Research For Life supports medical research through funding research projects and travel grants. Their goal is to fund researchers in the early stages of their careers who can advance the quality of healthcare in the Wellington region and beyond.
University researchers received nearly $100,000 in total funding across research and travel grants. The successful applicants for research grants were senior lecturers Dr Davide Comoletti, Dr Darren Day, and Dr Joanna MacKichan, lecturer Dr Lisa Connor, postdoctoral research fellow Dr Abigail Sharrock, and PhD student and medical doctor Dr Christina Baggott, all from the School of Biological Sciences.
Dr Comoletti will use his grant funding to research a protein called reelin which may have implications for autism and schizophrenia, Dr Day will research the effects of altered serotonin uptake, and Dr MacKichan will examine the bacterial pathogen bartonella quintana, which is responsible for the disease known as trench fever, an infection associated with poverty and homelessness.
Dr Connor’s funding will support her research into the molecular cues shared between immune cells during the initiations of an allergic immune response. Dr Sharrock will undertake research into the improvement of gene delivery vectors to support cancer therapies, while Dr Baggott will research how asthma treatments can be improved for patients.
Postgraduate students Alistair Brown, Alvey Little, Cintya Del Rio Hernandez, Kaitlin Buick, Kelsi Hall, Natalie Hammond, Olga Palmer, and Theresa Pankhurst also received over $10,000 in travel grants to present their research at conferences around the world.
“Research for Life congratulates the successful applicants of this round of funding. The research they are undertaking is innovative, well-conceived and vital to achieving continuing improvements in health outcomes in the community,” says Dr Rebecca Grainger, Chair of Research For Life’s Research Advisory Committee.