Postgraduate Students in Genetics
Sarah Morgan
PhD student
After completing her BSc(Hons) in Genetics, Sarah commenced her PhD studies in 2008 with Associate Professor Peter Dearden as her supervisor in the Genetics Program. Sarah's current research is based on the Life History Trade-off seen in most animals; that of lifespan vs reproduction. Sarah is especially focused on the lifespan half of the equation; in particular the links between aging and the environmental effects of diet on the genome.
For more information on Sarah's work: http://biochem.otago.ac.nz/deardenlab/Life.html
Mandy Phipps-Green
Assistant Research Fellow, Merriman Lab
Department of Biochemistry
Mandy graduated from the University of Otago in 1999 with a BA(Hons I) majoring in Anthropology, and the University of Auckland in 2003 with a MSc(Hons I) in Forensic Biology.
After completing post-graduate study, Mandy worked as a Senior Forensic Biology Technician for ESR in Auckland. She is now an Assistant Research Fellow in Assoc Prof Tony Merriman's research group, studying the genetic causes of gout and rheumatoid arthritis, two forms of arthritis that collectively affect 3-4% of New Zealand's population.
Recent Publications:
Merriman, T, Dalbeth, N, Phipps-Green, A, Merriman, M, Topless, R, Gow, P, Harrison, A, Highton, J, Jones, P, Stamp, L. and Hollis-Moffatt, J. A Strong Role for the ABC-Binding Cassette G2(ABCG2) Gene in Susceptibility to Gout in New Zealand Western Polynesian, but Not Eastern Polynesian (Mäori), Cases and Controls. Presented at ACR/ARHP Annual Scientific Meeting Philadephia, U.S.A, October 2009.
Phipps-Green AJ, Topless RK, Merriman ME, Dalbeth N, Gow PJ, Harrison AA, Highton J, Jones PB, Stamp LK, Harrison P, Wordsworth BP, Merriman TR. No evidence for association of the systemic lupus erythematosus-associated ITGAM variant, R77H, with rheumatoid arthritis in the Caucasian population. Rheumatology. 2009 Sep 11. [Epub ahead of print]
Hollis-Moffatt JE, Rowley KA, Phipps-Green AJ, Merriman ME, Dalbeth N, Gow PJ, Harrison AA, Highton J, Jones PB, Stamp LK, Harrison P, Wordsworth BP, Merriman TR. The ITGAV rs3738919 variant and susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis in four Caucasian sample sets. Arthritis Research & Therapy 2009, 11:R152 doi:10.1186/ar2828
Matt Taylor
Masters Student, Department of Zoology (Supervisor Dr Bruce Robertson)
In 2008 Matt completed a PgDip in Wildlife Management at the University of Otago which led on to a MSc in 2009. Under the supervision of Dr Bruce Robertson from Department of Zoology, Matt's research aims to identify the genetic population structure of New Zealand sea lions from Campbell Islands and Otago Peninsula populations.
For more information on Matt and Bruce’s work: http://www.sealiontrust.org.nz/
Kate Linterman
After completing her BSc(Hons) in Dr Stephanie Hughes’ laboratory in 2008, Kate now works as Stephanie’s Assistant Research Fellow which enables her to continue the work from her Honours project. Kate’s group focuses on the childhood neurodegenerative disease Batten Disease, primarily by utilising a naturally-occurring sheep model to perform in vitro as well as in vivo studies into the potential of using viral gene therapy as a possible treatment.
Kate is also a member of 'BARN' the: Battens Animal Research Network which collaborates with research groups in Christchurch, Sydney and London. This shared network use sheep, cows and mice to model different forms of Batten Disease.
Having recently returned from the 12th International Congress on NCL (Batten Disease) held in Hamburg, Kate hopes to continue her work into Batten Disease as a Assistant Research Fellow in 2010.
For more information on Kate’s work: http://biochem.otago.ac.nz/staff/hughes/shughes.html
Mohan raj Krishnan
Mohan is currently working on his Masters project with Associate Professor Tony Merriman at the Department of Biochemistry. His research involves investigating polymorphisms in the Vitamin D metabolism genes which may have an association with the onset of gout attacks. Mohan’s project is primarily focused on New Zealanders health; in particular the Maori and Polynesian population as they have an increased prevalence in hyperuricaemia and gout. This is the largest study being conducted researching Vitamin D polymorphisms and its relationship with gout.
For more information on Mohan’s work: http://www.otago.ac.nz/nzgl/merriman.html
Margriet van Kogelenberg
After completing her BSc at Utrecht's Institute of Life Sciences and Chemistry and her MSc at the Free University of Amsterdam in 2006, Margriet commenced her PhD in the laboratory of Professor Stephen Robertson in 2007. Margriet's main objective is to study the genetic etiology and pathogenesis of the neural migration disorder, periventricular heterotopia using genome wide arrays.
For more information on Margriet's work: http://www.otago.ac.nz/dsm/clinicalgeneticsgroup
Jenny Rhodes
After completing her Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Science (BMLSc) in 2006 and a PGDipMLSc in 2007, Jenny commenced her PhD studies in 2008 under the supervision of Dr Julia Horsfield at the University of Otago. Jenny's PhD involves investigating the mechanism by which cohesin, a protein complex best known for its role in linking sister chromatids until cell division, regulates gene expression. Of particular interest is the cohesin subunit, Rad21, and whether it plays a role in cancer through the regulation of gene expression.
