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MARSDEN FUND NEWSLETTERNo 21 september 2002Contents
The Maori-Language Newspapers ProjectFrom the 1840s and into the twentieth century, Maori-language newspapers were published by government, churches, Maori, and Pakeha philanthropists. They are rare as a long record of Maori language in print, vivid in picturing Maori society and New Zealand history, and remarkable for Maori opinion. But they have been little used; few people know about them or read Maori. The aims of the Maori-Language Newspapers Project were to promote use of the papers and to reveal the new and varied information they offer researchers. The project was carried out from 1999 to 2002, at the University of Auckland's Department of Maori Studies, by Professor Ngapare Hopa, Dr Jane McRae, Jenifer Curnow and a team of postgraduate students. The team worked in association with the History of Print Culture in New Zealand, a research programme initiated by the Humanities Society of New Zealand, in 1995, and with the Alexander Turnbull Library as the host organisation for the Marsden grant. Further collegial support came from other Maori Studies departments, and the Computer Science Department at the University of Waikato.
Reading the newspapers was highly rewarding. The fascination of day-to-day news was more than matched by discoveries about language and history. Of particular interest was the language of the press, for instance the coining of new words and the oral forms in print formal greetings (mihi) and songs (waiata) to conclude letters. There was picturesque detail in small items such as obituaries and advertisements for kiwi "dead or alive" and missing stock. Evidence of the thinking and events of the day is in editorials, letters, articles, and national and international news reports. Newspapers promoted their own causes, which led to clashes, particularly between the Maori-run Te Wananga (187478) and the government's Te Waka Maori o Niu Tirani (187179) over the Treaty of Waitangi and Maori representation in Parliament. Huia Tangata Kotahi (189395) was unparalleled in reporting on the Maori Parliament, its organisation, establishment of a press, and recreation such as the game of mu (like draughts) played on an eight-yard board marked on the ground, with members as the pieces, and cheering spectators.
Church newspapers are sources of social, political and religious interest. The Anglican Te Pipiwharauroa reported onEast Coast sports; and the Wesleyan TeHaeata commented on government action, engaged in theological debate, and recorded Maori contribution to the church.
Three publications result from the project:
An opportunity to evaluate this work has arisen out of a successful
joint application to the Rockefeller Foundation for a workshop at the Bellagio
Conference Centre, Lake Como, Italy, 29 January to 9 February, 2003. Dr Jane
McRae and PhD candidates Tane Mokena, Hazel Petrie, Yvonne Sutherland and Lyn
Waymouth, Professor Mark Apperley and his Waikato team, and colleagues from
Hawaii working on Hawaiian-language newspapers, will meet to document their
work for others preserving rare indigenous-language print collections on the
internet.
The power of symmetryHave you ever wondered what a world without symmetry might look like? It is almost impossible to imagine, because the geometry of our universe is fundamentally symmetrical. From the monumental spheres and spirals of suns and galaxies to DNA helices and the intricate lacework of snow. Every object we see is composed of many symmetrical parts and the cues we use to understand and describe an object's shape are the symmetries that they possess. Symmetries exist at many levels. As well as geometrical symmetries, there are space-time symmetries representing Einstein's dictum that "the laws of physics are the same in all frames of reference". Particle symmetries in quantum mechanics account for the stability of atoms and are used to classify the huge variety of particles identified by modern accelerators. The existence of symmetry plays an important role in solving problems in many areas of physics by making the mathematics tractable. The application of symmetry principles is an active area of research at the University of Canterbury. The RACAH project, led by Marsden researchers, Professor Phil Butler and Dr Mike Reid, takes its name from Giulio Racah, the physicist who, during the 1940s, applied symmetry principles to atomic spectra (the patterns of particular colours emitted, for example, by sodium and neon lamps and fluorescent lights). The research ranges from abstract mathematics through to software development and the modelling of the spectra for various materials. Since Racah's time, an important focus has been the computation of the numerical values of certain coefficients that describe the colours and relative strengths of light emitted from atoms, molecules, and solids. In many cases they have proved extremely difficult to calculate. By applying a relatively new branch of mathematics, category theory, that has only recently been applied to physics, Marsden-funded student William Joyce has developed much improved methods for calculating these coefficients. Dr Joyce has recently taken up a FRST (Foundation for Research, Science, and Technology) post-doctoral fellowship to develop this work further and incorporate it into the existing software package. Drs Reid and Chang-Kui Duan, a Marsden-funded post-doctoral fellow, use these coefficients in the modelling of the complicated spectra of materials containing lanthanide ions. Emissions from atoms in the lanthanide group of the periodic table lose less energy to heat, and so are more intense as well as more efficient. One of their projects is a collaboration with researchers at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, investigating the emission and absorption of radiation in the extreme ultraviolet range, light of much higher energy than that of the visible spectrum. This is important to the development of the next generation of phosphors for flat-panel television monitors and mercury-free fluorescent tubes. The power of symmetry is making such applications possible.
News from Marsden Cottageby Dr Don Smith, Manager, Research Funding This is the first time I have had the opportunity of writing an article for Marsden Update. I joined the Royal Society in late August to replace Valda McCann who retired then. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Valda. Her contribution to the Marsden Fund over the years has been outstanding. I am just beginning to realise the enormous workload that she and the staff here work under, yet all the processes that are set in place to assess applications and to manage the contracts are meticulously well planned and run smoothly. I should perhaps introduce myself to those of you who do not know me. I am a chemical engineer and worked for DSIR at Gracefield in my early research career. From 1992 until 2001, I was a senior manager with Industrial Research Ltd and for the past year I have helped the Royal Society establish the Centres of Research Excellence Fund. This is a very eventful time of the year to begin working with the Marsden Fund as the results of the 2002 application round have just been announced. This year, 86 of the 165 full proposals received have been offered funding (68 standard applications and 18 Fast-Starts), with $12.6 million being allocated to the first year of these programmes ($11.7 million for standard proposals and $0.9 million for Fast-Start proposals). The Marsden Fund Council was impressed with the standard of the proposals but regrets that within the available resources not all the excellent proposals could be funded. The total requested for first year funding for all full proposals was $33.0 million. The overall Marsden Fund was increased to $30.8 million this year, which has enabled the Council to offer funding to more applicants. The proportion of successful proposals funded has risen to 10.7% of the preliminary proposals submitted (and 52.1% of the full proposals received). There was a noticeable increase in the amount of money requested in proposals this year. The Marsden Fund Council has endeavoured to control costs but at the same time provide research groups with adequate resources to do the research. As a consequence, the average annual funding per research grant has increased by 17%. Further details of the successful applications are available on the Marsden Fund website, http://www.rsnz.org/funding/marsden_fund/
Plaque to honour Sir Ernest MarsdenSir Ernest Marsden was born in the small town of Rishton, northwest of Manchester, in 1889. On 6 September, Dr Chris Bowdery of the Lancashire and Cumbria branch of the UK Institute of Physics, unveiled a plaque to Sir Ernest at the house of his birth at 68 Hermitage Street, in Rishton. The text on the plaque states "Sir Ernest Marsden, FRS, FRSNZ, was born in this house on 19 February 1889. He worked with Lord Rutherford on experiments which led to the concept of the atomic nucleus and the birth of nuclear physics."
Born in Lancashire, Marsden came under the influence of Ernest Rutherford when they met as teacher and student in Manchester. Rutherford recommended Marsden as physics professor at what is now Victoria University in Wellington. After serving with the New Zealand Engineers in France during the First World War (and receiving the Military Cross), he undertook a wide range of research, from cosmic rays to fossil fuels. In 1922, he joined New Zealand's Department of Education before moving to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in 1926. In his first 20 years as head he started to establish divisions to provide a scientific footing for the country's main source of income, farming. After 1935, he moved DSIR to provide the same service for industry in general. He spent the war developing the new radar technology and, in 1947, he became New Zealand's scientific liaison officer in London. Although he died in 1970 his name is still synonymous with excellence in New Zealand science thanks to the Marsden Fund.
Has stress-induced photoinhibition influenced the evolution of divaricate shrubs?
The New Zealand flora includes an exceptionally large number of woody shrubs
with wiry, tangled branches and small, sparse leaves, for example, shrubby wineberry
(Aristotelia fructicosa) and corokia (Corokia cotoneaster). These
are known as divaricate shrubs. The divaricate form characterises 10% of New
Zealand's woody plant species and has evolved in 18 plant families. It has been
proposed that this growth form evolved, either as a defence against browsing
moa, or as a result of extreme climatic conditions. The absorption of too much light by plants can overexcite, and result in reductions in the efficiency of, the plant's photosynthetic apparatus a phenomenon called photoinhibition. Low temperatures can compound the problem. Changes in shoot architecture or leaf reflectance can reduce the amount of light absorbed. Leaves of divaricates may be shielded from too much light by their outer canopy of branches, and thus avoid photoinhibition. The aims of the Marsden-funded work are to compare the susceptibility of divaricate and closely related nondivaricate species to photoinhibition under conditions of high light and low temperature, and to characterise the differences in architecture and growth of the two forms. The researchers hope to use this data to quantify the costs of photoinhibition to net photosynthesis and to investigate the trade-offs associated with different strategies of harvesting light. Initial results indicate extreme differences in biomass partitioning, that is, the percentage of the plant's mass allocated to roots, stems, and leaves. Divaricates have around one-half of their mass in stems, compared with about one- quarter in nondivaricates. The ratio of leaf area to whole plant biomass is at least two times greater for nondivaricates than divaricates. These findings suggest that for prevention of photoinhibition to result in a growth rate that is competitive with nondivaricate relatives, divaricates would need at least double the daily rate of photosynthesis per unit leaf area. Can such a high rate be achieved and, if so, how? The team hopes to find the answers by using a combination of techniques to examine photosynthetic functioning, and to model photosynthesis of the whole plant.
Funding highlights for 2002This year, $36.7 million was granted to support 86 projects for up to 3 years, which represents 10.7% of total applications received, an increase from 9.3% last year thanks to an extra $3 million funding in the 2002 budget. The successful projects include 18 Fast-Start grants. In a statement to the media, Chair of the Marsden Fund Council, Professor Diana Hill, said, "We are delighted to be able to fund more proposals than usual. The Marsden funding is extremely important to our researchers and is very competitive. The Fast-Start grants are helping many promising young scientists to establish their careers. As such, they are an important incentive for them to stay in New Zealand. "The further indicative funding for Marsden, outlined in the budget for the 2003/4 and 2004/5 years, is very welcome," said Professor Hill. The writings of Allen Curnow: a study of cultural identity in NZ in the 20th centuryPrincipal Investigator: Professor Terry Sturm, Department of English, University of Auckland Marsden Grant: $344,000 over 3 years Allen Curnow (19112001) was one of this country's most eminent writers, and among the finest English-language poets of his generation worldwide. He is the only New Zealand writer to receive the prestigious Queen's Medal for poetry, and during his 70 years of publishing dominated at almost every stage the New Zealand literary landscape. It was largely Curnow who defined our literary nationalism in the 1940s, and was central to introducing modernist agendas into New Zealand writing. By his death at the age of 90, he had completed a body of work, which is unique in this country, and increasingly is recognised as significant in international terms. Professor Sturm's long association with Curnow as a colleague at Auckland University, and his extensive work on New Zealand writing in such enterprises as his editing The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature, ideally place him to write a critical and biographical study. This inevitably will be as well a study of literary nationalism, New Zealand politics and intellectual history, literary relationships both here and overseas, and modern poetic modes and practices. The X fliesPrincipal Investigator: Dr Max Scott, Institute of Molecular BioSciences, Massey University Marsden Grant: $640,000 over 3 years The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has a clever way of ensuring equality of the sexes. Its males have a single X chromosome, while the females (like humans) have two.
So is the male fly stuck with only producing half as much from its single X-chromosome as the female does with her two? No he follows a surprisingly simple method once a gene from the chromosome has been selected and then read (switched on), it is simply read again. Thus, the gene's productivity is doubled, and the male has caught up with the female's two Xs. In this research, Dr Max Scott of Massey University will look at the job of a large multi-protein complex that binds the length of the male chromosome, uncoiling the tightly packaged DNA so that other proteins can more easily get in and begin the decoding process. He also plans to examine how male flies are able to regulate their X chromosome so precisely. Is there a protein that acts like a thermostat, ensuring that male X genes are read exactly twice as often no more and no less? And, there's a twist. Intriguingly, not all genes on the male flies' X chromosome are read twice. So Dr Scott will examine how certain genes are excluded from the double reading. The project could have implications for future scientific research in human gene therapy where the control of gene activity is a crucial factor. Alien invasionsPrincipal Investigators: Dr David Wardle and Dr Peter Bellingham, Landcare Research, Lincoln Marsden Grant: $600,000 over 3 years How does the arrival of a new species affect an ecosystem's function? An island-based study will work as a living laboratory where researchers will try and find the answers. Humans are removing the barriers to long-distance movements by organisms through efficient long-distance transport. And, human activities such as habitat fragmentation through land clearing also help an invading species establish itself. Once in their new environments, often the organisms are fast-growing, reproduce quickly, and are fierce competitors and can alter the composition and functioning of ecosystems in ways that until now, have been little understood. Dr David Wardle and Dr Peter Bellingham of Landcare Research will lead a study to determine the effects of alien invaders by using 30 northern New Zealand islands as living laboratories. The research will investigate the impact of invasive predators on the activities of seabirds, and the flow-on effect in the ecosystem. Seabirds are "ecosystem engineers", major players in ecosystem functioning, through their burrowing activity and transport of nutrients from the sea to land. What happens to an ecosystem when they are the target of predators? There will be three categories of island studied ratfree, Pacific rats present, and European rats present. Two rat species have been chosen because of their difference in behaviour. The European rat is the most aggressive, and devastates seabird populations through eating eggs and chicks. By contrast, the Pacific rat causes partial reductions in seabird populations. Ten islands in each of the three categories will have their ecosystem functions analysed and then compared to assess the role of seabirds in driving the ecosystem, and the effect of the alien invaders. This research will give a better understanding of future human impacts on natural ecosystems and management of reserves. Triplefins a study of speciationPrincipal Investigator: Dr Kendall Clements, School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland Marsden Grant: $419,000 over 3 years Previous study has found that New Zealand has an amazing underwater feature that can be used as a resource for world class research on the theory of evolution. Charles Darwin originally proposed that species would adapt, change, and ultimately evolve through natural selection. One way this can occur is via geographical barriers. But why do species adapt and change when there are no geographical barriers? What is it that seems to almost invisibly drive a species to split into one or more distinct lines? Now, Dr Kendall Clements from the University of Auckland is seeking answers using New Zealand's abundant population of triplefins. Also known as cockabullies, these fish populate New Zealand's shallow reefs. Dr Clements has already discovered through previous Marsden-funded research that almost all New Zealand's 28 species share a common ancestor and are not closely related to triplefins found elsewhere. This makes them unique among the New Zealand fish fauna. So, New Zealand triplefins have already "speciated" evolved away from other groups found in the world's oceans. But what is it that has driven them to evolve further in our coastal waters? Like many marine organisms, the fish face no particular geographic barrier that keeps them isolated on one part of the