Professor Kurt Krause and the light from a New Zealand glowworm or titiwai (Arachnocampa luminosa).
Otago Biochemistry’s Professor Kurt Krause and his research team are exploring the mechanism behind the glow of Aotearoa New Zealand’s native glowworm or titiwai (Arachnocampa luminosa), with the aim of using this bioluminescence in biomedical research.
The glowworm, already an important part of New Zealand’s tourism industry, is actually the larval stage of a fungus gnat, a type of fly that looks a little like a mosquito. In the dark caves and forest stream banks where it lives, the glowworm hangs sticky threads, then at night produces a bright blue-green light from an organ at the end of its tail. Tiny flying insects are attracted to the light, become stuck in the threads, whereupon the carnivorous glowworm feeds on them.
Bioluminescent tools derived from other glowing creatures are already used to track disease-causing microbes or locate abnormal cells, like cancer, in body tissues. Professor Krause’s team plans to characterise the glowworm system in molecular detail, and explore the use of the glowworm light, with its unique bioluminescent properties, as a new biotechnology tool in these and other applications.
This research is one of the early-stage research initiatives that recently received funding in the 2025 Endeavour Fund – Smart Ideas investment round, which supports innovative science with potential benefits for New Zealand.
Joining Professor Krause are Dr Ashley Campbell and Malcolm Rutledge from the Department of Biochemistry and Associate Professor Bill Hawkins, Department of Chemistry. The team also includes Professor and Biochemistry Head of Department Peter Dearden, and international collaborators Dr Oliver Watkins, a mass spectroscopist based in Singapore and former member of the Krause research group, Dr Keith Wood, a co-founder of Light Bio biotechnology company and veteran of bioluminescence research in the pharmaceutical industry, and University of Queensland entomologist Emeritus Professor Dave Merritt. The project will also be working in consultation with Jessica Lambert, Discover Waitomo, Waitomo Glowworm Caves.
Find out more about the glowworm research here: