient(s): Dr DA Williamson | PI | University of Otago
Professor GM Cook | AI | University of Otago
Public Summary: Chlorhexidine (CHX) is a topical antiseptic used extensively in the clinical setting. We recently discovered a high prevalence of CHX resistance in New Zealand S. aureus isolates, with high rates of co-resistance to another common antibiotic, fusidic acid. In this project, we will determine: (i) the evolution and transmissibility of CHX resistance in S. aureus; (ii) why some strains of S. aureus take up CHX resistance genes, and (iii) whether the presence of these genes confers any bacterial fitness cost. Such knowledge may identify novel strategies and therapeutic targets that limit the emergence and spread of resistant S. aureus.
Total Awarded: $490,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Dr DA Williamson
Panel: BMS
Project ID: 15-UOO-191
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2011
Title: Games and automaticity
Recipient(s): Dr J Liu | PI | Auckland University of Technology
Prof D Kuske | AI | Technische Universitaet Ilmenau
Prof M Lohrey | AI | Universitaet Leipzig
Public Summary: Infinite games and automatic structures are two important areas in theoretical computer science that have been extensively studied in recent years. Both of these two areas have close connections with logic, automata theory, model checking and verification. This project aims to employ automata-theoretic techniques in the investigation of games and structures. In the theory of infinite games, automata represent strategies for the players. The goal is to design and study algorithms for determining the winners of games and computing winning strategies for the players. Topics include: (1) finding classes of games that can be solved efficiently (2) studying dynamic algorithms on games (3) extending the theory of non-terminating games from finite graphs to infinite graphs that are presented by automata. In the theory of automatic structures, automata are used to represent
structures. The goal is to extract useful isomorphism invariants of structures and classify structures up to isomorphism. Topics include: (1) Designing algorithms for classifying automatic structures up to isomorphism (2) Giving a quantitative measure of the complexity of the isomorphism problem using notions from computability theory when the problem is undecidable. All the above topics have significant theoretical and practical implications.
Total Awarded: $288,032
Duration: 3
Host: Auckland University of Technology
Contact Person: Dr J Liu
Panel: MIS
Project ID: 11-AUT-028
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2009
Title: Gene function in context: from molecules to morphology
Recipient(s): Dr VV Symonds | PI | Massey University
Public Summary: What do genes do? Perhaps an obvious question, the traditional approach to answering it has been rather limited in scope. While we know a great deal about what happens when we completely inactivate a gene, we know very little about how the subtle changes that naturally occur in genes yield the phenotypic variation that natural selection acts on. Here we will quantify natural variation for several traits and study the genes that control their development to reveal the molecular nature of natural morphological variation. The results will help to fill a significant gap in our understanding of complex gene function.
Total Awarded: $266,667
Duration: 3
Host: Massey University
Contact Person: Dr VV Symonds
Panel: EEB
Project ID: 09-MAU-114