Upcoming events hosted by or involving Genetics Otago will be listed here. Please check back regularly for updates. A calendar of events that may be of interest to our members can be found at the bottom of this page and in the sidebar of other pages on this site, please note that this includes events hosted outside of Genetics Otago.
VISG Seminar Series
The Virtual Institute of Statistical Genetics (VISG) Hub is a key part of Genetics Otago, providing a platform for researchers to collaborate and exchange knowledge and expertise in statistical genetics. The VISG Hub hosts seminars, workshops, and other events to promote statistical genetics research and foster collaboration between researchers.
We’re excited to announce our monthly genetics research seminars, aimed at connecting researchers in the field. The seminars will commence in May 2023 and will be hosted by GO’s Virtual Institute of Statistical Genetics (VISG) Hub along with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Otago. These seminars will be available in person or via Zoom, and all are welcome.
Date: 3rd Thursday of the month
Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Schedule
- May: Associate Professor Phil Wilcox, University of Otago
- June: Professor Mik Black, University of Otago
- July: Dr Ludovic Dutoit, University of Otago – please note that this seminar will be held on the 27th of July rather than the 20th due to ICG.
- August: Dr Setegn Alemu, AgResearch
- September: Ee Cheng Oi, Abacus Bio
- October: Franziska Weik, Beef + Lamb NZ Genetics – Cancelled
- November: Dr Jane Symonds and Dr Megan Scholtens, Cawthron – please note that this seminar will be held on the 17th of November rather than the 16th due to the Genetics Otago Annual Symposium.
Zoom Details
If you would like the Zoom details for this event, please contact us.
Next Seminar
The next seminar will be held on Friday the 17th of November, 11 am in Biochemistry Seminar Room G13 and will be given by Dr Jane Symonds and Dr Megan Scholtens, Cawthron Institute.
Title: Environmental resilience in aquatic species
Abstract: The New Zealand aquaculture sector faces growing vulnerability due to climate change, with marine heatwaves already causing elevated summer mortality rates in Greenshell mussels and king (Chinook) salmon. To tackle these challenges, selective breeding and genomic selection offer long-term solutions. Temperature challenge models, implemented in controlled tank environments, have been developed for both species. So far, this approach has been applied successfully to test more than 230 pedigree king salmon families and 21 Greenshell mussel families. Heritabilities for time to death at elevated temperature were high (0.34 to 0.48) suggesting that selection for improved thermotolerance is possible.
Megan Scholtens
Megan is a geneticist within the Aquaculture Group at Cawthron and is involved in a number of research projects across the ‘Shellfish Aquaculture’ and ‘Finfish Climate Change Adaptation’ platforms. Megan specialises in the application of genetic and genomic methodologies to enhance the understanding of how genes affect traits such as growth, development, behaviour, reproduction and immunity to improve the efficiency, resilience and survivability of aquatic species. In addition, Megan contributes to research activities of the Aquaculture team by integrating the experimental biology with commercial production to help provide solutions for clients and deliver tangible outcomes for the aquaculture industry.
Jane Symonds
Jane is a Senior Scientist and Team Leader in the Aquaculture Group at Cawthron. Jane’s focus is the application of research to enhance sustainable commercial production with a specific interest in king salmon farming and selective breeding. She has over 30 years of experience in this field. As a science programme leader she oversees a wide range of multi-disciplinary collaborative projects with internal and external partners, including salmon feed efficiency, genomics, behaviour, health, physiology, microbiomics, climate change adaptation, data science and developing trials to selectively breed resilient and efficient king salmon. Implementation of research for sustainable and profitable aquaculture development is a key driver for Jane. Dr Symonds is also a Senior Adjunct Researcher at the University of Tasmania and helps supervise multiple post-graduate students.
If you have any questions about this seminar series please contact us.
Calendar of Events
The below is a calendar of events hosted by GO as well as events hosted by others that may be of interest to our members. If you have an event you would like us to include please contact us here.
Department of Botany Seminars—Semester Two 2021
Wednesdays at 12 noon in the Physical Education Building, 55 Union St West, room 2.13 (unless otherwise stated please see schedule below).
For those who cannot attend in person, you are welcome to join via the Zoom link below: https://otago.zoom.us/j/94239463064?pwd=d051YWFwdVB1bi9FSzBjYzkwNWJBUT09 Password: 807740
Dr Chi Lynch-Sutherland who will present her exit seminar entitled ‘Repeating the past: do cancers use early developmental repeat elements to drive malignancy?’.
