258th Scientific meeting, the 2021 Research Staff Awards.
The Otago Medical School Research Society 258th Scientific meeting, the 2021 Research Staff Awards, was held on 23rd June 2021.
Five speakers were selected:
From left to right:
- Zhaoyang Xu (Dept. of Anatomy) – Three-dimensional somatotopic mapping of human trigeminal ganglion neurons in situ.
- Shabah Shadli (Depts of Psychological Medicine & Psychology) – Right frontal anxiolytic-sensitive EEG ‘theta’ rhythm in the stop-signal task is a theory-based anxiety disorder biomarker.
- Teodora Georgescu (Depts of Anatomy & Physiology) – Prolactin modulates maternal aggression through action on neurons in the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus.
- Kristina Smiley ((Depts of Anatomy & Physiology) – A novel role for prolactin in paternal behaviour.
- Paulo Pelicioni (School of Physiotherapy & Dept of Medicine) – Gold standard postural, balance and gait measures are reliable and valid to assess healthy older adults remotely.
We congratulate Kristina Smiley on winning the $1000 prize for the best presentation of the evening.
Pictured: Kristina Smiley receiving her award from OMSRS President Assoc. Professor Gisela Sole.
Thanks go to the Otago Postgraduate Medical Society for donating the prize fund.
That Was The Year That Was.
And what a year it was! A year when the world was besieged by a scary new virus – SARS-CoV-2, more commonly known as COVID-19. As we plunged into the uncertainties of the pandemic response, it became clear that as nations we would need to employ a strategy of isolation, and that as researchers a new paradigm for continuing to work was required.
Enter the almighty Zoom application! Most, if not all of us have become accustomed to our collegial environment suddenly looking like this…
… but in the beginning, there were some burning questions: What should I wear? Do I really look like that? Should I let people see the state of my home office or use a background? Which background?
Luckily our lockdown did not linger for too long, and we were soon able to reinhabit our more usual workspaces, but the experience demonstrated a number of positives – that we were adaptable, and that (mostly) we could be productive. Lockdown revealed ways that we could work together, to connect, that will no doubt be useful in the future.
And so… bring on 2021…
