Search Rutherford Discovery Fellowship awards 2010–2017

Public Summary: A cursory glance at our shoes, or an awkward hand-shake with someone offering us their left hand, vividly illustrate a fundamental property of nature: chirality. Chirality refers to the characteristic dissymmetry of objects that cannot be superimposed with their mirror-image, such as our hands, feet, or the helix of DNA. Chirality is central to our understanding of life at the molecular level, and permeates all length-scales, from smaller molecules to DNA, to viruses and bacteria, all the way to macroscopic patterns of more familiar experience such as sea shells or ferns. Even though chiral molecules of opposite handedness are made of the same atoms, share the same physical and chemical properties, their interaction with other chiral entities can be dramatically different. Much like trying to fit a left foot into a right shoe, chiral molecules generally interact and assemble into larger structures only if they have compatible handedness. As a startling example, only left-handed amino acids are found in all life on Earth, highlighting the crucial role of chirality in bio-chemistry. Consequently, chirality is also key to the design of pharmaceuticals. The majority of drugs require a specific molecular handedness to have the desired effect on living bodies; their chiral alter ego might be inactive, or worse, a poison. Pasteur discovered chirality at the end of the 19th century by careful observation of dissymmetric crystals of tartaric acid with a primitive microscope. This visual discovery explained, and complemented, the earlier observation that light undergoes a minute rotation when propagating through some solutions of natural chemicals. Ever since these early beginnings our understanding of chirality has relied heavily on optical methods to detect, characterise, or even produce materials with a specific handedness. Light interacts with chiral materials in subtle ways -- some of which remain largely unexplored or poorly understood --, and the chiral signature is generally very weak, requiring large amounts of material to detect a specific handedness. This limitation to bulk samples has hindered the development of chiro-optical methods toward ultra-sensitive detection. Should a new technology enable stronger signals in the optical detection of chirality, it would undoubtedly lead to important developments in material characterisation, in vivo studies of biological processes at the molecular level, and new generations of remote detection and diagnostic tools. To overcome the intrinsic weakness of chiral interactions between light and molecules, we propose to harness novel artificial structures comprising metallic nanoparticles. Metals such as gold and silver scatter light very efficiently, and this strong optical response has been exploited to enhance light-matter interaction at the nanoscale by many orders of magnitude. This project will explore chiral spectroscopies of molecule --- metal nanoparticle assemblies, where the light scattered by such chiral samples will be analysed as a function of both wavelength and optical rotation. These rapidly-emerging spectroscopic techniques will allow unprecedented access to the inner workings of chirality at the nano and molecular scale, with strongly enhanced signals. Such fundamental advances will guide the design of novel sensors, with great potential for analytical applications in the life sciences.

Public Summary: Lasers have had a transformative impact in almost every aspect of our lives. The cars, computers and mobile phones we buy today are manufactured using lasers; many everyday items such as bar-code scanners and CD players would simply not exist without the laser; the internet and our modern-day privilege to effortlessly communicate with our overseas loved ones is enabled by lasers. The list is endless. Commercially, lasers constitute a multibillion-dollar global market. The number jumps to trillions when including industries that rely on lasers as 'enablers'. Not bad for a technology initially described as a 'solution looking for a problem'. Different applications require laser light of tremendously different characteristics, and in many instances it is precisely the development of a new laser source that opens the doors to new commercial and scientific possibilities. No wonder, then, that there is a continued academic and industrial push towards the development of new and improved sources of laser light; both those that advance upon existing technologies, as well as entirely novel devices that hold the potential of spawning altogether new areas of application. The overarching theme of this research Programme is the development of a suite of advanced new laser sources. Specific objectives range from sustaining to wholly disruptive innovations: (i) improved ultrafast fibre lasers, with characteristics tailored to suit distinct applications in industrial environments, (ii) revolutionary mode-locked fibre lasers that are directly emitting white “supercontinuum” light, and (iii) microscopic devices that allow the colour of laser light to be transformed and tuned over broad ranges, with physical size and power-consumption orders of magnitude smaller than any existing technology. Realisations of innovative new sources of laser light, combined with the rich physics that underlies them, is bound to make a big splash in academia. Moreover, the outcomes from the research have full potential to evolve into tangible products that will contribute to the New Zealand economy. In this context, the price per kilogram of ultrafast fibre lasers, including those examined in this Programme, is comparable to that of gold. Compounded by the rapid growth of the global photonics markets, lasers and related technologies represent a future industry that a remote nation such as New Zealand should not hesitate to nurture and embrace.

