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.
GO Annual Symposium
Genetics Otago has partnered with the Australasian Epigenetics Alliance to bring the AEpiA Conference to NZ for the first time, held 1st – 5th December 2024. The GO Symposium will begin with a shared session with the AEpiA delegates on the morning of the 5th of December and will then continue in its regular format for the remainder of the day.
As usual, the Symposium will highlight the fantastic research being done by GO members from around the country through presentations, posters and awards.
Date: Thursday 5th December 2024
Time: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Venue: Hutton Theatre, Otago Museum (for those joining from Christchurch and Wellington – a venue will be confirmed soon).
Programme
A draft programme will be available here soon.
Registration
Registration for this event is now open via the button below.
Abstract submission is part of the registration process, all abstracts must be submitted by no later than 5:00 pm on the 14th of November. Registration will close at 12:00 noon on Wednesday 20th November. Please keep the link provided at the end of your registration to make changes to your responses up until the closing date.
Registration Fee
Due to budget constraints, we will be charging a $50 per person registration fee for all attendees to subsidise the costs associated with the Symposium. We have received confirmation that this registration fee can be paid from S accounts, and if you are in a position to make a donation on top of this fee, we would gladly receive it. However, we do not want the payment to be a barrier to attendance, so if you are not in a position to make a payment, please contact us go@otago.ac.nz.
Payment Methods
Payments from an S account (or other University account) can be journaled to Genetics Otago account GL.10.LH.A14.2541 via your finance associate. Please include the surname(s) of the registrants that the payment covers in the narration.
If you need to make payment using funds from outside the University this can be arranged via the Cashier’s Office. Please contact us for details (go@otago.ac.nz).
Awards
The Annual Genetics Otago Awards including The Genetics Otago Award, Outstanding Mentor Awards, Student Supervisor Award, Publication Awards, Poster Awards and Science Communication Prize will be presented at the conclusion of the Symposium and nominations for these are now open.
Award nominations close at 12:00 noon on Wednesday 20th November (except for Poster and Science Communication Awards which are at 5 pm 14th of November) and should be submitted by email to go@otago.ac.nz.
Full details of the awards can be found here: Award Details.
Oxford Nanopore Technology Workshop
Join us at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, Dunedin, for a one day Oxford Nanopore Technology symposium. This event, jointly hosted by Genomics Aotearoa and the Genetics Otago ONT hub, will feature research talks highlighting different ONT use cases, a technical sequencing demonstration and an EPI2ME workshop.
This is an in-person event being held on Friday, December 6th at the Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka / University of Otago campus.
Registration for this event is free of charge.
This event is sponsored by ONT, and is supported by the Otago Genomics Facility.
Contact tyler.mcinnes@otago.ac.nz for any queries.
CRISPR Workshop
Details coming soon. Proposed date: 6th December.
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.
More details and registration.
Activins, cancer & oocyte quality
More info here: Dr Karen Reader Seminar
Zoom connection available:
Join from PC, Mac, iOS or Android: https://otago.zoom.us/j/98782196598?pwd=UE9adHZXN2RCUEZPY09OdVJrVi81dz09
Password: 198938
Professor Julia Horsfield
Department of Pathology, University of Otago
‘Cohesin mutations are synthetic lethal with stimulation of WNT signaling’
Mutations in genes encoding subunits of the cohesin complex are common in several cancers, but may also expose druggable vulnerabilities. We generated isogenic MCF10A cell lines with deletion mutations of genes encoding cohesin subunits SMC3, RAD21 and STAG2 and screened for synthetic lethality with 3,009 FDA-approved compounds. The screen identified several compounds that interfere with transcription, DNA damage repair and the cell cycle. Unexpectedly, one of the top ‘hits’ was a GSK3 inhibitor, an agonist of Wnt signaling. We show that sensitivity to GSK3 inhibition is likely due to stabilisation of b-catenin in cohesin mutant cells, and that Wnt-responsive gene expression is highly sensitized in STAG2-mutant CMK leukemia cells. Moreover, Wnt activity is enhanced in zebrafish mutant for cohesin subunit rad21. Our results suggest that cohesin mutations could progress oncogenesis by enhancing Wnt signaling, and that targeting the Wnt pathway may represent a novel therapeutic strategy for cohesin mutant cancers.
Zoom Link:
https://otago.zoom.us/j/96479355495?pwd=RVR3L2NKb2RHZVM0TVE0QW96aFJpdz09#success
Password: 879963
Every little thing she does is magic: How our mother’s health affects our own
About Professor Jasoni’s research
When a mother is unwell during pregnancy, her offspring have increased lifelong risk for neurological disease. Christine’s research interest is in how the brain forms before we are born, with a particular focus on understanding how a mother’s health during this critical period of life can impact the unborn baby’s brain; and increase neurological disease risk.
Her group’s work has been published in some of the top international journals, and her trainees have gone on to prestigious positions nationally and abroad. Christine’s laboratory is situated in the Centre for Neuroendocrinology, among a group of researchers who are world-leaders in discovering how the brain controls some of our most essential bodily functions. Christine’s reach into the neuroscience community at Otago, however, is much broader. She is the Director of the 300-researcher-strong Brain Health Research Centre, is a former Director of the Neuroscience Degree Programme, and has won numerous awards for her neuroscience teaching.
This lecture will be followed by light refreshments, tea, coffee & juice.