coast. So, they were not trapped and forced to evolve independently. Dr Clements has surveyed the populations and found that the most northern and southern populations are significantly genetically different from each other. The in-between populations show a flow of genetic diversity from one end of the country to the other, showing that it is likely there are no geographical barriers preventing dispersal. With his second Marsden grant, Dr Clements will examine the differences between the different species and within the species to study what drives speciation. The changes in behaviour and environments between species from around the country will be compared to the changes found within species that live in the same area of coast, but populate different habitats (such as a sheltered coast environment versus an exposed coast environment). Moving in from the sea to a laboratory, Dr Clements will then test how deeply rooted these behaviours are, and if the fish will change their behaviour when exposed to different environment and mates from outside their natural location Using this information, Dr Clements plans to establish the importance of ecological and physiological reasons for speciation, in the absence of geographic reasons. 100 Anzac years what have they achieved?Principal Investigator: Dr Philippa Mein Smith, Department of History, University of Canterbury Marsden Grant: $345,000 over 3 years Travelling overseas, Kiwi and Australian accents are readily confused, and the countries are sometimes mistakenly thought of as one and the same. But to confuse them is to trigger a vigorous dispute when a Kiwi and an Australian each rivals the other to explain to an outsider just how different the two countries are. But is this true? This research plans to look at what it is we have in common. It will seek to explore how well we understand each other, or whether we simply take each other for granted. Dr Philippa Mein Smith, Professor Peter Hempenstall, and Dr Shaun Goldfinch of the University of Canterbury will explore the Australia-New Zealand relationship on multiple levels: political, intellectual, cultural, social and economic. They will analyse the nature of Australia-New Zealand ties their strengths and weaknesses, and how they have changed. The research team will take a new approach to Australia-New Zealand history, moving past the point where it is assumed that New Zealand and Australia have separate histories that began when New Zealand refused to join the Australian federation in 1901. They believe this will contribute to better understanding between the two countries and establish a plan for researching areas such as cultural relations and policy sharing. Finding alien life is the answer beneath our feet?Principal Investigators: Dr Kathleen Campbell, Department of Geology, and Associate Professor Pat Browne, Geothermal Institute, University of Auckland Marsden Grant: $495,000 over 3 years If the evolution of life on Earth is to be described as a growing tree, then the deepest roots are to be found with the simple single-celled organisms that derive their energy in the heat of thermal springs. Many people believe that it is there that life was born. These hot-spring dwellers leave behind a unique record of their life and time. Rapidly entombed by minerals, they build a natural archive that awaits exploration. Now, the question being asked by Dr Kathleen Campbell and Associate Professor Patrick Browne of Auckland University is: "Are the secrets of life that existed billions of years ago hidden in New Zealand's abundant supply of modern, recent and ancient hot spring deposits?" First, the researchers will record fossilising of life in current hot springs. Then, older deposits will be compared to current ones to trace how the fossils may have changed over time. But as the search for evidence of early life on Earth goes on, we might also yet answer an equally fascinating question: "Did life exist on Mars?" Debate has sparked anew on this issue with the recent controversial observation that a meteorite from Mars may contain signs of microbial life. So, by establishing a record of how primitive Earth life leaves signs behind, we may be able to decode whether markings found on Martian meteorites are more than just signs of erosion, or chemical action. This research will sit alongside existing Marsden-funded research on the origins of life, where Dr David Saul from the University of Auckland is examining the "hot start" and "cold start" theories. Some hold that Earth's volcanic past indicates that life emerged during a period when the temperature was much higher than now, possibly from the deep oceanic hydrothermal vents. But others say that the evidence for life beginning in high temperatures is not strong and that a cold start was just as likely. By analysing the sequence of ancient genes, Dr Saul's team from Auckland University is endeavouring to produce their own evidence to answer biology's fundamental question. The results of these two research projects will provide exciting new insights into the origins of life. Life on the inside viewing things with microscopes and computersPrincipal Investigator: Associate Professor Rick Millane, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Canterbury Marsden Grant: $630,000 over 3 years Every day you "see" things. But what really happens is that your brain accepts and decodes a bewildering array of information. It distinguishes between light and dark. It sorts out colour. It determines patterns in texture and shapes. When this is all combined, you receive a meaningful "picture". However, sometimes the relationship between the information and the picture is too complicated for the brain to decode. Sophisticated computational methods are then needed to obtain useful pictures. Now, Associate Professor Rick Millane of the University of Canterbury plans to develop new computational methods to combine information from a number of the many different available technologies to get a much better picture of what life is like on the inside at a microscopic level in the human body. By using optical and electron microscopy pictures along with X-ray diffraction data, he will apply these methods to the study of two important biological systems: muscle and retinas. The methods developed will also be used by other investigators for structural studies of similar kinds of systems in physics and biology. The project is a multidisciplinary one, applying techniques from electrical engineering to the biophysical world. This research will be conducted, in part, in collaboration with Imperial College, London, and the University of Houston. Solar flares and magnetism how do they connect?Principal Investigators: Associate Professors Ian Craig and Alfred Sneyd, and Dr Sean Oughton, Department of Mathematics, University of Waikato Marsden Grant: $510,000 over 3 years After over 100 years of study, solar flares are still a major scientific puzzle. We know that they are caused by an explosive discharge of energy in the Sun's atmosphere, the corona, but many questions remain about how the vast amounts of energy are stored and how it is released.