Public Summary: Healthy ecosystems are expected to be more resilient to climate change. Therefore, understanding and managing existing anthropogenic stressors is essential to mitigating the future effects of climate change. Kelp forests represent highly valuable coastal ecosystems that provide food and shelter for a myriad of other species. However, these ecological services are threatened by a variety of human-induced stressors, and climate change is expected to exacerbate these effects. Recent research has indicated that while the resilience of kelp forests may be affected by increasing temperature these effects are likely to be compounded severely by existing anthropogenic factors such as reduced water clarity due to sedimentation. In New Zealand and worldwide sedimentation is considered a major threat to coastal ecosystems that is likely to increase with climate change. The proposed research program will utilise the unique physical setting of the Hauraki Gulf to provide an analytical, physiological and ecological investigation into the climatic drivers of sedimentation in the coastal environment, the effects of sedimentation on the ecological function and resilience of kelp forests, and how these effects will interact with other climate-related factors. Coupled with long-term biological and water quality monitoring programs this research will provide a predictive framework to inform local and global resource managers in developing ecosystem based strategies aimed at promoting healthy and more resilient marine ecosystems.

Public Summary: Who defines marriage, which authorities govern it, and who ought to be allowed entry into marriage is contested in every society and culture. Marriage is debated because it is a foundational social, economic and cultural institution underpinned by a body of legislation that sets out a number of rights and benefits associated with it. Yet, despite the centrality of marriage to the formation of modern society, its historical development has been understudied in New Zealand. Through a comprehensive survey of social statistics as well as public and private records, this research programme will rectify the current dearth of analytic research in this field by investigating the centrality of private life to the formation of civic culture through three interrelated projects. The first project will investigate the evolution of legal definitions of marriage. The second project will examine religious debates over marriage, turning to explore its emotional dimensions in the form of public and community responses to inter-faith relationships. The final project will use the experiences of couples from diverse backgrounds to plot how marriage was understood and defined in their lives, thus moving the interpretation of 'marriage' beyond a singular focus upon its legal dimensions. In focusing on the perspectives of couples and the language they use to define the nature of their relationship the project will highlight the social and cultural significance of marriage on a public, private and emotional level. Each project will contribute to a research programme that aims to trace the historical dimensions of current debates about the legal definition of marriage, assessing to what extent marriage was used to demarcate access to the benefits of social citizenship, and to what degree private life was regulated by church, state, communities and families. Drawing connections between private life and political and public debate will generate new knowledge about the role of church, state and the family in regulating private matters, while paying attention to the contours of emotion and intimacy will add a new dimension to the study of New Zealand history.

