The Webster Centre for Infectious Diseases supports the development of young scientists by offering grants to assist postgraduate students to attend conferences.
Contact us to apply:
james.ussher@otago.ac.nz
2017 Travel Award winners
The Webster Centre was pleased to award the following postgraduate students a travel scholarship to attend the Queenstown Molecular Biology Infectious Diseases satellite meeting held 7 – 8 September 2017 at Queenstown, New Zealand:
Omega Amoafa
Department of Wine, Food and Molecular Science, Lincoln University
Supervised by Associate Professor Stephen On, Department of Wine, Food and Molecular Science, Lincoln University. Omega's research is in relation to Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria (ARB): Trends in conventional dairy farms compared with organic counterparts in New Zealand and China.
Daniel Palmer
Krause LabSupervised by Professor Kurt Krause, Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago. Daniel's research is in relation to glutamate racemase, a 'hot spot' for Mycobacterium drug design.
2016 Travel Award winners
The Webster Centre was pleased to award the following postgraduate students a travel scholarship to attend conferences:
Alex Noble
Tate Lab
University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Professor Warren Tate, Department of Biochemistry, Alex travelled to the biennial International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Conference which was held from 27 – 31 October 2016 at Ford Lauderdale, USA.
Adrian Patterson
Fineran Lab
University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Associate Professor Peter Fineran, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Adrian attended the New Zealand Microbiological Society Conference which was held from 14 – 17 November at Christchurch, NZ. His research is in relation to quorum sensing controls adaptive immunity through multiple CRISPR-Cas systems.
Brinsley (Brin) Ryder
Kirman Lab
University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Dr Jo Kirman, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Brin will be attending the 2nd Innate Immune Memory Conference to be held 14 – 17 March 2017 at Hinxton, Cambridge, UK. His research is in relation to vaccine development for tuberculosis.
Jess Thomson
Lamont Lab
University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Professor Iain Lamont, Department of Biochemistry, Jess will be attending the 16th International Conference on Pseudomonas to be held 5 – 9 September 2017 at Liverpool, England, UK. Her research is in relation to Pseudomonas Aeruginosa.
Bridget Watson
Fineran Lab
University of Otago, Dunedin
Supervised by Associate Professor Peter Fineran, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Bridget will be attending the 22nd Evergreen Bacteriophage Conference to be held 6 – 11 August 2017 at Olympia, Washington, USA. Her research is in relation to CRISPR-Cas systems, toxin-antitoxin/abortive infection systems and phage biology.
2015 Travel Award winners
The following postgraduate students were awarded a travel scholarship to attend the National Symposium on Infectious Diseases and Antimicrobial Resistance: Challenges, Opportunities and Successes (Microbes & Disease) at Queenstown 30 - 31 August 2015:
Vanessa Chang
Vanessa's research is on the characterization of Mycobacterial Membrane Vesicles and is supervised by Dr Simon Swift, School of Medical Sciences, University of Auckland.
Philem Priyadarshini Devi
Priya's research is on PvdA and PvdF and is supervised by Professor Iain Lamont & Dr Sigurd Wilbanks, Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago.
Kiel Hards
Kiel's research is on the novel mode of action for a TB drug and is supervised by Professor Greg Cook, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of Otago.
Rachel Herron
Rachel's research is on defining the Bacitracin-Resistance Network in Enterococcus faecalis and is supervised by Professor Greg Cook, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of Otago.
Claire Honney
Claire's research is on swabbing beef for contamination: testing methodology using meat spiked with Serratia marcescens and is supervised by Dr Simon Swift, School of Medical Sciences, University of Auckland.
Joshua Lange
Joshua's research is on the role of mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells in Johne's disease in deer and is supervised by Dr James Ussher, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of Otago.
Claire Mulholland
Claire's research is on "the Rangipo cluster and is supervised by Professor Vic Arcus, Biological Sciences, University of Waikato.
Prashanth Nagesh
Prashanths' research is on Influenza A virus dysregulates host histone deacetylase 1 to efficiently replicate and is supervised by Dr Matloob Husain, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of Otago.
Michael Petridis
Michael's research is on global transcriptomic response to nitrogen limitation in Mycobacterium smegmatis and is supervised by Professor Greg Cook, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of Otago.
George Poulter
George's research is on complete genome of PSA – Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae and is supervised by Professor Greg Cook, Department of Microbiology & Immunology & Associate Professor Richard Macknight, Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago.
Elham Torbati
Elham's research is on the evolution of poxvirus immuno-modulatory proteins and is supervised by Dr Chris Brown & Professor Kurt Krause, Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago.
Jeremy Raynes
Jeremy's research is on serological evidence for repeated group A streptococci exposures in siblings with acute rheumatic fever and is supervised by Dr Nikki Moreland, School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland.
2014 Travel Award winners
Elyse Dunn, PhD
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship winner
Cook Lab Research
University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Professor Greg Cook, Department of Microbiology & Immunology. Elyse will be travelling to the Gordon Conference on Bioenergetics at Andover, New Hampshire, USA in June 2015. Her research is in relation to type II NADH dehydrogenase (NDH-2).
Sam Norton, PhD
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship winner
Kemp Lab Research
University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Dr Roslyn Kemp, Department of Microbiology & Immunology. Sam will be travelling to the Australasian Society for Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting in Woollongong, Australia in December. His research is in relation to macrophages in the gut.
