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.
2023 PhD Student Award
The Otago Medical School Research Society is proud to announce 267th Scientific Meeting of the Society which will showcase the research performed by 10 University of Otago PhD students. A panel of judges will award $500 to the best speaker, and the runner-up will be awarded $250. This award is sponsored by the OMRF. Awards will be presented by Acting Pro-Vice Chancellor Patricia Priest.
The meeting will occur between 5.00 – 7.30 pm on Wednesday 16th August 2023 in the Barnett Lecture, with an option to attend via Zoom (https://otago.zoom.us/j/92008661912?pwd=OXhVd1dyREI0NEtJWmdrSmFVc0ovZz09)
Our speakers are listed below:
| Time | Speaker | Title | Co-authors | Department |
| 5pm | A/Prof Shyamal Das | Opening Karakia and welcome | ||
| 5.05pm | Nayla Rhein | Spent coffee grounds as a novel biosorbent to remove nitrates from streams. | RJ Rosengren | Pharmacology and Toxicology |
| 5.17pm | Cameron Reddington | Redefining the ASXL PHD as a DNA damage recognition factor. | T Kleffmann, CL Day, PD Mace | Biochemistry |
| 5.29pm | Dhananjie Chandrasekera | The role of pericardial fluid exosomes in diabetic heart disease | R. Shah, I. vanHout, W. DeJonge, R. Bunton, D. Parry, R. Katare | Physiology |
| 5.41pm | Hayley Stent | Biocompatible cross-linking of marine collagen nanofibers for tissue engineering. | MH Cumming, GC Dowd, LM Wise | Pharmacology and Toxicology |
| 5.53pm | Rebecca Lord | Neuronal deletion of STAT3, but not ERK2, causes obesity and delayed puberty onset in mice. | MA Inglis, GM Anderson | Anatomy |
| 6.05-6.15pm | Intermission | |||
| 6.15pm | Fergus Payne | Carbon monoxide release by oCOm-21 enhances calcium sensitivity of the cardiac myofilament. | S Nie, GM Diffee, DS Larsen JC Harrison, JC Baldi, IA Sammut | Pharmacology & Toxicology |
| 6.27pm | Josiah Edwin | What do medical students want in self-help mental health resources ? A focus group study | Cornwall, J, Du Plooy, K | Psychological Medicine |
| 6.39pm | Lucy Thomsen | Clinically relevant drugs modulate the effect of AMB-FUBINACA in male and female mice. | DB Finlay, M Glass, RJ Rosengren | Pharmacology and Toxicology |
| 6.51pm | Margaretha Situmorang | Adolescents’ unhealthy snacking behaviour during the school journey | K Coppell, M Keall, M Smith, S Mandic | Department of Medicine |
| 7.03pm | Anastasia Labudina | Using a zebrafish stem cell model to understand the molecular basis of cohesinopathies. | G Gimenez, M Meier, S Ketharnathan, J Antony, JA Horsfield | Pathology |
| 7.15pm | Acting Pro-Vice Chancellor Patricia Priest | Presentation prizes and closing remarks | ||
Please join us to celebrate our emerging Otago Health researchers. Refreshments will be served from approximately 7.30 pm.
Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi
(With your basket, and my basket, the people will be well)
PhD 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 PhD Student Award at the 267th Scientific Meeting of the Society.
This will occur between 5.00 – 7.30 pm on Wednesday 16th August 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. This award is sponsored by the OMRF.
To be eligible for the award you must:
- Have not previously won the award
- Either
- Not graduated with your PhD, or
- Graduated with your PhD in 2023.
- Report the results of health-related research that you have made a major contribution to as part of your PhD, and 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 at 5pm on Friday 7th July 2023
Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi
(With your basket, and my basket, the people will be well)
2023 Research Staff Award
The Otago Medical School Research Society’s 266th Scientific Meeting is the 2023 Research Staff Award.
This will occur between 5.00 – 7.30 pm on Wednesday 21st June 2023 in the Barnett Lecture Theatre. In person attendance is welcomed, but you may also join by zoom (details below).
