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.
This entertaining event gives thesis students the chance to present their research to a large audience while competing for a number of generous prizes, with the overall University of Otago Doctoral winner going on to participate in the online Asia-Pacific 3MT® final. We also have the opportunity to send the best Master’s contestant to represent the University in the online New Zealand Masters 3MT® National Inter-University Challenge.
The competition is open to both thesis Master’s and Doctoral students, who must communicate their research in no more than three minutes, with the help of only one static slide, with the presentation aimed at a non-specialist audience – see below for more on eligibility and rules.
At this stage the local 2021 University of Otago competition will be held in person, but arrangements are being made to revert to an online competition if necessary.
Entries close Friday 25 June
Eligibility
Active PhD and Professional Doctorate candidates who have successfully passed their confirmation milestone (including candidates whose thesis is under examination, but not graduates) by the date of their first presentation are eligible to participate in all levels of the 3MT® competition. The University of Otago overall winner will be entered in the Asia-Pacific 3MT® final. Pre-confirmation PhD candidates who are active in programme are eligible to participate in heats, but cannot advance to the University of Otago Grand Final.
Master’s thesis (90 points of research or more) candidates who are active in programme (including candidates whose thesis is under examination, but not graduates) are eligible to participate in all levels of the 3MT® competition. The overall winner will be entered in the New Zealand Masters 3MT® National Inter-University Challenge.
Competition timeline
- Monday 28 June 1.30pm
University of Otago Christchurch 3MT® competition, Beaven Lecture Theatre, Christchurch campus. - Tuesday 29 June 1pm
University of Otago Wellington 3MT® competition, Small Lecture Theatre, Wellington campus.
Note: the Christchurch and Wellington competitions feed into the Health Sciences Divisional heat, other Division candidates located in Christchurch/Wellington can present at these events and be judged as part of their Divisional heat.
- Tuesday 6 July 10am
Humanities Division 3MT® heat, Moot Court, Richardson Building, Dunedin campus. - Wednesday 7 July 2pm
Health Sciences Division 3MT® heat, Barnett Lecture Theatre, Dunedin Hospital. - Thursday 8 July 10am
Commerce Division 3MT® heat, Otago Business School Lecture Room 1.17, Dunedin campus. - Friday 9 July 10am
Sciences Division 3MT® heat, Mellor Laboratories Seminar Room 2.02, Dunedin campus.
Heat winners progress to the Grand Final (see below).
- Thursday 5 August 5pm
University of Otago 3MT® grand final, venue to be confirmed.
Grand Final winners progress to further national/international competitions:
- Master’s, Tuesday 31 August.
- Doctoral, September/October.
Competition rules
The University of Otago 3MT® competition follows the official rules of the founder, the University of Queensland.
Have a look at past years’ events on our archive page.
The BHRC Annual Conference is now open for registration. It will feature a range of presentations across the field of neuroscience, and an Assistant Research Fellow and Speaker prize will be awarded on 8 July.
Zoom attendees are also welcome.
Please register by 30th June: https://forms.gle/QUz5Tx2Cm2EaySvn8
Reminder! This year, we are holding a “My ARF is the best” competition. Sponsored by Lab Supply, PIs will have 1 min to explain why their ARF should be in the running for a total prize pool of $200. The conference attendees will vote for a winner!
HEDC Professional Development Programme
Develop a sustainable job search process
It’s a job getting a job so make sure that you come to this workshop to share ideas for getting yourself a strategy for finding a meaningful job.
The workshop will be facilitated by Yvonne Gaut, Career Development Centre.
Dates
Friday 14 May, 10.00am-12.30pm
Thursday 8 July, 10.00am-12.30pm
Friday 10 September, 12.30-3.00pm
Registration link: https://corpapp.otago.ac.nz/training/hedc/course/16757/course/0/
This entertaining event gives thesis students the chance to present their research to a large audience while competing for a number of generous prizes, with the overall University of Otago Doctoral winner going on to participate in the online Asia-Pacific 3MT® final. We also have the opportunity to send the best Master’s contestant to represent the University in the online New Zealand Masters 3MT® National Inter-University Challenge.
The competition is open to both thesis Master’s and Doctoral students, who must communicate their research in no more than three minutes, with the help of only one static slide, with the presentation aimed at a non-specialist audience – see below for more on eligibility and rules.
At this stage the local 2021 University of Otago competition will be held in person, but arrangements are being made to revert to an online competition if necessary.
Entries close Friday 25 June
Eligibility
Active PhD and Professional Doctorate candidates who have successfully passed their confirmation milestone (including candidates whose thesis is under examination, but not graduates) by the date of their first presentation are eligible to participate in all levels of the 3MT® competition. The University of Otago overall winner will be entered in the Asia-Pacific 3MT® final. Pre-confirmation PhD candidates who are active in programme are eligible to participate in heats, but cannot advance to the University of Otago Grand Final.
Master’s thesis (90 points of research or more) candidates who are active in programme (including candidates whose thesis is under examination, but not graduates) are eligible to participate in all levels of the 3MT® competition. The overall winner will be entered in the New Zealand Masters 3MT® National Inter-University Challenge.
Competition timeline
- Monday 28 June 1.30pm
University of Otago Christchurch 3MT® competition, Beaven Lecture Theatre, Christchurch campus. - Tuesday 29 June 1pm
University of Otago Wellington 3MT® competition, Small Lecture Theatre, Wellington campus.