Streaming information for Professor Christine Jasoni’s IPL
This event will be live-streamed, from 5:25pm Monday 5 October 2020, at the following web address:
Professor Christine Jasoni’s IPL video stream
Test your connection to the streaming service here:
Test Stream
Please note: Live streaming does not work with Internet Explorer.
John Smaillie Tennant Lecture on Wednesday, 7 October 2020 featuring Associate Professor David Orlovich from the Department of Botany. He will give his lecture on “The evolution of truffle-like fungi”.
See attached poster for more details
Tennant Lecture DAO 7.10.2020
PhD Student Presentations
Sai Shyam
“Developing circulating tumour cells as a model to identify tumour-specific epigenetic signatures of colorectal cancer metastasis”
Ben Halliday
“Building a Brain – From Phenotypes to Genes, and Back Again”
More details here:
200731 PSS_Sai & Ben
The Pathology Seminar Series continues this week with Dr Mihnea Bostina from Microbiology & Immunology. Dr Bostina will present a seminar entitled “Senecavirus: A Picornavirus with Potent Oncolytic Activity” in the D’Ath Lecture Theatre at 1pm this Friday – see attached for more information.
12:00 Noon, Monday, 2nd November
Room 208, 2nd Floor
Microbiology Building
720 Cumberland St
Ben Te Aika
Vision Matakuranga Co-Ordinator, Genomics Aotearoa,
‘Indigenous (Māori) Ethics’
The workshop will look to increase understanding of Matauraka Maori or Māori knowledge and knowledge systems in relation to science, Māori relationships with data and indigenous data derived works. Consultation from a practice point of view leading to improved engagement and outcomes. Understanding a key ethical expression of Taa Koha – an exchange of trust based responsibility and how this requires transparency, communication and mutual trust. Data sovereignty is an expression of Māori control, derived from territorial authority or Mana Whenua which is grounded in the Treaty of Waitangi.
The joint winners of the 2020 Rowheath Trust Award and Carl Smith Research Medal Lecture Dr Louise Bicknell and Associate Professor Anne-Marie Jackson will present their talks at 5:30pm on Tuesday 3 November in Burns 1 Lecture Theatre.
Dr Bicknell, from the Department of Pathology, will present her talk “The genetics of how we grow”
Our genetic code contains the key instructions on how our bodies and brain grow – yet we still don’t fully understand what mechanisms are involved. Dr Bicknell harnesses the power of rare genetic disorders, where people have restricted body or brain growth, to gain insight into these essential instructions. She will present her laboratory’s research efforts to understand the genetic control of growth and to help people affected by such disorders.
She will be followed by Associate Professor Anne-Marie Jackson (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu o Whangaroa, Ngāti Wai) who is co-Director of Te Koronga based in the Division of Sciences, School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences. Her research focuses on mauri ora (flourishing wellbeing).
He kairangahau Māori o te rōpū rangahau o Te Koronga i roto i te Rohe a Ahikāroa, Te Kura Parawhakawai a Ahorangi Tuarua Anne-Marie Jackson (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu o Whangaroa, Ngāti Wai). Ko mauri ora te kaupapa o tōna mahi rangahau.
Associate Professor Jackson’s talk is titled ”Tēnei tātou Te Koronga: Indigenising the academy since mai rā anō”
The phrase Te Koronga is borrowed from the opening line of an ancient Māori chant that refers to a yearning for excellence. This is the research kaupapa she co-leads. In this kōrero, she will describe the dual parts of her role as a kaupapa Māori researcher. Firstly, she will outline her research expertise in Māori physical education and health which is the study and application of te ao Māori (Māori worldview), Te Tiriti (Treaty of Waitangi) and Kaupapa Māori for mauri ora (flourishing wellness). Secondly, she will discuss how through this disciplinary platform, as servants to our communities, we engage in transforming and indigenising the academy to ensure we as Māori are the critics and conscience of our society.
Nō te rerenga kōrero tuatahi o tētahi karakia tāwhito te rerenga kupu o te koronga. Ko te hiahia mō te hiranga te whakamārama o taua rerenga kupu. Nā Anne-Marie Jackson tētahi o ngā kaihautū o taua kaupapa rangahau. I roto i tēnei kōrero, ka kōrero a Anne-Marie ki ngā mea e rua e pā ana ki ōna mahi o te kairangahau kaupapa Māori. Tuatahi, ka whakarāpopoto ia i ōna mahi rangahau o te whakatinanahia o te hauora Māori, arā, ko te whakaritenga o te ao Māori, Te Tiriti me te Kaupapa Māori mō te mauri ora. Tuarua, ka kōrero ia e pā ana ki te mahi o te rangahau, mā te rangahau ngā hapori e hāpai, mā te rangahau anō mātou e panoni, e whakamāori hoki ngā whare wānanga kia ū ki te kaupapa matua, he kaiwhakamana mātou mō tō mātou ao whānui.
The Carl Smith Research medal is one of the University’s highest research honours, and awarded annually to recognise the outstanding research performance of early career staff.
This is a free public lecture and all are welcome to attend and learn.
We have a special seminar from Dr Jane MacDonald and colleagues based at the Centre for Women’s Health Research, Wellington Faculty of Health, Victoria University of Wellington. They will present ‘He Tapu Te Whare Tangata (the sacred house of humanity)’, a randomised controlled trial of self-testing for HPV infection in Māori women.
Please see attached for more information.He tapu te whare tangata_poster
