Search Marsden awards 2008–2017
Search awarded Marsden Fund grants 2008–2017
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2016
Title: In one end out the other: using ancient dung to reconstruct the transformation of prehistoric island ecosystems by invasive rats
Recipient(s): Associate Professor JM Wilmshurst | PI | Landcare Research
Professor GLW Perry | AI | The University of Auckland
Dr JR Wood | AI | Landcare Research
Public Summary: Invasive rats have dispersed with humans to hundreds of islands around the world, devastating indigenous biotas and ecosystems. However, a complete understanding of the ecological consequences of rat invasions on islands is missing because current evidence for prehistoric rat impacts is largely speculative, and contemporary studies of rat impacts are set in long-modified ecosystems. Our remarkable new discovery of 750−300 year-old Pacific rat (kiore/Rattus exulans) coprolites (preserved faeces) in NZ provides a globally unique opportunity to reconstruct the diet and impacts of an invasive animal on an intact biota, from the time of its first introduction. An individual rat coprolite preserves exquisite molecular and microscopic evidence for everything consumed over several meals by the depositing rat. We will analyse hundreds of Pacific rat coprolites using ancient DNA and microscopic techniques. Combining this data with radiocarbon dating and quantitative modelling approaches, we will provide a uniquely detailed chronological and data-rich reconstruction of a prehistoric invasion. By revealing previously undocumented interactions between rats and a diverse range of indigenous plants and animals, we will advance current thinking about the legacy of rat invasions on ecosystem composition and function. Our study will provide a global benchmark for understanding prehistoric island invasions.
Total Awarded: $830,000
Duration: 3
Host: Landcare Research
Contact Person: Associate Professor JM Wilmshurst
Panel: EEB
Project ID: 16-LCR-001
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2013
Title: In the cradle of the double helix: a novel proposal for the origin of life
Recipient(s): Dr HS Bernhardt | PI | University of Otago
Dr BC Hawkins | AI | University of Otago
Dr JDA Tyndall | AI | University of Otago
Public Summary: The 'RNA world hypothesis' proposes that RNA once functioned as the exclusive genetic material and biological catalyst. However, RNA is a complex molecule made up of phosphate, ribose and nucleotide bases, and its evolution is unclear. Yakhnin has recently proposed a scenario in which RNA precursors underwent selection for stability prior to the advent of replication and Darwinian evolution; however, his model does not consider the ultimate source of the nucleotides. We propose that the nucleotide bases arose from simpler precursors that formed stabilizing interactions between the twin strands of a ribose phosphate double helix. Further, in line with Granick's hypothesis of biosynthetic pathways recapitulating evolution, we propose that these simpler precursors were intermediates of the modern de novo purine biosynthetic pathway. Notably, nearly half of the reactions in this pathway have been shown to or are proposed to occur spontaneously, suggesting they could have occurred prebiotically. Proposed RNA precursors will be computer-modeled, synthesized, and their structure and stability determined. This proposal promises not only to expand our understanding of early RNA evolution – according to the ‘RNA world hypothesis’, possibly the origin of life itself – but also provide novel insights into the structure of modern RNA.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Dr HS Bernhardt
Panel: EEB
Project ID: 13-UOO-119
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2016
Title: In vivo gene editing with CRISPR to define estrogen feedback in the brain
Recipient(s): Professor AE Herbison | PI | University of Otago
Public Summary: Circulating levels of the ovarian hormone estrogen act on the brain to control fertility. A group of brain cells called the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons are responsible for controlling fertility in all mammals including humans. At present, the cellular pathway through which estrogen modulates the activity of GnRH neurons in unknown. This project intends to determine precisely which brain cells are responsible for detecting estrogen levels in the blood and transmitting this information to the GnRH neurons. We will use a novel application of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to delete estrogen receptors from GABA, glutamate or kisspeptin neurons located in two specific brain regions of the mouse. This research will develop world-leading in vivo gene editing technology for neuroscience within New Zealand and elucidate the mechanism of 'estrogen feedback' to the GnRH neurons. This information will underpin the development of new strategies for helping infertile couples as well as the development of safer contraceptive agents.
