The Otago Medical School Research Society fosters and promotes health-related research at the University of Otago.
Pat Cragg Summer Student Prize 2020
Congratulations to the winner of the Pat Cragg Summer Student Prize 2020 (22nd April), Jennifer Palmer of the Brain Health Research Centre, Department of Biochemistry for her presentation “The Batten disease-associated CLN5 protein is a soluble lysosomal glycoprotein with weak homology to cysteine proteases”.
Runner-up was Nahid Khalajiassadi from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology for presenting “ABM300, a new negative allosteric modulator of the CB1 cannabinoid receptor, exhibits a similar mechanism of action as ORG27569”.
We gratefully acknowledge support of the Otago Medical Research Foundation and the Otago Medical School Research Society for sponsoring these prizes.
OMSRS Research Staff Meeting 2020
Congratulations to the winner of the OMSRS Research Staff Meeting (24th June 2020), Dr Emma Wade from the Department of Women's and Children's Health for her presentation “The hinge-1 domain of filamin A is not essential for life”.
We gratefully acknowledge support of the Otago Postgraduate Medical Society for sponsoring this prize.
OMSRS PhD Student Speaker Prize 2020
Congratulations to the winner of the OMSRS PhD Student Speaker Prize 2020 (19th August), Hamish Aitken-Buck of the Department of Physiology for his presentation “Arrhythmogenic and inotropic effects of long-chain acylcarnitines in the human heart”.
Runner-up was Abigail Bland from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology for presenting “Repurposing the hypoglycemic agent, metformin, for targeted lung cancer”.
We gratefully acknowledge support of the Otago Postgraduate Medical Society and the Otago Medical Research Foundation for sponsoring these prizes.
OMSRS Science Writing Prize 2020
Congratulations to Deanna Beckett, from Oral Sciences and Women's and Children's Health, for her winning entry “Do teeth need sunshine to grow properly?”. This was published in the Otago Daily Times (23rd November 2020). Runner-up was Luke Nie, from the Bioethics Unit, for his entry “Medical education changes students' views on euthanasia/assisted dying”.
Highly commended went to the following entrants:
- PhD student Gisela Kristono, from the Wellington Cardiac Research Group, for her entry “Inflammation in Heart Attacks – a Fine Balancing Act”.
- Alice Eruera, from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, for her entry “Arrr, There Be a New Scourge on the Seven Seas!”
- PhD Student Sarah Rhodes, from the School of Physiotherapy, for her entry “Habit is what keeps you going but you need motivation to get you started”.
We gratefully acknowledge support from the Otago Daily Times and Kainic Medical Communications for this competition.
OMSRS MSc / Honours Student Speaker Prize 2020
Congratulations to the winner of the OMSRS 2020 MSc / Honours Student Speaker Prize, Nikita Lyons, from the Department of Biochemistry and Physiology, for her presentation “The light activated chloride channel GtACR2 is a novel potential therapeutic to treat chronic pain”.
Runner-up was Georgi Hight, from the Department of Physiology, for a presentation on “Epicardial adipose tissue morphology diversity in Māori, Pacific and New Zealand/European post-mortem cases”.