Five research staff members will present their work, with a prize of $1000 for the winner. Presentations will be 15 minutes long, with 5 minutes for questions.
Please join us to celebrate Otago Health researchers. Refreshments will be served from approximately 7 pm.
Our speakers are listed below (in confirmed speaking order)
| Approx. Time | Presenter | Title | Department |
| 5:00 – 5:20 | Benjamin Halliday | Addressing Potential Inequities in the Design and Analysis of Clinical Chromosomal Microarrays in Aotearoa | Women’s and Children’s Health |
| 5:20 – 5:40 | Catherine Ronayne | Looking through the lipid glass: Is everything as it seems? | Pathology |
| 5:40 – 6:00 | Zoe Ashley | Can the surveillance schedule post endovascular repair (EVAR) of abdominal aortic aneurysms be safely reduced?: A single centre retrospective study. | Surgical Sciences |
|
10min break
|
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| 6:10 – 6:30 | Zeina Al Naasan | Cultural safety in dental practice for former refugee patients | Sir John Walsh Research Institute |
| 6:30 – 6:50 | Kari Clifford | Improving Surgical Outcomes with Prehabilitation: Results from a comprehensive research program. | Surgical Sciences |
|
Light refreshments
|
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Zoom details:
Topic: OMSRS Research Staff Meeting
Time: 5pm – 7.30pm
https://otago.zoom.us/j/98906519944?pwd=Y2k5UURGbmdBcm5TVGQrS2dGR2lJUT09
Meeting ID: 989 0651 9944
Password: 256983
Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi
(With your basket, and my basket, the people will be well)
Summer Student Awards 2023
The 265th Scientific Meeting Summer Student Awards was held on the 26th April. This year 10 students presented who were shortlisted from 21 submissions.
Summer Student speakers.
The winner was Georgia Keelty (Abstract: GB Keelty, WM de Jonge, HMM Waddell, ML Munro. Characterizing transverse tubules in the right atrium of arrhythmic patients.) from the Department of Physiology, and the runner up was Violina Gunawan (Abstract: V Gunawan, JJE Choi.The stability of single-shade composite resins in the oral cavity.) from the Faculty of Dentistry. While both winner and runner-up will receive certificates, the winner also receives $500 and the runner up receives $250 prize money. These awards are kindly sponsored by the Otago Medical Research Foundation and named after Professor Patricia Cragg.
Prize winner Georgia Keelty pictured with Professor Pat Cragg and Associate Professor Shyamal Das.
Dr Joanne Choi (centre), supervisor of Violina, pictured with Professor Pat Cragg and Associate Professor Shyamal Das.
Runner-up prize winner Violina Gunawan.
Professor Pat Cragg was present to hand over the ‘Pat Cragg Summer Students Awards’.
Congratulations Georgia Keelty and Violina Gunawan!
Research Staff Award 2023 – Call for Abstracts
The Otago Medical School Research Society is proud to announce the Call for Abstracts for the 2023 Research Staff Award at the 266th Scientific meeting of the Society.
The meeting will be held between 5pm – 7.30pm Wednesday 21st June 2023 in the Barnett Lecture theatre, Dunedin Hospital. An option for attending and presenting via zoom will also be offered.
To be eligible for the Award, you must:
- have not previously won this award
- be either
a: Research Assistant, Assistant Research Fellow, Postdoctoral Fellow, Scientific Officer or Research Fellow at the time of submission or have completed a contract in one of these roles within the last three months
or
b: Lecturer, Professional Practice Fellow, or Teaching Fellow, appointed to this role within the last 3 years
- report the results of health-related research that you have made a major contribution to, and which was performed while employed in this role at the University of Otago, Dunedin.
Research staff wishing to present a paper at this meeting should prepare and abstract following these guidelines: OMSRS Abstract Guidelines and Template.
Submit your abstract by completing this online form.
The deadline for abstract submission is 5pm Friday 12th May.
Up to 5 speakers will be selected to present for a chance to win $1000 for best speaker, sponsored by The Otago Postgraduate Medical Society.
Speakers will give a 15-minute presentation, with additional 5 minutes for questions.
Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi
(With your basket, and my basket, the people will be well)
