Visitors and Events - Otago Kidney Research

The inflammatory diseases research team, which just received further funding, is (from left) Dr Rebecca Roberts, Associate Prof Tony Merriman and Associate Prof Greg Jones. Photo by Linda Robertson.

Research into inflammatory diseases has received a $4.7 million funding boost from the Health Research Council as part of a $27 million fillip for University of Otago scientists. Associate Prof Tony Merriman described the three-year funding extension as a "dream". It would allow him and his co-investigators Dr Rebecca Roberts and Associate Prof Greg Jones to continue research into identifying risk genes for inflammation conditions. Those included abdominal aortic aneurism, gout, and inflammatory bowel disease. The trio began the programme, which involves about 10,000 people from across New Zealand, three years ago. By comparing healthy people with those who suffer from the diseases, the group is trying to find genes which cause the diseases, and any similarity between them.They have already found one shared pathway between abdominal aortic aneurism and inflammatory bowel disease, and are pushing for Pharmac to fund a drug widely used elsewhere for the treatment of gout."The ultimate goal is to prevent the diseases or cure them," Dr Roberts said.
Associate Prof Patrick Manning will use $1.2 million to conduct the first controlled trial to identify if a drug which increases dopamine levels is effective in preventing weight gain.

Dunedin School of Medicine Scholarships

Emily Johnson Scholarship
Dr. Tracey Putt, (Medicine)

Physical training using short, sharp, 30-second bouts of exercise is already known to bring some benefits usually associated with endurance training. however, School of Physical Education researchers are examining whether other wide-ranging benefits of training can also be obtained through this approach. Dr Jim Cotter, physiologist Dr Sam Lucas, research assistant Evelyn Parr, and research students Matthew Graham and Monique Francois are trying to find out more about how the different forms of exercise actually drive the physical adaptations that help with performance, fitness and health.
They replicated the initial studies by having non-athletes do four 30-second bouts of exercise three days a week, versus typical health guidelines of 30–60 minutes a day at least five days
a week. In a parallel study, a separate group of volunteers was monitored extensively for metabolic and cardiovascular function for 24-hour periods following sprint versus endurance exercise,
including using the arms versus the legs. “If you have a look at some of the definitive markers of endurance – such as how much carbohydrate you can store in your muscles and how easily can you use fat to fuel exercise – you come up with similar figures for ‘anaerobic’ training versus traditional endurance training,” says Cotter.
More research is needed and he urges people not to immediately think they should exercise this way. While they found the effects of sprint training on muscle might be impressive, it was less impressive in terms of other fitness benefits that underlie health and performance, such as red blood cell volume, blood pressure and heart rate.
Dr Jim Cotter: “If you have a look at some of the definitive markers of endurance … you come up with similar figures for ‘anaerobic’ training versus traditional endurance training.”

