Search Marsden awards 2008–2017
Search awarded Marsden Fund grants 2008–2017
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2010
Title: Micro-mimics: Mimicking virus removal and transport in groundwater using surface charge-modified, DNA-labelled silica nanobeads
Recipient(s): Dr L Pang | PI | Institute of Environmental Science and Research
Dr RD Tilley | AI | Victoria University of Wellington
Dr A Varsani | AI | University of Canterbury
Public Summary: Consuming pathogen-contaminated groundwater causes human diseases, but very little is known about the behaviour of pathogens in groundwater. Tools to investigate pathogens in groundwater are limited, and pathogens cannot be deliberately introduced in field experiments. Our preliminary study suggests that we can overcome these barriers by designing and making pathogen surrogates for laboratory and field studies, using harmless natural materials. In this study we will mimic rotavirus transport in groundwater by developing surface charge-modified, DNA-labelled and protein-coated silica nanobeads that mirror the size and surface charge of rotavirus – properties that dictate virus retention and transport in aquifers. The retention and transport behaviours of the surrogate and rotavirus in aquifer media, as well as rotavirus die-off and DNA degradation, will be compared in laboratory studies. Once this approach is validated, surrogates for many specific pathogens can be made and their retention and transport in groundwater systems studied. The application of this tool could be extended to include surface-waters, soils and sediments. This innovative tool will help to catalyse significant advances in our understanding of pathogen retention and transport, and allow more accurate predictions of contamination risk from pathogens in the environment.
Total Awarded: $759,130
Duration: 3
Host: Institute of Environmental Science and Research
Contact Person: Dr L Pang
Panel: EIS
Project ID: 10-ESR-001
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: Microbes at the helm: are microbiomes shaping parasite phenotypes?
Recipient(s): Professor R Poulin | PI | University of Otago
Dr NM Dheilly | AI | Stony Brook University
Public Summary: The microbiome revolution is rapidly changing how we study ecology and evolution, as researchers increasingly realise that much of an organism’s phenotype can be attributed to its metagenome (combined DNA of its resident microorganisms). Parasitic organisms also have their own microbiomes. Can these shape parasite biology and host-parasite interactions? This could have far-reaching implications for our understanding of parasitism and the development of new anti-parasite therapies. Using two flatworms which parasitise native aquatic animals, we will address this question, testing for ontogenetic, inter-individual and geographic variation in parasite microbiomes and experimentally quantifying their impact on parasite development and, ultimately, their phenotype. Our research will use a set of powerful tools ranging from metagenomic sequencing to experimental manipulation of microbiomes, to explore how bacteria shape what parasitic worms actually do.
Total Awarded: $890,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Professor R Poulin
Panel: EEB
Project ID: 17-UOO-001
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2010
Title: Microbial diversity in the extreme—Abiotically driven biocomplexity in the Antarctic Dry Valleys
Recipient(s): Dr CK Lee | PI | University of Waikato
Prof SC Cary | AI | University of Waikato
Dr GW Tyson | AI | The University of Queensland
Public Summary: Recent discoveries have transformed our view of microbial ecology in the soils of Antarctic Dry Valleys, which evidently harbour significant and extremely localised microbial genetic diversities that are heterogeneous across physicochemical gradients. We seek to elucidate how local abiotic factors, which are reflective of historical and ongoing geological processes, influence ecologically relevant Dry Valley microbiota. Over two field season, we will carry out a collection of experiments aimed at elucidating the potentially causal relationship between abiotic factors and microbial ecology, and validate our findings through a multi-valley survey. Using a suite of RNA-based molecular genetic techniques, including a metatranscriptomic study, the proposed research will reveal how these microbial communities structurally and functionally respond to abiotic physicochemical variables. Results from the proposed research will elucidate the relationship between soil microbial ecology and the glacial geomorphology of the Dry Valleys; such information will be extremely valuable for predicting how changes in macro-climatic conditions affect the Dry Valley ecosystem and understanding the geological history of the Dry Valleys. Findings from this study can be projected to similar (i.e., oligotrophic, low biomass) habitats worldwide and answer fundamental questions related to the biogeography and dispersal of microorganisms.
Total Awarded: $260,870
Duration: 3
Host: University of Waikato
Contact Person: Dr CK Lee
Panel: EEB
Project ID: 10-UOW-086
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2017
Title: Microresonator frequency combs through second-order nonlinearities
Recipient(s): Dr HGL Schwefel | PI | University of Otago
Dr MJ Erkintalo | PI | The University of Auckland
Public Summary: Frequency combs are light sources whose spectrum consists of numerous equally-spaced lines. They were first invented in 2000, triggering a string of breakthroughs; the Nobel Prize followed in 2005. In 2007, a revolutionary new way of frequency comb generation emerged: a laser beam launched into a microscopic resonator spontaneously transformed into a comb! Unfortunately, the third-order nonlinear light-matter interactions that underpin the transformation gives rise to complex instabilities, and do not permit straightforward access to the visible and mid-infrared spectral regions.