Note: the Christchurch and Wellington competitions feed into the Health Sciences Divisional heat, other Division candidates located in Christchurch/Wellington can present at these events and be judged as part of their Divisional heat.
- Tuesday 6 July 10am
Humanities Division 3MT® heat, Moot Court, Richardson Building, Dunedin campus. - Wednesday 7 July 2pm
Health Sciences Division 3MT® heat, Barnett Lecture Theatre, Dunedin Hospital. - Thursday 8 July 10am
Commerce Division 3MT® heat, Otago Business School Lecture Room 1.17, Dunedin campus. - Friday 9 July 10am
Sciences Division 3MT® heat, Mellor Laboratories Seminar Room 2.02, Dunedin campus.
Heat winners progress to the Grand Final (see below).
- Thursday 5 August 5pm
University of Otago 3MT® grand final, venue to be confirmed.
Grand Final winners progress to further national/international competitions:
- Master’s, Tuesday 31 August.
- Doctoral, September/October.
Competition rules
The University of Otago 3MT® competition follows the official rules of the founder, the University of Queensland.
Have a look at past years’ events on our archive page.
Have you heard about flow cytometry but aren’t yet confident enough to use it? Are you a flow cytometry wizard but are unsure why all the kids are talking about spectral cytometry? Then this is the crash course for you. Kate Pilkington from Cytek Biosciences will be visiting the university to give 4 talks over 2 days. See the Itinerary below.
Monday 12th July – 10:30am – 12:00pm – Introduction to Flow Cytometry
Monday 12th July – 3:30pm – 4:30pm – Panel Design Workshop
Tuesday 13th July – 9:30am – 11:00am – Spectral Cytometry
Tuesday 13th July – 1:00pm – 2:30pm – Flow Cytometry Best Practices (Including Reference control use)
Tuesday 13th July – 2:30pm – 3:00pm – Otago Flow Cytometry Unit updates
All talks and workshops will take place in room 208, second floor microbiology and immunology building.
Please register using the link below. Registration Essential.
See you there,
The OMNI Flow Cytometry TeamFlow Cytometry Crash Course
Bioethics Seminar
Trustworthy Governance of Health and Genomic Data: Lessons from Singapore
Angela Ballantyne
Associate Professor of Bioethics
Department of Primary Health Care and General Practice, University of Otago (Wellington)
In this presentation I will report the preliminary findings from three connected studies on public attitudes to data-sharing and precision medicine in Singapore: seven focus groups with 62 participants, conducted in three languages (English, Mandarin and Malay); a household survey in 2020 with 1,000 Singaporeans to assess public preferences on sharing health-related data for precision medicine; and a four-day citizens’ jury to deliberate on sharing data with comical companies. This research is important because much of the existing literature on public attitudes to PM and data sharing comes from Europe and North America. Across our three studies, four ethical values emerged as the central considerations for ethical and trusted health data use in Singapore: public interests, fairness, accountability and transparency. In all three studies, consent was not a determinative factor for public trust or support of data sharing. While participants generally thought the potential benefits of data sharing outweighed the risks, they were cognizant of various risks including data leaks, data misuse, privacy breaches, misdiagnosis and threats to the doctor-patient relationship (due to an increasingly data-driven approach), and group harms such as stigmatization, discrimination, loss of access to medical care. In this presentation, I will draw on our empirical findings and propose recommendations for trustworthy data governance in Singapore and consider how these lessons compare to the New Zealand context.
Room 119, Bioethics Seminar Room 71 Frederick Street, Dunedin
Video linked:
To secure the booking for this seminar video link in Christchurch and Wellington, please register your name, subject and date of the seminar for attendance:
Wellington School of Medicine Room C31 Contact: Videoconferencing University of Otago Wellington avvcsupport.uow@otago.ac.nz or University of Otago Christchurch Room 7.11 Contact: av.uoc@otago.ac.nz
Please note: if there is no registration (for northern campuses) by the Thursday prior to the advertised seminar, the booking for that campus venue will be terminated.
Dunedin attendees do not need to register
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
Consider your career prospects with a PhD
Course Duration: 2 Hours
Platform: Face-to-face
Overview: Introducing the Career LEAN Canvas to provide a structure for planning your career.
Contents:
Understanding yourself and your options are the basis of starting to consider your career development. This workshop will focus on practical ways to enhance your future options. Bring your questions and career problems to be solved.
The workshop will be facilitated by Yvonne Gaut, Career Development Centre.
https://corpapp.otago.ac.nz/training/hedc/course/16754/date/202105/
Feeling like there are too many statistics programs and/or not sure which one (or ones) would be best for you? Come along to this seminar to learn about the software biostatisticians work with, find out why we use certain programs and for what, and discover sources of information so you can learn more about the software best for you and your research.
Presented by: Andrew Gray, Senior Research Fellow, Biostatistics Centre
The School is delighted to announce the 2021 BMS Postgraduate Symposium will be held on Wednesday 28th July 2021.
Venue: The Terrace Lounge, 1st Floor, Union Building
Registration and Abstract submissions now open!
A flyer for display and registration form are attached – further speaker information to follow.
2021 BMS PGS Registration Form
We look forward to receiving your entries!
Entry deadline: 30th June 2021 to: bmsadmin@otago.ac.nz