Please see attached for more information.
The University of Otago Division of Health Sciences Early and Mid-Career Researcher (EMCR) management committee is holding a one-day conference on 11 November 2021.
The theme of the conference is collaboration, where we will invite EMCRs within the Division to present where you see your research going, and what collaboration you might be seeking.
Professor David Murdoch (Vice-Chancellor Designate, University of Otago), Professor Gary Evans (MBIE Chief Science Advisor) and Dr Sarah Diermeier (founder of Amaroq) are confirmed keynote speakers. They will present on strengthening collaborations between academic institutions and government agencies and creating a start-up company from your research.
The EMCR management committee warmly invites you to attend the Conference.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
athology Department Seminar Series for 2022 begins this Friday 4th February. Our speaker will be Prof. Greg Anderson from the Centre for Neuroendocrinology & Department of Anatomy (University of Otago) who will present a seminar entitled “A neuronal circuit for stress-induced infertility”.
The seminar will be held at the usual time of 1pm in the D’Ath Lecture theatre and accessible over zoom due to the Red Light settings (please contact the organiser for the link). For those attending in person, there will be refreshments provided at 12.45pm (~15min before the seminar). Details of which will be provided closer to the time.
Our Pathology Department Seminar Series for 2022 continues as a Research Forum this Friday 11th February. The Forum will be hosted by Dr. Karen Reader- Operations Manager, Otago Micro and Nanoscale Imaging (OMNI). Karen will be presenting on “Tools for your Research–An introduction to the Flow Cytometry, Histology, Confocal and Electron Microscope units”.
The forum will be held at the usual seminar time of 1 pm in the D’Ath Lecture theatre and accessible over zoom due to the Red Light settings, contact organisers for link.
For those attending in person, there will be refreshments provided at 12.45pm (~15 min before the seminar). Food will kept for collection in the foyer near the back entrance of the D’Ath lecture theatre. We have a capacity for 50 people in the D’Ath.
This two-day course is a fun introduction to the appropriate application and interpretation of biostatistical concepts for people working in clinical research with no formal statistical training. The focus will not be on carrying out analyses, but rather on understanding the appropriate use of statistical methods, the implications when underlying assumptions are not met, and how to interpret statistical results. Course material will be presented through examples, and all statistical analyses will be performed by the course instructors. There are no software requirements.
This is a hands-on workshop, based in a computer lab, aimed at researchers and research students who need to use statistical software for their research. The Biostatistics Centre recommends Stata as an ideal software package for many health sciences researchers. It is reliable, easy to use, has a wide range of commonly used statistical analysis options and produces publication-quality graphics.
This is an introductory level course, no previous experience with the software is necessary. The workshop focuses on the use of software for simple statistical analyses.
Please note, the University of Otago now offers Stata SE FREE to all staff and students.
This 2-day course provides an introduction to regression modelling approaches. The scope of the course runs from basic principles of regression methods, deciphering the output of statistical analyses, and the practicalities of running these various regression methods.
As part of this course you will be encouraged to think about broader study design issues, including how to deal with confounding, interactions and variable selection.
This is an intermediate-level statistics course intended for researchers/research students who need to use regression modelling in their work. Participants should either have completed the Introductory Biostatistics for Health Researchers Course or have equivalent knowledge.
Please note, participants must come with their own laptop with R or SAS or Stata software installed, and be able to import data sets, generate new variables and be confident using the software they have installed. The University of Otago now offers Stata SE to all staff and students.
Prof. Alex McLellan from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology (University of Otago) will present a seminar entitled “Genetically engineered lymphocytes for the treatment of solid cancers” at our Pathology Department Seminar Series on Friday 18th February 2022. The seminar will be held at the usual time of 1pm in the D’Ath Lecture theatre and accessible over zoom due to the Red Light settings.
Please contact the organisers for Zoom details.
For those attending in person, there will be refreshments provided at 12.45pm (~15 min before the seminar). Small packed lunches will be available- some sandwiches, choice of chips, popcorn, oaty bars and choice of packed beverages. Food will be kept for collection in the foyer near the back entrance of the D’Ath lecture theatre 😊 . We have a capacity for 50 people in the D’Ath.