In this project, we will experimentally demonstrate an entirely new paradigm of microresonator frequency combs based on second-order light-matter interactions, whose unique and unexplored advantages have full potential to enable stable frequency combs and access to new spectral regions. Through synergetic combination of theory and experiment, we will leverage distinct second-order processes to demonstrate novel microresonator comb sources satisfying critical needs at three distinct spectral regions: (i) the near-infrared, (ii) the visible, and (iii) the mid-infrared. The developed second-order microresonator frequency comb sources will represent an entirely new technology that has full potential to offer unprecedented performance for a myriad of applications, including multi-wavelength telecommunications (near-infrared), imaging (visible), and molecular spectroscopy (mid-infrared).
Total Awarded: $910,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Dr HGL Schwefel
Panel: PCB
Project ID: 17-UOO-002
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Fast-Start
Year Awarded: 2013
Title: Microresonator frequency combs: fibre-optic physics to the rescue
Recipient(s): Dr MJ Erkintalo | PI | The University of Auckland
Associate Professor SX Coen | AI | The University of Auckland
Dr SG Murdoch | AI | The University of Auckland
Public Summary: Optical frequency combs are made of thousands of equally spaced spectral lines, each an ultra-stable laser in its own right. They act as 'spectral rulers' against which unknown optical frequencies can be measured with unprecedented accuracy. Since their inception, frequency combs have revolutionized precision metrology, and found applications across scales difficult to grasp: from the detection of extra-solar planets to unravelling the mysteries of elementary particles. Imagine now, doing all this and more, with a device smaller than the diameter of human hair. Science fiction? No: in 2007 the generation of optical frequency combs in monolithic microresonators took the world of photonics by storm. Amidst the flurry of subsequent experimental breakthroughs, theoretical progress has faltered and the physics of fully-developed microresonator frequency combs remain poorly understood. Significantly, a simple observation with the potential to unlock the mystery abides wholly unexplored: a microresonator resembles an optical fiber looped on itself. We propose to undertake a full investigation of the dynamics and characteristics of microresonator-based frequency combs by tapping into the decades of research on macroscopic fiber-optic resonators. By developing a complete understanding of the physics in action, we seek to unleash the full potential of microresonator-based frequency combs.
Total Awarded: $300,000
Duration: 3
Host: The University of Auckland
Contact Person: Dr MJ Erkintalo
Panel: PCB
Project ID: 13-UOA-245
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2008
Title: Migration, ethnicity, and asylums in New Zealand and Australia 1860-1910
Recipient(s): Prof AH McCarthy | PI | University of Otago
Dr C Coleborne | PI | University of Waikato
Public Summary: Committal to an asylum was but one possible outcome of dysfunction, despair, and social and economic hardship experienced by foreign-born migrants in nineteenth-century Australasia. Yet in-depth analysis specifically focused on migration, ethnicity, and insanity has yet to be attempted. This three-year project examines these issues in the Dunedin, Auckland, and Melbourne lunatic asylums between 1863 and 1907, and will contribute to the history of migration, the history of medicine, and Australasian, British, and Irish social history. It will merge qualitative and quantitative approaches and situate its findings within comparative, longitudinal, and transnational perspectives.
Total Awarded: $544,000
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Prof AH McCarthy
Panel: SOC
Project ID: 08-UOO-167
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2012
Title: Mind the gap? Worker productivity and pay gaps between similar workers in New Zealand
Recipient(s): Prof SE Stillman | PI | University of Otago
Dr RB Fabling | AI | Motu Economic and Public Policy Research
Prof JK Gibson | AI | University of Waikato
Public Summary: Wage differences for workers in different demographic groups, firms and locations have been documented in many empirical studies. For example, women in New Zealand earn, on average, 10-15 percent less than comparable men, while workers in the biggest firms earn 20 percent more than similar workers in the smallest firms. Understanding the cause of these so called ‘wage gaps’ is critical for evaluating the role of public policy in creating an equal playing field for different workers. However, previous research has not been able to account for possible differences in productivity that might instead explain these wages gap. Our proposed research will test competing hypotheses about three important wage gaps; the gender pay gap, the big firm wage premium and geographic wage differences, by exploiting unique longitudinal data collected by Statistics New Zealand on all employee-employer relationships in New Zealand. This data can be used to simultaneously measure wage and productivity differences across groups of workers and will allow us to use two methods to estimate the proportion of each observed wage gap that is explained by differences in worker productivity and evaluate possible explanations for any unexplained wage differences.
