2024 Research Staff Award
Tēnā koutou
The Otago Medical School Research Society is proud to announce 270th Scientific Meeting of the Society which will showcase the research performed by four University of Otago Research Staff members. A panel of judges will award $500 to the best speaker, and the runner-up will be awarded $250. The meeting and prizes are kindly sponsored by Otago Postgraduate Medical Society.
The meeting will occur between 5.00 – 6.30 pm on Wednesday 19th June 2024 in the Colquhoun Lecture theatre, 1st floor Dunedin Hospital.
Our speakers are listed below:
| Approx time | Participant | Department | Title |
| 5pm | Prof Shyamal Das | President of OMSRS | Opening Karakia |
| 5.05 pm | Fareeda Barzak | Biochemistry | Novel RNF125 variant associated with Tenorio Syndrome |
| 5.25pm | Teodora Georgescu | Anatomy | Suppression of both bacterial and viral fevers in late pregnancy in mice |
| 5.45 pm | Lewis Forester | Pharmacology and Toxicology | Investigating the relationship between calcitonin gene-related peptide and the calcitonin receptor in the brain of rats and mice |
| 6.05pm | Jerry Hsu | Psychological Medicine | Investigating potential ‘overdose’ of digital mental health intervention targeting depression using cognitive bias modification |
| 6.25 pm | Prof Shyamal Das | President of OMSRS | Closing remarks and closing Karakia |
| 6.30 pm | Kai and presentation of the awards to winner and runner up |
| Please join us to celebrate our Otago Health researchers.
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| Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi
(With your basket, and my basket, the people will be well) |
Dr Zoe Ashley
OMSRS Meeting Secretary
Summer Student Award 2024
The 269th Scientific Meeting of OMSRS which is the 2024 Pat Cragg Summer Student Awards was held on the 24th April at Barnett Lecture theatre between 5-7.30pm. This year 10 students including 3 online presenters who were shortlisted by Editorial Panel led by Dr Adam Middleton from 24 submissions.
Student presenters pictured with Professor Shyamal Das and Professor Pat Cragg.
The meeting was convened by Professor Shyamal Das, President of OMSRS, and judges for presentation were were Dr Jack Dummer, Dr Frances March de Ribot, Associate Professor Matloob Hussain and Associate Professor Rajesh Katare.
The winner was Andy Stewart from the Department of Anatomy (Abstract: AM Stewart, DR Grattan, T Georgescu. Establishing a model of viral-induced fever suppression in late pregnancy of mice). The winner received a certificate and $500 prize money.
Winner Andy Stewart pictured with Professor Pat Cragg and Professor Shyamal Das.
The runner up was Sana Atithi from the Department of Physiology (S Atithi, JS Kim, CH Brown. Virus-Mediated Mapping of a Novel Escape Network in the Brain).The runner up received a certificate and $250 prize money.
Runner-up Sana Atithi pictured with Professor Pat Cragg and Professor Shyamal Das.
These awards are kindly sponsored by the Otago Medical Research Foundation and named after Professor Patricia Cragg. Professor Pat Cragg was present to hand over the ‘Pat Cragg Summer Students Awards’.
Congratulations Andy Stewart and Sana Atithi!
2024 Summer Student Award
Tēnā koutou
The Otago Medical School Research Society is proud to announce 269th Scientific Meeting of the Society which will showcase the research performed by 10 University of Otago Summer Student students. A panel of judges will award $500 to the best speaker, and the runner-up will be awarded $250. The scientific meeting and prizes are kindly sponsored by Otago Medical Research Foundation.
