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Webster researchers feature at Otago Spotlight Series

At the 2018 Otago Spotlight Series: Infectious Disease Research forum held in Wellington, four of the Webster Centre's leading researchers presented their work.  Recordings of their presentations are now available below.

Professor Gregory M Cook, FRSNZ

Topic: Opportunities for Infectious Disease Research in New Zealand: a Biomedical Perspective.

Greg Cook Professor Greg Cook's research is focused on developing bacterial metabolism and energetics as a new target space for drug development to combat bacterial pathogens in humans (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and treat and prevent disease in food animals and plants. The goal of this work is to produce new and fast-acting drugs that will address the issues of antimicrobial resistance and persistence.

Cook leads a multidisciplinary science team:

Dr Jo Kirman

Topic: Deciphering the protective immune response to Tuberculosis

Jo Kirman Dr Jo Kirman's areas of research include Animal Disease, Applied and Molecular Immunology, Medical Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis, Vaccines Immunology and Technology.

Her primary research focus is the generation and maintenance of the protective T-cell immune response to Tuberculosis (TB). Tuberculosis kills over one million people worldwide each year. Additionally, she is interested in how to prevent paediatric infectious diseases including human respiratory syncytial virus and rotavirus.

Professor Kurt Krause

Topic: New anti-microbial development based on targeting the enzyme, glutamate racemase

Kurt Krause imageProfessor Kurt Krause is a Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Otago.

He has a longstanding interest in structure and function in biology and his research areas include the structure and function of enzymes and proteins important in infectious diseases, such as bacterial pathogenesis factors, antibiotic targets, viral immunomodulatory proteins, and bioluminescence related proteins.

Dr James Ussher

Topic: New technologies for diagnostics

James Ussher Dr James Ussher's research interest is infection and immunity. In particular, he is interested in mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, their role in antibacterial immunity, and how they might be harnessed to prevent or treat bacterial infection.

He has been involved in several fundamental discoveries in MAIT cell biology. He is also interested in the antimicrobial resistance, in particular its rapid detection, characterisation, and transmission, especially in Enterobacteriaceae. His clinical specialty is medical microbiology.

Infectious Diseases Symposium  7 – 8 September 2017 at Queenstown, New Zealand

Bacterial infection tuberculosis thumbnail

The biennial meeting was sponsored jointly by Queenstown Molecular Biology; Webster Centre for Infectious Diseases; School of Biomedical Sciences; Maurice Wilkins Centre; One Health Aotearoa; New Zealand Food Safety Science & Research Centre; Ferrier; D4 Network and was convened by Professor Greg Cook, University of Otago and Dr Nikki Moreland, University of Auckland.

Sessions covered were microbial pathogen genomes, infection and immunity, tuberculosis, drug discovery and novel therapeutics and vaccines, GAS and viral pathogenesis.

Confirmed speakers included:

Eng Eong Ooi, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore
John Blanchard, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Michael Kelso, University of Wollongong, Australia
Suzanne Gebhard, University of Bath, UK
Elizabeth Hartland, Doherty Institute, University of Melbourne  
Nigel French, Massey University
Jacelyn Loh, University of Auckland
Deborah Williamson , Doherty Institute, University of Melbourne
Htin-Lin-Aung, University of Otago
David Murdoch, University of Otago, Christchurch
Amy Chung, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne
Mike Taylor, University of Auckland
Gary Evans, Ferrier Research Institute
David Goldstone, University of Auckland
Matloob Husain, University of Otago
Rob Fagerlund, University of Otago

Download QMB/WC Infectious Diseases' Speaker Symposium brochure. (PDF 713 KB)

Premier Poster prizes were awarded to:

  • Dr Tom Li, University of Auckland, for poster entitled "Are plants the answer to the global antibiotic resistance crisis?"
  • Dr Bhamini Rangnekar, University of Otago, for poster entitled "A combination of dry powder formulation for treating latent and drug-resistant tuberculosis"

Poster prizes were awarded to:

  • Dr Mel Knottenbelt, University of Otago, for poster entitled "Investigating the evolution of the antitubercular drug bedaquiline"
  • Dr Ian Monk, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Australia for poster entitled "Phosphatase activity of the essential Histidine Kinase WalK in Staphylococcus aureus"
  • Dr Peter Choi, University of Auckland, for 'most translatable poster' entitled "Synthetic studies towards the development of less lipophilic drug of bedaquiline" (sponsored by D4 Network, University of Otago)

This meeting was a great opportunity for those working in the field of microbiology and infectious diseases, pathogenomics, drug discovery and viral pathogenesis to present their research and facilitate collaborations.  The official meeting website can be found at http://www.queenstownresearchweek.org/infectious-diseases/

Picture of Dr Nikki Moreland (Auckland University) and Professor Greg Cook (Otago University) organisers of the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Profesor Eng Eong Ooi (Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore) and Professor Andrew Mercer, Director of Webster Centre (University of Otago, NZ) at QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr Jaclyn Pearson and Professor Elizabeth Hartland both of the Peter Doherty Institute, University of MelbournePicture of Professors Kurt Krause and David Murdoch (Otago University); Richard Kingston (Auckland University); Dr Lawrence Lee (UNSW) and Professor Catherine Day (Otago University) at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr Michelle McConnell (Otago University) and Debbie Williamson (Doherty Institute) at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Professor Nigel French (Massey University) and Dr Glen Carter (Peter Doherty Institute) at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Professor Alpha Yap (Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Queensland University) and Professor Peter Shepherd organiser of Queenstown Research Week (Auckland University) at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr Htin-Lin-Aung (Otago University) and Professor John Blanchard (Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA) at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr Kiel Hards (Otago University); Susanne Gebhard (Bath University); Drs James Cheung and Cara Adolph (Otago University) at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr Glen Carter (Doherty Institute) and Dr Tom Li, premier poster prize winner (Auckland University) at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Professor Elizabeth Hartland (University of Melbourne) and Associate Professor Tim Stinear (Doherty Institute) at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr Josh Ramsay ((Curtin University) and Jimmy Leong at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Associate Professor Shaun Lott (Auckland University) and Professor Nigel French (Otago) at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Rochelle Ramsay, Maurice Wilkins Centre, at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr James Ussher (Otago University) and Professor Simon Swift (Auckland University) at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Drs Rob Fagerlund, Peter Mace and Professor Liz Ledgerwood (Otago University) at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr Jeremy Raynes (Auckland University), Dr Reuben Vercoe (Otago University) and Dr Jodie Johnston (Auckland University) at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr Gary Evans (Victoria University) at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr Htin-Lin-Aung, Professor Andrew Mercer (both Otago University) and Dr Richard Fong (Massey University) at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr Jaclyn Pearson (Doherty Institute) and Professor Liz Hartland (University of Melbourne) at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr Ayesha Verrall (Otago University) and Dr Amy Chung (Doherty Institute) at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Picture of Dr John Hale and Merck & pH Scientific team at the QMB ID 2017 meeting at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr Peter Choi (Auckland University) who was awarded the most translatable prize sponsored by D4 Diagnostic, Drug, Device, Discovery at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr Mel Knottenbelt (Otago University) who was awarded a poster prize at the QMB ID 2017 meeting at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr Ian Monk (Doherty Institute) who was awarded a poster prize at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr Tom Li (Auckland University) who was awarded a premier poster prize at the QMB ID 2017 meetingPicture of Dr Bhamini Rangnekar (Otago University) who was awarded a premier poster prize at the QMB ID 2017 meeting

The 2015 Webster Centre QMB Satellite Symposium

This biennial meeting was sponsored jointly by WCID, QMB and the Maurice Wilkins Centre which is being organised by Professor Gregory Cook and Dr Deborah Williamson.  Sessions covered were tuberculosis, host-pathogen interactions, the microbiome, Clostridium difficile, drug discovery and novel therapeutic approaches, advances in molecular diagnostics and metabolite profiling, and included a special joint session with the 2015 Digestive Diseases QMB satellite.

Keynote speakers included:

  • William Jacobs, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
  • Mark Walker, University of Queensland
  • Scott Beatson, Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre
  • Dean Crick, Colorado State University
  • Nigel French, Massey University
  • John Fraser, University of Auckland
  • Gerald Tannock, University of Otago
  • Ayesha Verrall, University of Otago
  • David Murdoch, University of Otago
  • Deborah Williamson, University of Otago
  • Kurt Krause, University of Otago
  • Una Ren, Victoria University of Wellington
  • Michael Berney, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
  • Nikki Moreland, University of Auckland
  • Chris Greening, CSIRO, Canberra
  • Lyn Wise, University of Otago
  • Frank Griffin, University of Otago
  • James Ussher, University of Otago

Please view travel scholarships which were awarded for this meeting.

2015 Symposium programme

Picture of Professor Bill Jacobs at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture of Debbie Williamson, Bill Jacobs and Greg Cook at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture of Professor Richard Blaikie QMB 2015Professor Kurt Krause QMB 2015Picture of Scott Beatson at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture of Professor Michael Berney at QMB Queenstown August 2015Picture of Htin Lin Aung and Rochelle Ramsay at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture of James Ussher at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Lyn Wise, Olaf Bork and Matloob QMB 2015Picture Una Ren at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture of Mark Walker at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture of Adam Heikal, Shaun Lott, Dean Crick and Yoshio Nakatani at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture of Michael Berney and George Poulter at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture of Nikki Moreland at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture Susan Jack, Nikki Moreland and Debbie Williamson at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture of Kiel Hards at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture of Benedict Yu at poster at QMB Queenstown NZ 2015Picture of Vanessa Chang at poster at QMB Queenstown NZ 2015Picture of Audrey Tiong at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture of Jeremy Raynes by poster at QMB Queenstown NZ 2015Picture of Debbie Williamson at QMB Queenstown NZ 2015Picture of Frank Griffin at QMB Queenstown NZ 2015Picture of Greg Cook and Rod Dunbar at QMB Queenstown NZ 2015Picture of Kiel Hards, Jeremy Raynes awarded poster prize by Scott Beatson and Kurt Krause at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture James Hadfield at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture of Hannah Read, Latifa and Siouxsie Wiles at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture of thank you to Scott Beatson at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture of Nikki Moreland, James Ussher, Htin Ling Aung and Kurt Krause at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture of Debbie Williamson and Greg Cook at QMB Queenstown NZ August 2015Picture of Queenstown NZ August 2015

Previous Webster Centre symposia

Seminars and related meetings

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