The flare energy is likely to be stored in the Sun's strong atmospheric magnetic fields, but how is the energy released? The answer may be magnetic reconnection, whereby magnetic field lines are broken and rejoined in just a few minutes, releasing vast amounts of magnetic energy. A key focus of this research is to show that the reconnection can occur fast enough to explain solar flares. The research team of Associate Professor Ian Craig, Associate Professor Alfred Sneyd and Dr Sean Oughton, all from the University of Waikato, will take a new approach and study how turbulence in the Sun's outer atmosphere affects the reconnection of magnetic field lines. The overall goal of this research is to produce a three-dimensional mathematical model of the Sun's atmosphere that will allow physical predictions to be made that help to explain our observations of the Sun's behaviour over the last century. The research should also provide further information on the interesting paradox of the Sun's temperature why, unlike Earth its atmosphere is hundreds of times hotter than its surface. Understanding the brain betterPrincipal Investigators: Professor Wickliffe Abraham and Associate Professor David Bilkey, Department of Psychology, University of Otago Marsden Grant: $900,000 over 3 years Nestled close to the bottom of the brain is the hippocampus a key area for learning. It is a part of the brain that detects sensations and uses them to trigger behaviour and memory storage. Currently, our understanding of the functioning of the hippocampus is largely based on research carried out on animals living in impoverished environments. So, much of our knowledge is based on brains that are not normal. This research wants to examine the differences between brain cells from animals that were raised in impoverished environments, to those raised in richer environments. It plans to closely examine the electrical, physical, and chemical differences of hippocampal cells of animals raised in these different environments. This Marsden-funded research is one of the highest grants awarded this year. It is led by Professor Wickliffe Abraham and Associate Professor David Bilkey of the University of Otago and aims to show that an animal living in a complex environment rich with stimuli will have hippocampus cells with an improved level of functioning. Once a comprehensive basic understanding of the "normal" functioning of the hippocampus is established, it can be used to lead towards developing therapies that could ultimately improve recovery after brain damage or disease. Helping the brain to heal itselfPrincipal Investigator: Dr Bronwen Connor, Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Auckland Marsden Grant: $627,000 over 3 years It is now known that the brain can maintain and repair itself. But how does it do so, and can we influence it? Dr Bronwen Connor of the University of Auckland wants to find out. Dr Connor will direct research that plans to use the stem cells of the mammalian brain. These are capable of transforming themselves to take on new functions and of travelling around the brain to replace damaged neurons. The question is, how useful could the stem cells be in healing injured areas of the brain? To find out, Dr Connor will be looking at the effect of growth factors on stem cells. Can they stimulate stem cells to grow into neurons? And if stem cells are transplanted into the brain, can the growth factors trigger them to develop into neurons as well? A successful result has the potential to contribute to creating new therapies that could be used in the fight against Huntington's and Alzheimers disease, and other debilitating brain disorders. The secrets of a successful syphilis treatmentPrincipal Investigator: Professor Hugh Morgan, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Waikato Marsden Grant: $540,000 over 3 years In 1907 Nobel Prize-winning microbiologist Paul Ehrlich made medical history with the discovery that the arsenic-based compound, Salvarsan, was an effective treatment for syphilis. The story of Salvarsan is an intriguing one. It had been overlooked when it was the 606th substance tested for a possible cure to syphilis, and when it was later re-examined and found to be effective, 914 variations were made in an effort to produce an easily administered treatment. It remained the recommended therapy for syphilis until the introduction of penicillin 40 years later, but perhaps surprisingly the actual structure of Salvarsan has never been determined. Now, in this Marsden-funded research, Professor Hugh Morgan from the University of Waikato wants to build on Ehrlich's work and retrace the history of Salvarsan. One part of the project will involve recreating Salvarsan-like compounds and testing their effectiveness. What was it that Salvarsan actually did to fight syphilis? By answering that question, Professor Morgan and his team hope to uncover a way to kill the bacteria that cause diseases such as gastroenteritis, syphilis, intrauterine infection, and Lyme disease. What these bacteria have in common is that they break down sugar using a unique enzyme. Professor Morgan has already established this enzyme may be blocked by using compounds containing arsenic. So, can Salvarsan (which contains arsenic) or similar compounds also block the enzyme? If they do have the ability to stop the enzyme from breaking down sugar to supply energy for the bacteria, and the bacteria cannot find another way to get energy, then the study has the potential to open up new ways of treating antibiotic-resistant infectious agents. Sticky bacteriaPrincipal Investigators: Dr Iain Lamont, Department of Biochemistry, Dr Phil Bremer, Department of Food Science, and Associate Professor Jim McQuillan, Department of Chemistry, University of Otago Marsden Grant: $617,000 over 3 years The ability of bacteria to stick to metal surfaces causes problems such as food poisoning, post-operative infection, and corrosion. Although we know that bacteria can do this, we don't know how. In this research, Dr Iain Lamont and Dr Philip Bremer with Associate Professor Jim McQuillan, all from the University of Otago, will be investigating this problem. Using a new method they have developed to analyse chemical interaction between bacteria and metal surfaces, the researchers will explore whether the iron-absorbing compounds (siderophores) that