Helen Woolner
2024: Dr Helen Woolner of Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington has been awarded a New Zealand Mana Tūānuku Research Leader Fellowship. Combining Pacific Island knowledge with an all-encompassing scientific approach, Dr Woolner will investigate the potential of marine organisms to provide a new generation of antibiotic drugs
Dr Woolner received a PhD in Chemistry in 2017 from Victoria University of Wellington. In 2018, she was awarded a Pacific Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Health Research Council of New Zealand. She was appointed as Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington in 2022. She won the Zonta Biennial Science Award in 2020. Dr Woolner held a position as a Leadership Group member at the Centre for Biodiscovery at Victoria University of Wellington from 2022 to 2024 and as Associate Investigator at the Centre for Research Excellence (CoRE) Maurice Wilkins for Molecular Biodiscovery. Dr Woolner collaborates extensively with international and domestic researchers, holders of Indigenous knowledge, and Māori and Pacific research groups and is a member of the Te Vairanga Kite Pakari Cook Islands Research Association. Recently, she has discovered a new antibiotic as well as a key bioactive compound in a traditional Samoan medicinal plant used to treat inflammation.
Development of antibiotic drugs by pharmaceutical companies is falling behind the rising threat of antimicrobial resistance of disease-causing bacteria. This is leading to an escalating medical crisis where we lack effective treatments for serious and potentially life-threatening infections. As a result, the search for novel antimicrobial substances must turn to new sources, such as the marine environment. Working with holders of Pacific Indigenous knowledge, Dr Woolner will collect promising marine organisms from the Cook Islands and Samoa to discover natural chemicals with antimicrobial activity that are harboured within marine fungi and bacteria. She will bring together Pacific Indigenous wisdom with the full range of genetic and biochemical analyses to identify antimicrobial compounds with promise as new antibiotic drug candidates.
Kua ‘ōronga’ia atu kia Dr Helen Woolner o Te Herenga Waka Victoria University o Wellington te New Zealand Mana Tūānuku Research Leader Fellowship. Na roto i te rotai'anga i te kite tupuna o te Pasifika ki te au ravenga taieni e manganui ka kimikimi ‘o’onu atu ‘ā Dr Woolner ki roto i te au apinga ora o te moana no te ‘ōronga mai i tetai au vairakau paruru maki no te tuatau ki mua.
Kua rauka to Dr Woolner peapa PhD no te Chemistry i te mataiti 2017 no ko i te Victoria University o Wellington. I te mataiti 2018, kua ‘ōronga atu te Health Research Council o Aotearoa kiaia te Pacific Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship I te mataiti 2022, kua iki'ia aia ei puapi’i ki ko i te Victoria University o Wellington. I te mataiti 2020, kua peke iaia te re no te Zonta Biennial Science Award. Kua mou ana aia i te taonga mema arataki no te pupu o te Centre for Biodiscovery i ko i te Victoria University o Wellington mei te mataiti 2022 ki te 2024. Kua riro katoa aia ei Tauturu Tangata Kimikimi Matatio i ko i te Centre for Research Excellence (CoRE) Maurice Wilkins no te Molecular Biodiscovery. E ‘anga’anga kapiti ana a Dr Woolner ki te au taunga kimi kite no va’o ake e i Aotearoa, e au Taunga e mou nei i te kite tupuna e pera te au pupu kimi kite o te Māori e te Pasifika e mema ratou no te taokotai'anga Te Vairanga Kite Pakari Cook Islands Research Association. I teia tuatau ua nei kua kitea mai eia tetai vairakau paruru ou (antibiotic) e pera tetai pakau pu’apinga i roto i tetai rakau vairakau a te Amoa e ta'anga'anga ia ana no te 'aka'ēē (inflammation).
Te marie nei te au kamupani vairakau i te maani i te au vairakau paruru no te paruru atu i te au manumanu kino ou e tupu mai nei. Te neke nei te reira ki te turanga tumatetenga e kare e vairakau paruru tau no te rapakau i te au maki kino. No te reira tumu, ka neke te kimi vairakau ki tetai ngai ou mei te moana. Ka angaanga kapiti atu a Dr Woolner ki te au Taunga Kite Tupuna o te Pasifika no te ko'i mai i te au pakau ora i roto i te moana o te Kuki Airani e Amoa no te kimi ‘o’onu atu no tetai au vairakau i roto i te reira au tu pakau tuketuke. Ka kiriti mai aia i te kite tupuna o te Pasifika e te au tu akarakara'anga genetics e te biochemical kia kitea mai tetai au pakau te ka riro i te anga mai i tetai vairakau paruru.
Four different types of marine fungi and two types of marine bacteria found in sea sponges that are being studied for new antimicrobials (Supplied)