The meeting will occur between 5.00 – 7.30 pm on Wednesday 24th April 2024 in the Barnett Lecture, Dunedin Hospital, with an option to attend via Zoom (see link below)
https://otago.zoom.us/j/8357112293?pwd=NWs0enVIL1lmUmJwN0RxaDB6eFo4QT09
Meeting ID: 835 711 2293; Password: 011302
Our speakers are listed below
| Approx time | Participant | Department | Title |
| 5pm | Welcome and opening Karakia | ||
| Miss Mia Cochrane | Department of Psychological Medicine | Pioneering artificial intelligence in the development of cognitive bias modification as a cost-effective treatment for depression. | |
| Mr Finlay Anderson | Department of Microbiology and Immunology | Targeted nanopore sequencing as a diagnostic tool for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis | |
| Mr Andy Stewart | Department of Anatomy | Establishing a model of viral-induced fever suppression in late pregnancy of mice | |
| Miss Angela Fu | Department of Physiology | Changes in RyR2 Phosphorylation in Genetically Modified Mice with absent CK2 activity | |
| Miss Anna Donaldson (zoom) | Dunedin School of Medicine | Discrepancies in clinical coding between rural and urban hospitals in Aotearoa New Zealand. | |
| 6pm | Short interval | ||
| Mr Tom McDermott | Microbiology and Immunology | Are CAR T cells susceptible to NK cell lysis? | |
| Miss Lucy Simmonds (zoom) | Department of Surgical Sciences, Dunedin School of Medicine | A Qualitative Study of Barriers and Facilitators to Compression Stocking use in Patients with Chronic Venous Disease | |
| Miss Sana Atithi | Physiology | Viral-mediated mapping of a novel escape network in the brain | |
| Miss Jessica Darnley | Microbiology and Immunology | Virus discovery in New Zealand mosquitoes | |
| Miss Samantha Ponder (zoom) | Pathology, Dunedin School of Medicine | Effect of Amiloride on CPT1A expression in Reducing Kidney Fibrosis. | |
| 7.20pm | Closing Karakia and kai | ||
| 7.30pm | Presentation of winner and runner up prize | ||
| Please join us to celebrate our emerging Otago Health researchers.
|
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| Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi
(With your basket, and my basket, the people will be well) |
MSc and Honours Student Awards 2023
The Otago Medical School Research Society’s 268th Scientific Meeting was held on 8th November. This year we had 17 abstracts from MSc and Honours students across the Division of Health Sciences and Sciences. The Editorial panel has shortlisted 10 students who presented their research. Dr Glen Reid from the Department of Pathology, Associate Professor Jaydee Cabral from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Dr Mathias Fellner from the Department of Biochemistry were judges for presentations. The meeting was convened by OMSRS President Associate Professor Shyamal Das.
Masters and Honours student speakers.
Professor Paul Cooper, Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry handed over the prizes to the winner and runner-up. The winner received $500 and the runner up received $250 along with certificates. The scientific meeting and prizes are kindly sponsored by Mediray.
Congratulations to the winner, Zei Kagaoan, for their presentation titled ‘Prolonged cleaning in ethanol decreases bond strength of 3D-printed crowns’.
Winner Zei Kagaoan pictured with Associate Professor Shyamal Das and Professor Paul Cooper.
and to the runner-up Maddie Hardie Boys for her presentation titled ‘Cross-resistance to cephalosporin antibiotics occurs in Pseudomonas aeruginosa lacking the aminoarabinosylation system.’
Runner up Maddie Hardie Boys, pictured with Associate Professor Shyamal Das and Professor Paul Cooper.
Congratulations to our winners, and to all the student speakers!
Summer Student Award 2024 – Call for Abstracts
Kia ora koutou
The Otago Medical School Research Society is proud to announce the Call for Abstracts for the Summer Student Award at the 269th Scientific Meeting of the Society.
This will occur between 5.00 – 7.30 pm on Wednesday 24th April 2024 in the Barnett Lecture. An option for attending and presenting via Zoom will also be offered.
Up to 10 speakers will be selected to present an 8 minute presentation, with 4 minutes for questions. A panel of judges will award $500 to the best speaker, and the runner-up will be awarded $250, kindly sponsored by Otago Medical Research Foundation.
To be eligible for the award you must:
- have not previously won this award
- report the results of health-related research that you have made a major contribution to, and which was performed during the most recent summer research fellowship under the auspices of the University of Otago, Dunedin.