Total Awarded: $825,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Professor AE Herbison
Panel: BMS
Project ID: 16-UOO-201
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2012
Title: Inequality and injustice: deliberation, power and the nature of public opinion
Recipient(s): Dr PD Skilling | PI | Auckland University of Technology
Dr ESTA Poata-Smith | AI | Auckland University of Technology
Public Summary: High levels of economic inequality are not just unfortunate for those “at the bottom”. Rather, they are associated with harmful effects for society overall. Opinion surveys show that the public, while uncomfortable with the existing unequal distribution of wealth, is also opposed to extending political measures (such as the tax or welfare systems) that might mitigate it. What lies behind this apparent paradox? And what might it mean for the democratic legitimacy of public policies addressing inequality? Existing research has identified public attitudes in this area, but the broad-but-shallow approach of opinion surveys has been unable to explore either (1) the reasons that lie behind those attitudes or (2) the extent to which they have been influenced by the perspectives that dominate public debates. This project deploys a potent combination of approaches (Q-methodology and engaged citizen deliberation) to work intensively with a relatively small number of carefully chosen participants, promising an in-depth, detailed understanding of their core values, their policy preferences and their reasoning strategies. By identifying the values and attitudes that prove most compelling in a process of informed and reflective deliberation, the project contributes towards the development of a consensus for addressing socially harmful levels of economic inequality.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: Auckland University of Technology
Contact Person: Dr PD Skilling
Panel: SOC
Project ID: 12-AUT-013
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2009
Title: Infertility, body fat and kisspeptin: making the connections
Recipient(s): Dr JH Quennell | PI | University of Otago
Dr GM Anderson | AI | University of Otago
Public Summary: The level of body adiposity is closely linked to puberty onset and adult fertility. Preliminary evidence suggests kisspeptin neurons form an intermediary link between the fat-derived hormone leptin and gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons that govern fertility. State-of-the-art conditional 'Brainbow' transgenic mice (where individual kisspeptin neurons fluoresce different colours, enabling them to be tracked) will be used to determine if leptin-responsive kisspeptin neurons project to GnRH neurons. Additionally, a new kisspeptin antagonist will be employed to determine if kisspeptin is critical for leptin's stimulation of GnRH secretion. The information gained may lead to new treatments for obesity related infertility.
Total Awarded: $266,667
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Dr JH Quennell
Panel: BMS
Project ID: 09-UOO-172
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: Initiating a Māori archaeology of threatened North Island rock art.
Recipient(s): Dr G O'Regan | PI | The University of Auckland
Public Summary: Over 120 Māori rock art sites are known of in the North Island but very little is understood about this heritage that is being lost to weathering and environmental change. This study addresses the question of whether making rock art was a traditional practice held in common across North Island iwi or reflects unrelated local innovations of landscape marking. A participatory approach will work with marae to record and map their local treasures. Unique to archaeology in New Zealand, the project also brings together kaitiaki Māori from across the Island to examine archaeological data, foster inter-iwi knowledge exchange and grow a collective understanding of the rock art heritage. This will provide a platform for Māori communities to shape the future archaeology of North Island rock art. Archival and newly recorded archaeological data from across the North Island will be integrated with Māori landscape knowledge that allows comparative analysis of rock art motifs and their wider landscape contexts. The findings will strengthen future explorations of how Māori rock art relates to other aspects of Māori art and archaeology, and its connections to other Pacific rock art. It will also help establish conservation priorities for this fragile heritage.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: The University of Auckland
Contact Person: Dr G O'Regan
Panel: EHB
Project ID: 17-UOA-062
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2012
Title: Institutional change, path dependence and public transport planning in Auckland
Recipient(s): Dr I Muhammad | PI | School of People, Environment & Planning
Public Summary: Utilising cutting edge approaches of social science to the socio-political institutions of public transport, this project proposes an institutional approach to investigate the planning and design of public transport in Auckland. The concepts of 'path dependence' and 'path development' will be used to analyse public transport policies in Auckland and to explore the potential for transformative change in public transport development made possible as a result of the creation of the Auckland Council. A theoretical framework developed from three types of path dependence and development, namely political, social and discursive, will focus attention on the political-institutional relationships between central and local governments, the socio-institutional interactions between the Auckland Council and local communities and the discursive-institutional connections between beliefs and policy problems and their generated solutions. The analysis provides a timely opportunity to assess three dimensions of path dependence and to explore institutional change through engaging community perspectives and compiling alternative discourses. The research aims to demonstrate that successful public transport development is primarily dependent on the quality of democratic deliberations and the institutional capacity to redefine the problem and to generate new solutions.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: Massey University
Contact Person: Dr I Muhammad
Panel: SOC
Project ID: 12-MAU-057
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2010
Title: Interactions of biological cells with bio-imprinted patterns
Recipient(s): Assoc Prof M Alkaisi | PI | University of Canterbury
Assoc Prof JJ Evans | PI | University of Otago
Public Summary: Dialogue between engineers and biologists have increased because mechanical forces from the microenvironment are central to functioning of biological cells. Thus cells exert forces on neighbours as they grow. In the cases where tissue repair or regeneration is attempted in the event of accident or disease a substrate may be chemically constructed with nanoscale details that are vital to the new cells’ behaviour.
Nanostructured materials which mimic the nanometre topography of the native tissue showed improved biological responses and result in better integration in medical implants.
With the increasing developments of BioMEMs and medical devices, understanding of cell interactions with surfaces and materials is becoming very important. It has also been suggested that some cancers are caused by inappropriate mechanical force balances which activate deleterious growth and proliferation pathways. Hence an engineering approach may produce biomaterials and nanostructures that have potential to reverse cancer advancement.
We have a unique capability of forming replicas of cells with nanoscale fidelity that can be scaled onto 3D scaffolds on biocompatible materials. We will be investigating for the first time the responses of cells interacting with patterns that resemble themselves. These methodologies could lead to new implant coatings that are biocompatible, bioactive and organ specific.
Total Awarded: $629,565
Duration: 3
Host: University of Canterbury
Contact Person: Assoc Prof M Alkaisi
Panel: EIS
Project ID: 10-UOC-093
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: Interactive 3D computational videography
Recipient(s): Dr SE Zollmann | PI | University of Otago
Public Summary: An emerging paradigm called 3D computational videography uses recently developed image-processing techniques to extract 3D data from videos. However, existing techniques in this area require multiple cameras, or intensive computer processing, or time-consuming human annotation. The aim of the current project is to construct a 3D scene from a single unconstrained video file, with minimal human annotation, in close to real time. After the 3D scene is reconstructed, a user will be able to explore the scene freely, selecting new viewpoints and perspectives. To illustrate, imagine being able to experience a family gathering, captured on a single video, as a fully explorable 3D scene, so that your choices about how to move and where to look can be different from those of the camera operator.
The goal of this project is to advance 3D computational videography with techniques drawn from two existing areas, that have not so far been combined. We will draw on the one hand on well-known computational photography techniques going beyond the boundaries of traditional photography and allowing to extract 3D structure from a single photography and on the other hand on techniques recently developed in augmented reality, that emphasise real-time computer vision and computer graphics.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Dr SE Zollmann
Panel: MIS
Project ID: 17-UOO-200
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2012
Title: Interdisciplinary targeted strategy: novel approach to guide new hypoxia-activated prodrugs to solid tumours using pH-sensitive liposomes
Recipient(s): Dr Z Wu | PI | The University of Auckland
Prof WR Wilson | AI | The University of Auckland
Public Summary: Conventional anticancer chemotherapy has low tumour specificity. To improve this, hypoxia-activated prodrugs (HAPs) were designed to be activated under the hypoxic conditions that prevail in many tumours. New Zealand is a leader in this field internationally, and a HAP developed at the University of Auckland (PR-104) is currently under clinical trial. However, ongoing studies have identified limitations that need to be rectified. Second generation analogues under development provide a unique opportunity to apply a novel pharmaceutical science strategy; we will explore a targeted delivery approach for exploiting abnormal microenvironmental features of tumours, in addition to hypoxia. The leakiness of tumour blood vessels allows accumulation of the HAPs carried by nanosized particles (liposomes) to the interstitial space. Low extracellular pH, a characteristic of hypoxic zones, will be used to release HAPs selectively from pH-sensitive liposomes. In addition, the released HAP will carry a weakly acidic group to drive their accumulation in cells by the extracellular/intracellular pH gradient. This multi-step targeting approach imposes pharmacokinetic tumour selectivity on HAP. We will test the hypothesis that dynamic changes in hypoxia and acidosis, resulting from fluctuating blood flow in tumours, can be exploited with pH-sensitive liposomes that have long tissue residence times.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: The University of Auckland
Contact Person: Dr Z Wu
Panel: BMS
Project ID: 12-UOA-033