Two members of Biochemistry staff had their work recognised at the School of Biomedical Sciences annual prizegiving ceremony on Wednesday November 25.
Dr Rob Day won the award for "Research Support Distinguished Contribution", and Robyn Lee won the award for "Research Support Focused Contribution".
Rob Day has been in the Department of Biochemistry since he came to Otago to do his PhD in 2004, where he pioneered the use of laser dissection microscopy in plants. Since completing his studies in 2008 he has been a key staff member and has become the go-to person for advice and development of RNA-seq and NGS as well as bespoke sequencing methodologies. His depth of knowledge has been called upon by many groups within Biochemistry and the School of Biomedical Sciences to seek advice on the development of efficient workflows for various sequencing analyses. He is currently the acting operations manager for the Otago Genomics Facility and chair of the Otago genomics user group. He has worked (at last count!) with 9 different principle investigators in the Biochemistry Department as well as with researchers in other Departments within the School of Biomedical Sciences, including both Christchurch and Wellington campuses.
Robyn has been an Assistant Research Fellow in Prof. Richard Macknight's laboratory in the Biochemistry department since 2011. During this time Robyn has sustained an exceptional level of performance, with her research contributions leading to her being an author on 14 publications. In recognition of Robyn's research excellence, she was awarded the NZ Plant Biology Society Technician's Award to present her research at the society's annual conference in Palmerston North in 2017. Her high technical expertise and management skills have resulted in her being appointed as the "Departmental Equipment Expert" for our real-time PCR platforms, in which role she trains students and other researchers on how to use some of our most high tech machinery.
Congratulations Robyn and Rob, your awards are well deserved.