From Otago Bulletin 11, June 17, 2011
Secrets of exceptional success
Completing a PhD is an achievement, but earning exceptional thesis status – when all three examiners agree that a candidate’s thesis is of an exceptional standard in every respect including research content, originality, quality of expression and accuracy of presentation – is an exceptional achievement. The achievement of Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology, Dr Ivan Sammut, in having helped three doctoral students achieve exceptional status with their theses, is arguably equally exceptional. It is hardly surprising then that his performance as a supervisor is seen as pretty exceptional too.
“Dr Ivan Sammut is an excellent supervisor,” says former PhD student Dr Brad Sutherland, now a postdoctoral researcher in the Acute Stroke Programme in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford. “He provides willing support whenever a student needs it, and gives sound advice and direction at all stages through the PhD.”
Dr Sammut admits to “getting a kick” out of helping his students achieve the level of exceptional distinction, but when asked about the secrets behind such supervisory success, says credit for the results ought to be more widely shared. “In addition to my students’ very significant efforts, I have been successful in attracting enthusiastic collaborations which have served to develop extensive student research investigations,” Dr Sammut says. “As the supervisor, I make it my responsibility to oversee all areas of the research programme and ensure that all facilities necessary are at the disposal of the student. Consequently, I am grateful for the patience, expertise and involvement of my team and my co-supervisors from the Schools of Medical Sciences and Medicine at Dunedin and Christchurch.”
In addition to establishing challenging research opportunities, Dr Sammut stresses the ‘hard graft’ aspect of the doctoral journey, not just in terms of time spent on the project, but in terms of mental attitude too.“I have been extremely fortunate in that the majority of my students have shown outstanding qualities, often persevering with demanding studies which have required outstanding laboratory and time management skills.”
The dynamic in the student-supervisor relationship is of course also pivotal to the success of any research student’s project. Dr Sammut says it is important interactive and productive communication is quickly established between the student and supervisory team. Rigorous attention to detail right up to the final moments of submitting a thesis is also deemed crucial. This includes ensuring the thesis is well-written, and clearly presents the research goal, analysis and results.
Finally, Dr Sammut adds that it is also important for the student to ‘own’ their work. For him, this means they are actively involved in every minute aspect of their project, from grant funding and ethics applications to manuscript submission.But a supervisor’s job, it seems, is never completely done.“Interestingly even once the students have left I find that they still expect you to collaborate on their next paper.”
The three students supervised or co-supervised by Dr Sammut whose theses attained exceptional thesis status are Dr Ian Winburn, Dr Brad Sutherland and Dr Alex Tramoundanas.

Events

March 29, 2012 – 17th theme meeting
Guest speaker David Beier, Harvard University, USA

Translational Nephrology : from Mechanisms to Therapeutics
24-26 August, 2012
Novotel Lakeside, Queenstown

Photo: Jan Kettink

Visitors

Professor David Beier, Harvard University, March 2012
Professor David Weiner, University of Florida, USA, August 2012
Professor Hans Peter Marti, University of Berne, Switzerland, August, 2012

Meetings

December 8, 2011 – 16th theme meeting Guest speaker, Richard Kitching, Monash University, Australia
September 23, 2011 – 15th theme meeting Guest speaker, Peter Mathieson, University of Bristol, UK (Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology)

November 25, 2010 - 12th theme meeting Guest speaker, Paul Goodyer, Community Trust Visiting Professor, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

August, 29-30, 2010, Molecular Approaches to Renal Disease, Satellite of QueenstownMolecular Biology meetings.

Plenary speakers: Peter Deen, University of Rabdoud, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, Heddwen Brooks, University of Arizona, USA, Moo Kwon, University of Maryland, USA

December, 2009 - 9th theme meeting, Guest speakers, Douglas Eaton, Emory, University, USA, Dan Devor, University of Pittsburgh, USA

April, 2009 - 7th theme meeting
December 12th, 2008 - 6th theme meeting, Guest speaker, Dr John Williams, University of Cardiff

August 31st-2nd September, 2008 - 5th theme meeting, Molecular Mechanisms in Renal Disease, satellite of the Queenstown Molecular Biology Meeting , Guest speaker, Dr Jeff Sands, Emory University, USA, Community Trust of Otago Visiting Professor

November, 2007 – 3rd theme meeting, Guest speaker, Dr Peter Agre, Nobel Laureate 2003, guest of the Universities of Otago and Auckland and MedSci Congress, Queenstown, 2007

September, 2007 – 2nd theme meeting, Guest speaker, Dr David Harris, University of Sydney, Australia

May, 2006, Guest speaker, Professor Jerry DiBona, William Evans Visiting Fellow, University of Otago, Emeritus Professor of Physiology, University of Iowa, USA.

August, 2004, Salt and Water in the Kidney, Dunedin. Guest Speaker Dr Mark Knepper, Chief, Laboratory of Kidney and Electrolyte Metabolism, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States of America. Sponsored by The International Paediatric Nephrology Congress and the Australia and New Zealand Society of Nephrology.

Kidney Research News and Events

News

$27m boost for Uni research

Dunedin School of Medicine Scholarships

Events

Visitors

Meetings