one particular disease-causing bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) produces, allow it to cling to the metal surface. Siderophores are found in a wide range of bacteria. So, if it can be discovered exactly how the siderophores bind chemically to ions on metal surfaces, the results may ultimately suggest new ways of bacterial control by preventing the binding of bacteria to metal, and thus preventing infection. The numbers game: monitoring wildlife populations betterPrincipal Investigator: Dr Darryl MacKenzie, Proteus Research and Consulting Ltd, Dunedin Fast-Start Marsden Grant: $100,000 over 2 years What is the total number of living species? Perhaps surprisingly, it's a question we can't answer with certainty. No central catalogue exists, and while estimates have been made as high as 100 million, our best guess lies in the realm of 7 million. But within the species we do know of, there is a further, unresolved question. How can you accurately tell the size of a species' population? After all, if you don't know the size of a population, you can't tell if it is likely to become extinct or overwhelm others. So counting a simple concept we often take for granted is at the heart of effective wildlife management. Conventional methods rely on identifying individual animals, but this can be prohibitive in terms of expense and effort. To develop a more feasible method of monitoring wildlife populations, Dr Darryl MacKenzie of Proteus Research and Consulting Ltd has secured a Marsden Fund Fast-Start grant. Dr MacKenzie plans to test the ability of a brand new model to gauge the size of wildlife populations by using a surrogate measure, the area occupied by a species. The model relies on surveying for the presence or absence of animals at particular monitoring sites, rather than specifically identifying individuals. However, often the species absence cannot be confirmed: the species may have been present but not detected during the surveying. The model explicitly allows for this imperfect detection, and also takes into account the impact of variables such as weather conditions and habitat type on species detection. Dr MacKenzie will determine the best combination of sites to visit (allowing for both existing sites and new sites to be surveyed) and assess the efficiency of repeated surveys on each site. He will also look at what practical designs for wildlife monitoring programmes work well for this model. This work is a collaborative effort, bringing together ecology and statistics, and representing an international effort between New Zealand and the United States, as the work is being carried out in conjunction with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the US Geological Survey. The research will allow wildlife managers to make better decisions about species management and find out more about short-term fluctuations in populations, and can be extended to assess how population change in one species affects the population of another. An Anzac dollar would it work?Principal Investigator: Dr Arthur Grimes, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust, Wellington Marsden Grant: $225,563 over 2 years Debate over whether to merge the Australian and New Zealand sharemarkets and currency regularly rears its head. One side of the argument goes: "We are so similar, it makes sound business sense making things simpler and cheaper for everyone." But on the other side: "The ramifications would be enormous, and cut to the core of the social, political and economic identity of the two countries. Each country is different and so a joint system wouldn't work." The two economies have moved closer since the adoption of the New Zealand Australia Free Trade Agreement and the Closer Economic Relations trade agreements. So, should they move closer still? The European Union appears to be showing increased trade and benefits from adopting the Euro could we get similar benefits from a single currency? In this Marsden-funded research, Dr Arthur Grimes and a team from Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Trust want to develop a yardstick that can be used to provide some answers. The economies of the two countries are often compared at a national level. And within Australia, the respective economic status of the different states is also frequently compared. New Zealand has 20% of Australia's population, and the equivalent of 14% of its GDP. Size-wise, considering the states of Australia as separate economies, we are the fourth largest economy in Australasia. Dr Grimes, Dr Suzi Kerr, and Dr Dave Maré will plot the economic progress of the Australian states. Using variables such as employment, unemployment, GDP, CPI and wages, the goal is to compare New Zealand's economic performance with the individual states. This will paint a picture of whether New Zealand shares similar economic cycles with all or any of the states, perhaps leading some of the cycles or lagging behind them. How, too, are these cycles enhanced or cushioned by Government policy, and exchange rate adjustment? By looking at how the exchange rate of each country has moved in relation to economic shocks, information will be gleaned to predict whether a currency merger would help or hurt New Zealand's economic progress. Outback storms and ocean life is there a link?Principal Investigators: Professor Keith Hunter, Department of Chemistry, University of Otago, and Dr Philip Boyd, NIWA, Dunedin Marsden Grant: $600,000 over 3 years Is it possible that dust storms in the Australian Outback "feed" the Southern Ocean? A team of scientists wants to find out. Iron is essential for ocean plankton's photosynthesis and growth. Winds sweep iron-rich dust from the Australian Outback over the Tasman Sea, where it can flow into the iron-deficient Southern Ocean. So, can it be proved that the Outback dust stimulates the ocean's biological activity? To answer this question, a team led by Professor Keith Hunter of Otago University and Dr Philip Boyd of NIWA will use a network of dust monitoring sites, in collaboration with Professor Grant McTainsh of Griffith University in Queensland, to predict where the storms carry the dust. Then, using satellite images, they will look to see if the dust has stimulated biological activity. At the same time, they will run tests to assess how soluble the iron dust is in both rain and sea water.