Jenny is part of the Chromosome Structure and Development Group based in the Pathology Department, School of Medicine, Dunedin.
Sarah Holman
After completing a BSc (Hons) degree, Sarah started her PhD in clinical genetics under the supervision of Professor Stephen Robertson. Her research focuses on the mechanistic properties of a gene that when mutated leads to the generation of developmental skeletal dysplasia on one hand and paediatric kidney cancer later in life in an independent fashion.
Sarah's research is supported by the Cure Kids Kirsty McDermott Memorial Postgraduate Scholarship in Child Health Research.
More information on Sarah's work can be found at: http://www.otago.ac.nz/dsm/clinicalgeneticsgroup
Rosannah Mccartney
After completing her BSc(Hons) in Genetics, Rosannah returned to the University of Otago to study for her PhD in Associate Professor Peter Dearden's lab in the Department of Biochemistry. Rosannah's research project is based on understanding more about the evolution of developmental processes which involves working with honeybees. Queen honeybees are larger, they can lay eggs and they live up to 20 times longer than smaller sterile workers. These differences are due to regulation of genes during development in response to royal jelly. Rosannah aims to understand exactly how royal jelly triggers bipotential larvae to follow the trajectory of becoming a queen or a worker honeybee.
For more information on Rosannah's work:
http://biochem.otago.ac.nz/deardenlab/
Verity Oliver
Verity Oliver is in her final year of a PhD under the supervision of Professor Ian Morison. Verity's project is to assess the effect of altered environment during early development on epigenetic programming, using in vitro fertilization as a model.
For more information on Verity's work:
http://cancer.otago.ac.nz
Erin Daly
Erin Daly is a third-year PhD student under the supervision of Professor Ian Morison. She came from Boston to backpack New Zealand and settled in Dunedin to complete a PhD. Erin is performing an epigenetic analysis of the human placenta. Since normal placental development is markedly similar to tumour invasion in cancer and epigenetic modifications have been labelled a hallmark of cancer; this project may provide a link between epigenetic mechanisms and origins of adult disease.
Mary Gray
Mary graduated in 2008 with a BSc(Hons) in Genetics. She is currently working on her PhD in Medicine in the Clinical Genetics Research Group, housed in the Pathology department under the supervision of Stephen Robertson and David Markie. The focus of her project is determining the genetic cause for various skeletal diseases using copy number variation (cnv) arrays and linkage approaches. The biochemical basis for the genetic diseases will also be explored.
For more information on the Clinical Genetics Research Group see:
http://dnmeds.otago.ac.nz/departments/womens/paediatrics/research/cgg/index.html
David Winter
PhD Student (supervisors Hamish Spencer and Graham Wallis)
David's research uses genetic tools (microsattelites, sequence data and phylogenetic methods) to delimit species within two land snail radiations in the Southern Cook Islands and to investigate the biogeographic and speciation processes that gave rise to these radiations. David is also creating resources for Cook Island schools.
David's scholarship is funded by the Allan Wilson Centre: http://www.allanwilsoncentre.ac.nz
Soroush Nasri
PhD student
Soroush is completing his PhD in the Cancer Genetics Laboratory. His studies are focused on genome wide analysis of early stages of diffuse gastric cancer to reveal the mechanisms underlying the initiation of this disease.
For more information on Soroush's work: http://cancer.otago.ac.nz
Matthew McNeil
PhD student (supervisor Peter Fineran)
Matthew completed his BSc(hons) degree at the University of Otago majoring in genetics in 2008 with his honours year being under the supervision of Professor Iain Lamont. Matthew's PhD is focused on the regulation of secondary metabolism in Serratia, with Peter Fineran as his supervisor.
For more information on Matthew's work: http://microbiology.otago.ac.nz/dept/staff/fineran_peter/index.html
Wan Rohani Wan Taib
PhD student, Biochemistry (supervisor Dr Tony Merriman)
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a complex autoimmune disease with a strong genetic contribution to its pathogenesis. The first non-Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) gene discovered to be reproducibly associated with RA is the protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor 22 (PTPN22) gene in the Caucasian population. Roahni performed fine mapping approach in identifying causal and protective variants within PTPN22 gene in rheumatoid arthritis in Caucasian population.
The second part of her studies will be to investigate several putative genes from IDDM6 region on Chromosome 18 in rheumatoid arthritis that was associated in other autoimmune disease, type 1 diabetes. Rohani has also tested other variants from other loci that were detected in genome-wide scan association studies in rheumatoid arthritis. The study on rheumatoid arthritis was intercalated with schizophrenia for inverse association between these two diseases.
This study was carried out in New Zealand and UK (London and Oxford) Caucasian population and meta analyzed with the Wellcome Trust Case-Control Consortium (WTCCC), the Genetic Association Information Network (GAIN) and published studies.
Tash Austin
Masters student, Biochemistry Department (supervisor Dr Tony Merriman)
Tash Austin is currently working on a Masters project in Tony Merriman's lab. She is investigating the genetic link between Rheumatoid Arthritis and Schizophrenia, by exploring common disease pathways. Her undergraduate degree was in Genetics and Pharmacology and she is interested in following a career in Pharmacogenetics.