For details on how to enter and abstract preparation guidelines, please see our blog page https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/omsrs/abstract-submission/
Abstract submission closes at 5pm on Friday 22nd March 2024
Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi
(With your basket, and my basket, the people will be well)
2023 MSc / Hons / PGDipSci Student Award
Tēnā koutou,
The Otago Medical School Research Society is proud to announce 268th Scientific Meeting of the Society which will showcase the research performed by 10 University of Otago MSc / Hons / PGDipSci students. A panel of judges will award $500 to the best speaker, and the runner-up will be awarded $250. The scientific meeting and prizes are kindly sponsored by Mediray.
During the break between speakers we will hold the AGM of the society.
The meeting will occur between 5.00 – 7.30 pm on Wednesday 8th November 2023 in the Barnett Lecture, with an option to attend via Zoom
https://otago.zoom.us/j/92124148539?pwd=K2FjUHZqS055Q3J3OWhxU0Z0b2dKZz09
Our speakers are listed below
| Speaker | Title | Department |
| Opening karakia | ||
| Lucy Anderson | Exploring novel effective connectivity neurofeedback training for treatment of fibromyalgia: A pilot randomised placebo-controlled study | Department of Surgical Sciences |
| Samantha Nie | Characterising the cardiac inotropic mechanism of the carbon monoxide prodrug oCOm-21. | Pharmacology and Toxicology |
| Caitlin Syme | Validation of shear wave elastography as a potential new tool to monitor occurrence of endoleak after endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. | Department of Surgical Sciences |
| Phillipa Wilson | Cardiometabolic Risk Factors and pTau181 in Middle Age | Psychology |
| Andy Stewart | The role of lactogenic hormones in suppression of fever responses during late pregnancy | Anatomy |
| Interval including OMSRS AGM | ||
| Sushanth Yadhav | A cytotoxic cell-targeting approach to induce sterility in mammalian predator species of Aotearoa | Anatomy |
| Harry Gardner | The contribution by tau protein to hippocampal metaplasticity | Psychology |
| Nadia Kuepper | Cannabinoids influence insulin secretion in a mouse pancreatic β-cell line | Pharmacology and Toxicology |
| Maddie Hardie Boys | Cross-resistance to cephalosporin antibiotics occurs in Pseudomonas aeruginosa lacking the aminoarabinosylation system. | Department of Microbiology and Immunology |
| Zei Kagaoan | Prolonged cleaning in ethanol decreases bond strength of 3D-printed crowns | Oral Rehabilitation |
| Closing remarks, karakia and kai |
| Please join us to celebrate our emerging Otago Health researchers.
|
|||||
| Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi
(With your basket, and my basket, the people will be well) |
PhD Student Awards 2023
The Otago Medical School Research Society’s 267th Scientific Meeting was held on 16th August. This year we had 20 submissions from PhD students across the Division of Health Sciences and Sciences. The Editorial panel shortlisted 10 PhD students’ abstracts who presented their research. Professor Colin Brown from the Department of Physiology, Professor Merilyn Hibma from the Department of Pathology and Dr Jithendra Ratnayake from the Faculty of Dentistry were judges for presentations. The meeting was convened by OMSRS President Associate Professor Shyamal Das.
PhD student speakers.
The winner and runner-up were declared by Professor Patricia Priest, Acting PVC, Division of Health Sciences. The winner received $500 and the runner up received $250 along with certificates, generously funded by the OMRF.
Congratulations to the winner, Rebecca Lord for presentation on Neuronal deletion of STAT3, but not ERK2, causes obesity and delayed puberty onset in mice.
PhD student speaker winner Rebecca Lord, pictured here with Professor Patricia Priest.
and to the runner-up Hayley Stent, for her presentation on Biocompatible cross-linking of marine collagen nanofibers for tissue engineering.
PhD student speaker runner-up Hayley Stent pictured with Professor Patricia Priest.
Congratulations to our winners, and to all the student speakers!
