Wellington-based medical researchers have received up to $63,680 in Research For Life’s first funding round for 2024.

Research For Life funds innovative quality research undertaken by researchers in the early stages of their careers who, through their work, will advance the quality of healthcare in the Wellington region and beyond.

This round saw four researchers receive research grants up to the value of $45,000 to undertake innovative medical research and nine travel grants, totalling $18,680 to assist local researchers meet the cost of presenting their research findings at medical conferences. The successful applicants for research grants were:

Dr Katharina Robichon

Dr. Robichon is a lecturer at the Department of Pathology and Molecular medicine at the University of Otago, Wellington. She received a research grant of up to $6,520. Her research focuses on the analysis and comparison of four selected biomarkers in the serum of naïve multiple sclerosis patients before start of treatment and after one year of treatment and relate them to treatment response. The question Dr Robichon aims to answer is how can it measured if a chosen treatment is working well for each person living with multiple sclerosis? Having specific, sensitive, and cost-effective measurements of how well a treatment is working is essential when people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis are starting treatment.

Ceridwyn Jones and Emily Paterson

Ceridwyn Jones and Emily Paterson received a Research for Life grant of up to $8,500 to undertake research into the role of neutrophils in endometriosis. Endometriosis is a chronic, inflammatory condition that affects around 1 in 9 women and affects gender diverse people. Immune dysregulation is known to be a key feature of the pathophysiology of endometriosis, but neutrophils in endometriosis remain an understudied immune cell subset. Their research aims to uncover the phenotype of neutrophils to further our understanding of how the immune system contributes to the development of endometriosis. Ceridwyn is a PhD candidate with Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington and Emily is a PhD candidate with the University of Otago Wellington.  

 Dr Kathryn Hally

 Dr Kathryn Hally and her team have received a Research For Life grant of up to $21,044 to understand the value of a cardiac troponin surveillance program for detecting postoperative myocardial injury in patients undergoing vascular surgery. Postoperative myocardial injury is a significant clinical event that, in international literature, happens frequently in these patients given their burden of cardiovascular comorbidities. The proposed research aims to implement a cTn surveillance program to understand the frequency and clinical risk factors for this type of injury in this clinical context. By addressing this gap, the project hopes to design cardiac troponin surveillance tools for the detection and management of myocardial injury in non-cardiac surgery. 

Jangrez Khan

 Jangrez Khan received a Research for Life grant up to $8,934 to study the dietary exposure to titanium dioxide (E171) in New Zealand and its potential impact on Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). This research aims to fill a crucial gap by quantifying E171 exposure, correlating it with metabolic diseases such as diabetes and obesity, and investigating the additive’s role in MASLD through in vitro studies. The findings will offer valuable insights into the health implications of E171. Jangrez Khan is a PhD student at School of Health Sciences at Massey University, Wellington.

Ngaire Sparkes

 Ngaire Sparkes (Ngāi Tūhoe) is a PhD candidate with Te Tātai Hauora o Hine (National Centre for Women’s Health Research Aotearoa, Victoria University of Wellington. She received a travel grant of up to $1,500 to present at the Pacific Region Indigenous Doctors’ Congress (PRIDoC) 2024 in Adelaide. Her work involves research to address health disparities between Māori and non-Māori, predominantly within the context of sexual/reproductive and maternal/infant healthcare. Ngaire’s PhD explores the acceptability, feasibility, and key learnings of an innovative Iwi-led antenatal hub in Porirua. The results from this research will help shape the hub and inform future antenatal service provision across Aotearoa.

Jess Cotterell

Jessica Cotterell, a PhD student in the School of Biological Sciences at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, received a Research for Life travel grant of up to $3,000 to attend OPTIONS XII, a specialised influenza conference in Brisbane Australia. Jessica’s research is directed at developing and testing novel mRNA vaccines. These vaccines are designed to induce robust, durable and protective immune responses against various viral pathogens, such as influenza. In collaboration with the Ferrier Institute and the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, Jessica’s intention with these vaccines is to develop a New Zealand-made universal, cross-protective influenza mRNA vaccine.

Sotaro Ochiai

Sotaro Ochiai, a research fellow at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, received a travel grant of up to $2,500 to present his research at the Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology (ASI) Annual Meeting. Being an allergy sufferer himself, Sotaro's research focuses on understanding the onset and persistence of allergic diseases. His current research examines how dendritic cells can be pushed to become an allergy-inducing phenotype. His goal is to mitigate the health issues caused by allergies and decrease their prevalence.

Caterina Carco

Caterina Carco, postdoctoral fellow in Bioinformatics at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, was awarded a travel grant of up to $2,000 to present her research findings at the ASI (Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology) meeting 2024. Caterina’s research is focused on the functional and transcriptomic plasticity of dendritic cells during the development of allergies and other inflammatory conditions in the skin. Her objective is to identify the Th2-inducing-signals expressed by dendritic cells exposed to different stimuli to ultimately unravel the complex mechanisms behind allergic diseases.

Danielle Lewthwaite

Danielle Lewthwaite, a research assistant in the McConnell research group at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington, received a travel grant of up to $610 to present her research at the New Zealand Society of Oncology conference in Auckland this year. Danielle’s research focuses on the effects of irradiation on the glioblastoma tumour microenvironment with the goal of understanding mechanisms of radiation resistance.

Kit Moloney- Geany

Kit Moloney-Geany, a postdoctoral researcher at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research has received a travel grant of up to $ 2,645 to present his research at the annual Australia and New Zealand Society for Immunology (ASI) conference. Kit specializes in understanding how the crosstalk between immune and non-immune cells in the lung coordinates the antiviral response to the influenza virus and how this communication can be harnessed for better vaccine development.

Tessa Peck

 Dr Tessa Peck, a postdoctoral research fellow at Victoria University of Wellington, received funding of up to $2,600 to attend the Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting in Sydney. Here she will present her research on the use of a novel heparan sulfate compound, developed at the Ferrier Research Institute, for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. This compound can prevent the migration of disease-causing immune cells into the brain, without the global suppression of the immune system that can be associated with other multiple sclerosis treatments.

Elysha-Rose Grant 

Elysha-Rose Grant, a PhD student at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington, has received a travel grant of up to $929 to present her findings at the Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology conference held in Sydney, Australia later this year. In her PhD, Elysha is investigating the potential of a fungal compound to reduce inflammatory activity in immune cells and determine whether this drug could be used to treat chronic inflammatory diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Elysha will present her findings on how this fungal compound impacts the function of B cells and microglia, immune cells that play an important role in MS. 

Brooke Waldram

Brooke Waldram, a master’s student in the School of Biological Sciences at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington, has received a travel grant of up to $2,897 to present her research at the upcoming Australia and New Zealand Society for Immunology (ASI) annual scientific meeting, held in Sydney, Australia. Brooke’s research aims to understand the immunomodulatory effects of a potential therapeutic for Multiple Sclerosis and how it might alter CD4+ T cell responses in models of the disease.