Events
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.
Logan Walker IPL
Preparing for the future of genetic health
Logan is a cancer geneticist and the current Associate Dean Research, at the University of Otago Christchurch. His research focuses on understanding the impact of genetic changes on health. After completing post-doctoral training in Australia, and returning to the University of Otago, his research programme was significantly strengthened by being awarded a Sir Charles Hercus Health Research Fellowship (Health Research Council) followed by a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship (Royal Society Te Apārangi).
He is an invited member of several international groups tasked with improving protocols for genetic testing around the world. This work includes developing RNA diagnostic guidelines for both the clinical and research setting, and providing expert advice about the implementation of these guidelines and the interpretation of genetic test results. In collaboration with multiple international consortia, he has also contributed to and led some of the largest genetic association studies to discover inherited DNA copy number changes that increase or decrease susceptibility to cancer.s.
Date: Tuessday, 11th March 2025
Time: 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Venue: Rolleston Lecture Theatre, Christchurch Campus (and via Zoom)
AlphaFold for Geneticists
The AlphaFold for Geneticists workshop will introduce participants to the AI tool AlphaFold. Attendees will learn how to run AlphaFold on their chosen variant and interpret outputted results. Led by experts Prof Peter Mace and Dr Adam Middleton, the session will provide insight into the strengths and limitations of AlphaFold. Further details will be provided to registrants.
Date: Monday, 24th March 2025
Time: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Venue: TBC, Dunedin Campus
This workshop is now full, please email go@otago.ac.nz if you would like to be added to the waitlist.
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.
Please refer to the below pdf for details of speakers each week.
Please refer to the below pdf for details of speakers each week.
Please refer to the below pdf for details of speakers each week.
Please refer to the below pdf for details of speakers each week.
Please refer to the below pdf for details of speakers each week.
Visiting Speaker, Stephanie Boisson-Dupuis, from Rockefeller who studies human genetic susceptibility to infectious diseases will be giving a special seminar in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
Her visit is sponsored by the Australasian Society for Immunology.
The circle of life: connecting cell division with cell fate
About Professor Horsfield’s research
Julia’s current research originates from her fascination with how cells ‘decide’ what they are going to be in a growing, developing embryo. At the University of Otago, Julia started working on Cohesin, a protein that connects cell division with cell fate decisions. Cohesin controls chromosome segregation during cell division, and it also organises the DNA of non-dividing cells to select genes for expression. Using zebrafish, Julia’s group determined how mutation of Cohesin contributes to human developmental disorders, the “Cohesinopathies”.
Her group also studies how genes first come to be switched on in the embryo by Cohesin-mediated chromatin structure. She was the first to show that mutations in Cohesin may be linked with leukaemia; a finding later confirmed by cancer genome sequencing projects. Her recent work focuses on the mechanism of Cohesin’s contribution to leukaemia, including the sensitivity of Cohesin-mutant cancers to specific drugs.
This lecture will be followed by light refreshments, tea, coffee & juice.
Streaming information for Professor Julia Horsfield’s IPL
This event will be live-streamed, from 5:25pm Tuesday 8 September 2020, at the following web address:
Professor Julia Horsfield’s IPL video stream
Please note: Live streaming does not work with Internet Explorer.
Philip Getz and James Gorrie two of the Department of Botany’s BTNY495/PLBI495 students. (See attached poster.)
More details on our events page. Please register here.