Edward Taylor, BSc(Hons)
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship winner
Kemp Lab Research
University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Dr Roslyn Kemp, Department of Microbiology & Immunology. Edward will be travelling to the Australasian Society for Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting in Woollongong, Australia in December. His research focuses on T cells in the gut.
2013 Travel Award winners
Michael Petridu PhD
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship winner
Cook Lab Research
University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Professor Cook, Department of Microbiology & Immunology. Michael travelled to Lausanne, Switzerland in December to gain first hand experience in the Cole laboratory of Professor Stewart Cole. His research is in relation to nitrogen metabolism, a new frontier for anti-TB drugs.
Pia Steigler PhD
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship winner
Kirman Lab Research
University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Dr Joanna Kirman, Department of Microbiology & Immunology. Pia travelled to the Australasian Society for Immunology meeting in Wellington in December. Her work on developing a model to measure protective immune responses to tuberculosis infection was accepted for poster presentation.
Da Yuan-Chen PhD
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship winner
Virus Research Unit
University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Professor Andrew Mercer, Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Da travelled to the Australasian Virology Society meeting at Queenstown in December. His research is in relation to the functional analysis of ANK repeat proteins in Chordopoxviruses.
Liam Brennan PhD
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship winner
Disease Research Laboratory
University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Professor Frank Griffin, Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Liam's research is in relation to the use of immune biomarkers to determine resilience and susceptibility to Johne's disease in Red Deer. He will be travelling to present his work at the 12th International Colloquium on Paratuberculosis in Parma, Italy in June 2014.
Rhodri Harfoot PhD
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship winner
Virus Research Unit
University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Professor Andrew Mercer, Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Rhodri's research is in relation to identifying a potential pRB binding protein (OV 119) from orf virus and to characterize its function. He travelled to the Australasian Virology Society meeting and Society for Immunology meeting at Queenstown in December and presented a poster from his PhD work.
Andrew Highton PhD
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship winner
Kemp Lab Research
University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Dr Roslyn Kemp, Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Andrew's research is to identify if chitosan gel can generate an effective memory CD8 T cell population. He travelled to both the Australasian Flow Cytometry Group and the Australasian Society for Immunology Annual Meetings.
Additional congratulations to Andrew Highton PhD, for his success in subsequently achieving a prestigious postdoctoral scholarship to Oxford University!
2014 Nuffield Scholarship awarded
Megha Budhwani PhD
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship winner
Hibma Lab Research
University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Dr Merilyn Hibma, Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Megha's research is in relation to exploring immune evasion by human papillomavirus. She travelled to the Australasian Society for Immunology Annual Meeting at Wellington in December.
Earlier winners
Earlier in 2013, the Webster Centre was also pleased to be able to award four postgraduate travel awards.
The recipients were:
- Chelsea Vickers
- Htin Lin Aung
- Sinothai Poen
- Muhammed "Roman" Mortuza
2012 Travel Award winners
Ambarish Biswas
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship winner
Biochemistry & Microbiology & Immunology Departments and Genetics Otago,
University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Dr Chris Brown, Department of Biochemistry. Ambarish's research is in relation to the bioinformatic analysis of small RNA targets in bacteria and humans. Ambarish attended the Lorne Genome Conference 2013 in Australia in February 2013.
Chelsea Vickers
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship winner
Biological Sciences, University of Waikato,
New Zealand
Supervised by Professor Vic Arcus, Biological Sciences, University of Waikato. Chelsea's research is in relation to the biological role of the toxin-antitoxin protein complexes in M. tuberculosis. Chelsea attended the 57th Annual Scientific Meeting of the New Zealand Microbiological Society at Dunedin in November.
Abigail Sharrock
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship winner
Biological Sciences, University of Waikato,
New Zealand
Supervised by Professor Vic Arcus, Biological Sciences. Abigail's research is in relation to characterisation of VapBC toxin-antitoxins from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Abigail travelled to the 57th Annual Scientific Meeting of the New Zealand Microbiological Society at Dunedin in November.
Wray Grimaldi
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship winner
Dan Tompkins Lab & Landcare Research, University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Dr Dan Tompkins, Landcare Research, Wray's research is in relation to Environmental drivers of disease in Adélie penguins in Antarctica. Wray attended the 8th International Penguin Conference in the United Kingdom in September where she presented results from her NGS pathogen discovery and TLR sequencing work.
Katy Booth
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship winner
Molecular Basis of Infectious Disease Lab, Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago, New Zealand
Supervised by Professor Iain Lamont. Katy's research is in relation to the study of the outer membrane proteins of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients. Katy travelled to the 57th Annual Scientific Meeting of the New Zealand Microbiological Society.
2008 Travel Award winners
Mark Robinson, PhD Candidate
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship Winner
Frank Griffin Laboratory
Department of Microbiology
Mark was a PhD candidate under Professor Frank Griffin (HOD, Microbiology, Otago). His PhD research has focused on John's Disease in Deer - he developed a new molecular platform to monitor immune markers necessary to explore and elucidate immune reactivity following M. paratuberculosis infection in deer.
Mark attended the 10th International Colloquium on Paratuberculosis in Minneaolis, Minnesoata, USA.
Sui Mae Lee, PhD Candidate
Webster Centre Travel Scholarship Winner
Greg Cook Laboratory
Department of Microbiology
Mae was a PhD student under Professor Greg Cook (Microbiology, Otago). During her PhD she studied Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus by way of continuous culture, and also vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis strains found in New Zealand poultry animals and humans.
Mae presented at the Society for General Microbiology (SGM) Spring meeting at Harrogate, United Kingdom.