If a link can be convincingly established that the level of iron dust swept into oceans conspicuously influences the ocean's productivity and algal structures, then the next step is to assess how this natural link influences the climate. Increased biological activity in the seas can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and so Outback dust deposits may directly contribute to reducing the effect of the carbon dioxide build-up in the atmosphere.
The researchers also want to relate their work to events that occurred in the last ice age. During this time, the average dust input into the oceans was tenfold greater than today and these high dust periods were closely associated with abnormally low atmospheric carbon dioxide. The team, which also includes Dr Jonathan Kim from the University of Otago, hopes their work holds some of the keys to understanding not just the past, but also the future of the Earth, by helping us further understand global climate change. Why is antibiotic resistance increasing so fast?The lingering nineteenth century perception of the genome as a vessel insulated from the external environment is being rapidly falsified by the genome sequencing projects. Genes have recurrently transferred between organisms (horizontal gene transfer) and the telltale signs of those gene transfer events are recorded even in relatively complex multi-cellular organisms. Sophisticated bioinformatic techniques (using computer software to analyse the relationships between DNA sequences from different species) tell us that such transfers between organisms are still happening, and were not just confined to the earliest unicellular organisms. The findings of the many worldwide genome sequencing projects support earlier work that demonstrated the mechanisms of horizontal gene transfer, usually between different species of single-celled organisms like bacteria, but also between bacteria and multicellular organisms like humans. Viruses transfer across species lines, even crossing kingdom boundaries. The discovery that significant proportions of even the human genome are composed of genes derived from viruses or products of their replication provides compelling support for theories that these genes transfer horizontally and not vertically through reproduction. Another way in which horizontal gene transfer occurs naturally is through the mobile DNA elements, called plasmids, which are native to bacteria and many other organisms. These DNA molecules readily move from bacteria to other bacteria, fungi, plants and mammals. It seems that there is no known species barrier to DNA transfer. Dr Jack Heinemann of the University of Canterbury leads a Marsden-funded project exploring the mechanisms of gene transfer between species and the retention of transferred genes in a recipient organism's genome. The Canterbury team of researchers began by pursuing some mysteries behind the evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. How did it evolve so fast and in so many new species spread over so much of the planet? Why are resistance genes almost always introduced into new species of bacteria by horizontal gene transfer, rather than arising within species by random mutation? Dr Heinemann's team, most notably PhD student Gayle Ferguson, has been investigating the relationship between antibiotics and horizontal gene transfer. Antibiotics stop the reproduction of the bacteria that cause disease; they have been spectacularly successful because they cure diseases caused by bacteria (efficacy) at relatively little harm to the patient (low toxicity). As desirable as high efficacy and low toxicity are, they have their drawbacks. What limits the toxicity of the drugs to humans is that the drugs are specific for enzymes or other molecules found only in bacteria, or, the relative inability of the drug to gain access to similar targets in human cells. The researchers knew from earlier work that the specificity of antibiotics left most other biochemical activities of bacteria unaffected. So, whereas antibiotics keep the disease-causing bacteria at low levels, they do not stop plasmids and viruses from transferring into and out of the bacteria. The plasmids and viruses use the still-functioning biochemistry of the bacterium to reproduce. In this way, antibiotics stop the reproduction of the bacteria, but not the genes that reproduce by horizontal gene transfer, including antibiotic resistance genes and new disease-causing genes. In the April issue of the American Journal of Bacteriology, Ferguson et al. report that our inborn ability to exclude antibiotics from gaining access to the soft interior of our cells may also be contributing to the transfer of genes between bacteria and promoting the evolution of new virulent strains that are resistant to antibiotics. Many bacteria can invade human cells and some bacteria use that ability to cause disease. The group studied one type of bacterium, known commonly as Salmonella typhimurium (a cause of food poisoning in humans), that enters human cells as part of the disease cycle. They used a special antibiotic, gentamicin, which stops gene transfer, but like other antibiotics, cannot enter human cells. So the researchers can be sure that whatever horizontal gene transfer has taken place, must have occurred within the cell. The team found that the Salmonella bacteria exchanged genes, including those for resistance to various antibiotics, with other bacteria that entered the cells before the introduction of the antibiotic gentamicin. Salmonella bacteria cause human cells to take up other species of bacteria as well as more Salmonella. Thus, effectively our cells become safe havens for them to carry on their interspecies affairs. More accurately, the human cell just happens to be an environment that allows viruses and bacterial plasmids to exchange DNA. Occasionally bacteria benefit from this by acquiring a new gene for antibiotic resistance or a gene that makes them better pathogens of humans. Because antibiotics in general, and gentamicin in particular, cannot penetrate human cells, they have the effect of promoting horizontal gene transfer by concentrating together the most virulent of intracellular pathogens and pre-existing antibiotic-resistant gut bacteria. This could accelerate the creation of bacteria which are better at both causing disease and resisting antibiotics. The Canterbury research team is now focusing on the ability of intracellular bacteria to transfer genes to human cells, particularly to the mitochondrial genome. Mitochondria are small sub-cellular organelles (self-contained units within a cell), responsible for energy production, that are found in all multi-cellular organisms. Mutations in the mitochondrial genome are associated with a diverse range of diseases, from muscular dystrophy to neurodegenerative diseases. But study of the relation of mutations to disease is hampered by a general inability to use traditional genetic techniques in mitochondria. The mechanism of gene transfer studied by the Canterbury scientists may make it possible to manipulate mitochondrial genes and, one day, form the basis of a novel therapy for mitochondrial disorders.