MSc / Hons Student Award 2023 – Call for Abstracts
Kia ora koutou
The Otago Medical School Research Society is proud to announce the Call for Abstracts for the 2023 MSc / Hons Student Award at the 268th Scientific Meeting of the Society.
This will occur between 5.00 – 7.30 pm on Wednesday 8th November 2023 in the Barnett Lecture. An option for attending and presenting via Zoom will also be offered.
A panel of judges will award $500 to the best speaker and the runner-up will be awarded $250. The scientific meeting and prizes are kindly sponsored by Mediray.
To be eligible for the Award, you must:
- have not previously won this Award
- be working towards a Honours or Masters qualification (including BSc(Hons), BMedSc(Hons), PGDipSci, MSc or other Masters degree in a health-related discipline
- either,
- have not graduated with the degree related to the work you are presenting, or
- have graduated with the degree related to the work you are presenting in the calendar year of the meeting
- report the results of health-related research that you have made a major contribution to as part of your Masters/Hons project, and which was performed under the auspices of the University of Otago, Dunedin.
For details on how to enter and abstract preparation guidelines, please see our blog page https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/omsrs/abstract-submission/
Abstract submission closes on 5pm Friday 29th September
Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi
(With your basket, and my basket, the people will be well)
OMSRS 100 year celebration – Invitation
Kia ora koutou,
The Otago Medical School Research Society invites you to join in celebrating 100 years of its proceedings.
When: Wednesday 4th October, 2023, 4:00pm to 8:00pm
Where: Hutton Theatre, Otago Museum, Dunedin.
Acting Vice Chancellor Professor Helen Nicholson will open the meeting preceded with a karakia by Peter Williams.
Speakers include-
- Professor Patricia Cragg, Past President, OMSRS
- Professor Joanne Baxter, Dean, Dunedin School of Medicine
- Professor Lisa Matisoo-Smith, Dean (Acting), Biomedical Sciences
- Professor Carlo Marra, Dean, School of Pharmacy
- Professor Leigh Hale, Dean, School of Physiotherapy
- Professor Warwick Duncan, Director, Sir John Walsh Research Institute
- Professor Roslyn Kemp, Associate Dean Research, Division of Health Sciences
- Professor Bob Hancox, Head, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine
- Professor Cliff Abraham, Department of Psychology, Division of Sciences.
Acting Deputy Pro -Vice Chancellor of Division of Health Sciences Professor Neil Gemmell will be chairing the session.
Many Past Presidents and Officers of the Society will be present.
As a part of celebration, food and drinks will be available. For catering purposes, please RSVP HERE by 5pm, 26th September.
Ngā mihi nui,
Associate Professor Shyamal Das
President, The Otago Medical School Research Society (2023-24)
Research Staff Awards 2023
The Otago Medical School Research Society’s 266th Scientific Meeting was held on 21st June 2023 and included the 2023 Research Staff Award with a prize of $1000 for the winner.
Five research staff members (below) presented their work in front of ~50 people:
Benjamin Halliday from Women’s and Children’s Health
Title: Addressing Potential Inequities in the Design and Analysis of Clinical Chromosomal Microarrays in Aotearoa
Catherine Ronayne from Pathology
Title: Looking through the lipid glass: Is everything as it seems?
Zoe Ashley from Surgical Sciences
Title: Can the surveillance schedule post endovascular repair (EVAR) of abdominal aortic aneurysms be safely reduced?: A single centre retrospective study.
Zeina Al Naasan from Sir John Walsh Research Institute
Title: Cultural safety in dental practice for former refugee patients
Kari Clifford from Surgical Sciences
Title: Improving Surgical Outcomes with Prehabilitation: Results from a comprehensive research program.
Congratulations to the winner, Kari Clifford !
And Congratulations to Zeina Al Naasan whose presentation was a special mention.
The prize was awarded by Professor Neil Gemmell, Acting Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor of Health Sciences.
Professor Neil Gemmell (left) pictured with Research Staff speakers. Winner, Dr Kari Clifford, is centre.