Total Awarded: $695,652
Duration: 3
Host: University of Otago
Contact Person: Prof SE Stillman
Panel: EHB
Project ID: 12-UOO-067
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2014
Title: Mining Mincle: how Mincle ligands can lead to more effective vaccines
Recipient(s): Dr BL Stocker | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Dr MSM Timmer | AI | Victoria University of Wellington
Public Summary: Vaccines have made a major contribution to the control and eradication of disease, yet there are still many pathogens for which effective vaccines are not available. A vaccine requires both an antigen and an adjuvant, with the latter having a role in enhancing the antigen-specific immune response. To limit potential side effects from whole-cell vaccines, there is an incentive to use well-defined vaccine antigens, which requires the use of powerful adjuvants that provide an enhanced cellular immune response.
To address the need for new and enhanced vaccines, there has been much interest in harnessing the potential of bacterial glycolipids, such as the trehalose glycolipids (TGLs), as adjuvants. It was only last year that the crystal structure of Mincle, the receptor for TGLs, was determined, and this discovery will undoubtedly lead to an explosion in the field of TGL adjuvant research. With our combined expertise in trehalose glycolipid synthesis, crystallography and immunology, and our seminal findings in these respective fields, we are ideally suited to address this issue and to determine how TGL Mincle ligands can be best optimised to generate more effective vaccine adjuvants.
Total Awarded: $705,000
Duration: 3
Host: Victoria University of Wellington
Contact Person: Dr BL Stocker
Panel: BMS
Project ID: 14-VUW-211
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2014
Title: Missing narratives of modern Chinese intellectual history: modernity and writings on art, 1900-1930
Recipient(s): Professor Y Wang | PI | Victoria University of Wellington
Professor GB Lee | AI | Jean Moulin University-Lyon 3
Professor Y LI | AI | Beijing Normal University
Public Summary: Until the 20th century there were no words for either “art” or “fine art” in the Chinese language. The word, the concept, and the European practice of art arrived in China at the beginning of the 20th century. By the third decade, a total transformation of art concepts and practice had occurred. In 1929 China’s first national art exhibition, sponsored by the Ministry of Education, was held in Shanghai with overwhelming success.
Leading contemporary intellectuals considered the art revolution an essential part of China’s trajectory towards modernity and actively participated in debate about art. But art is still absent from the historiography of modern Chinese intellectual development. This project will produce the first book on the intellectual debate over art, modernity and nationhood at the crucial historical juncture between the last years of imperial China and the beginning decades of the Republican era (1900-1930). The resulting analysis will provide a new understanding of China’s unfolding intellectual modernity and, in particular, its correlation with colonialism, cultural nationalism, westernisation and cosmopolitanism.
Total Awarded: $495,000
Duration: 3
Host: Victoria University of Wellington
Contact Person: Professor Y Wang
Panel: HUM
Project ID: 14-VUW-156
Fund Type: Marsden Fund
Category: Standard
Year Awarded: 2015
Title: Mitochondrial DNA transfer to cells with mitochondrial genome damage following bone marrow transplantation
Recipient(s): Professor MV Berridge | PI | Malaghan Institute of Medical Research
Dr R Weinkove | PI | Malaghan Institute of Medical Research
Associate Professor PM Herst | AI | University of Otago
Dr MJ McConnell | AI | Victoria University of Wellington
Public Summary: We have demonstrated mitochondrial transfer between cells in culture, and mitochondrial genome transfer from normal cells to tumour cells without mitochondrial (mt) DNA in transplantable tumour models in vivo. The extent of intercellular mitochondrial movement between cells under physiological conditions remains unexplored. We hypothesize that mitochondrial transfer is facilitated by mtDNA damage. We will investigate the effect of mtDNA damage on intercellular mtDNA transfer in mouse and human bone marrow chimeras using mtDNA polymorphisms and cell surface markers that distinguish donor and recipient cells. We will also use mice with nuclear-encoded fluorescent proteins with and without a mitochondrial import sequence to explore mitochondrial transfer between donor and recipient cells at early times following transplantation.
Total Awarded: $840,000
Duration: 3
Host: Malaghan Institute of Medical Research
Contact Person: Professor MV Berridge
Panel: BMS
Project ID: 15-MIM-001