Pinning down superconductorsSuperconductors hit world headlines in 1987 when scientists discovered a new class of materials, "high temperature superconductors", that required much less cooling than conventional superconductors to achieve their astounding properties. Armed with containers of liquid nitrogen, scientists ventured outside their labs to demonstrate infinite electrical conductivity and powers of magnetic levitation. Since then, New Zealand scientists have been at the forefront of world efforts to understand how these materials work and how they can fulfil their immense promise. Professor Joe Trodahl from Victoria University, and Dr Grant Williams from IRL, have led Marsden projects that pursue this work. When current is passed through a wire, it generates a large magnetic
field around the wire. While this is not normally a problem, the magnetic field
lines enter the wire and could kill the superconductivity. However, the superconductor
restricts the magnetic field lines to confined regions so that they do not interfere
with the conducting properties of the material as a whole. The field lines in
the superconductor must be held stationary, or "pinned", because moving
lines dissipate energy and superconductivity is lost. While some pinning occurs
naturally, more effective pinning is achieved by deliberately introducing faults
into the material such as irregularities in the stacking pattern of the atoms.
However, this becomes less effective as the amount of current in the superconductor
increases, causing a problem for practical applications. To solve this problem,
scientists need to understand better the process of pinning in high temperature
superconductors.
High temperature superconductors consist of alternating planes of copper oxide, which carry the current, and insulating material; this layering makes pinning particularly difficult. To investigate pinning, Professor Trodahl's group has mimicked the structure of these superconductors by making films with alternate layers of a standard low temperature superconductor, tantalum germanium alloy, and an insulator, germanium. The range of layer thicknesses has been extended beyond those occurring naturally in high temperature superconductors, providing more experimental data and a fuller picture. To improve the pinning, they have been able to introduce large scale faults by borrowing a trick from Professor Ian Hodgkinson of Otago University, creating hills and valleys in their films by depositing them onto a surface held at an angle to the stream of vaporised tantalum and germanium. For each of these materials, they have observed the effect of changing the temperature and other parameters. They now understand the way in which the field lines behave under various conditions. This will point to ways in which superconductors can be made to carry more current. Dr Williams' work has been concerned with understanding the way in which the interaction of electrons affects superconductivity. While the current in a normal wire consists of the movement of individual electrons, it is the pairing up of these electrons that causes super conductivity. The reason for this pairing in standard superconductors is understood; for the high temperature superconductors it is a mystery. Another property of materials that depends on the way that electrons behave is magnetism. Under certain conditions, a superconductor will act like a magnet. But it has been a truism that superconductivity and magnetism never occurat the same time. Dr Williams' team, including Professor Trodahl and Professor Jeffery Tallon, has been working on new superconducting compounds, containing layers of copper oxide and ruthenium oxide, that simultaneously display superconductivity andmagnetism. This throws new light onthe interactions between electrons in high temperature superconducting materials. It is also helping to explain themagnetic properties, which has implications for a range of practical devices, such as the magnetoresistive heads now being used in computer hard drives. Dr Williams' work is part of a larger programme which includes commercialisation of superconductors by Industrial Research Limited, in collaboration with its industrial partner American Superconductor Corporation. Crucial patents filed by Industrial Research in the past 15 years will ensure that New Zealand will reap the benefits of its world leading research. Footnote: Next February (913) many of the world's material scientists, including three Nobel Prize winners, will gather in Wellington for a conference on advanced materials and nanotechnology, hosted by the MacDiarmid Institute.
Marsden Update is published quarterly by the Marsden Fund and is available free on request. Editor: Glenda Lewis Email: glenda.lewis@rsnz.org
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