Public Summary: By the end of this century, it is likely that mean global surface temperatures will be 1 to 4°C higher than at present. If emissions of greenhouse gases continue at their current rate, the amount of warming could reach 10°C by 2300. Geological records show that during periods when air temperatures were as warm as envisaged in these future scenarios, significant portions of the world's ice sheets collapsed, raising global sea levels by up to 20 m. With around 10% of the world's population currently living less than 10 m above sea level, the societal impacts of such changes are clear. It is therefore essential that we better understand both how much we need to reduce future greenhouse gas emissions, and what level of societal adaptation is required to cope with rising sea-levels. To do this we require complex computer models to first simulate the global climate changes that are likely to occur over the next decades and centuries, and then to use these simulations to drive high-resolution models of the global ice sheets that will most likely contribute to sea-level rise. Ongoing efforts by the international scientific community over the last 5-10 years have resulted in ice-sheet models that are now sufficiently sophisticated to be able to make accurate predictions of how quickly ice sheets will respond to environmental change. Until recently, however, no-one in New Zealand was using computer models to simulate the Antarctic ice sheet, the largest ice sheet on Earth, or its impact on global sea-level. Since 2009 we have developed a unique expertise at Victoria University of Wellington by combining sophisticated computer modelling with field data and direct measurements of the Antarctic ice sheet. In this project we will use one of the most advanced ice-sheet models available to study the Antarctic ice sheet, employing a range of techniques to accurately predict how Antarctica will behave as the oceans and atmosphere continue to warm. We will work with a team of international collaborators who bring additional expertise to the project, such as climate modelling skills, or detailed knowledge of oceanographic processes beneath ice-shelves. By bringing together these experts, and by training our model with geological and observational evidence of past and present ice-sheet behaviour, this project will make robust predictions of how much, and how quickly, Antarctica will contribute to global sea-level rise in the future. The results that we will publish will contribute directly to the next report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose outputs inform environmental policies in New Zealand and around the world.

Public Summary: Cell behaviour is influenced by a constant flow of extracellular stimuli. These stimuli may be part of normal growth and maintenance, or external factors that are potentially dangerous to the organism. Cellular responses to these signals can range from proliferation, for example after a growth factor signal, to programmed cell death in the case of an infection or chemical damage. To manage the complex task of integrating multiple signals and making appropriate responses, cells use highly regulated pathways of communication between dedicated signaling proteins. However, disruption of these signaling cascades often leads to human disease. I study the structural biology of signaling pathways that regulate cellular proliferation and stress responses, which are heavily implicated in the development and treatment of cancer. Understanding mechanisms of communication within and between these pathways at the atomic level will provide new insight into how signals are relayed in cells and how disruption causes disease.
Signaling proteins often transmit messages by making 'post-translational' modifications to downstream proteins in the signaling pathway. Mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinases transfer a phosphate molecule to a downstream kinase, which becomes activated and can phosphorylate further kinases or cellular targets. Related MAP kinase signaling pathways are involved in controlling cell proliferation or stress responses, and communication between these pathways is essential for normal cellular behaviour. I will use X-ray crystallography to solve the three-dimensional structures of key protein complexes that regulate MAP kinase signalling pathways, and use biochemical assays and biophysical methods to investigate these complexes in solution. I will seek to address two crucial questions in MAP kinase signalling; how signalling specificity is achieved between homologous enzymes that trigger distinct cellular responses, and how a central enzyme in the pathway for cellular stress responses (MEKK1) communicates with cell proliferation pathways. MEKK1 is unique as a MAP kinase because it can also function as a ubiquitin ligase, combining two of the most widely used post-translational modifications in signal transduction. The structural mechanisms uncovered in the proposed research will provide fundamental insight into signalling fidelity and crosstalk between phosphorylation and ubiquitination. This will potentially provide new avenues for therapeutic modification of signalling across a broad spectrum of human diseases.

Public Summary: Variation in the biological world has fascinated people for centuries. However, we still do not really understand how variation in nature is maintained, because natural selection and chance events such as random mortality of organisms are both likely to reduce such variation. I propose to elucidate possible mechanisms on how biological variation is maintained, one of several outstanding evolutionary questions. I will use three different yet complementary pathways, which integrate different fields of study. First, I will investigate the role of host-pathogen interactions in the maintenance of genetic variation, using data on the prevalence of malaria parasites in NZ populations of house sparrows. Second, I will study the role of context-dependent selection pressure on different phenotypes to find out how behavioural types, termed behavioural syndromes, are maintained in a wild population of dunnocks with regard to their complex mating systems. Third, I will examine the hypothesis that genetic and phenotypic variations within a species play significant roles in determining that species’ range and conservation status, by combining published literature on birds via comparative-analysis and meta-analysis. The proposed work will provide valuable insights into how and why both genetic and phenotypic diversities are retained within, and between species.

Public Summary: Migration has long been a critical feature of how we imagine and enact national futures. This is particularly the case in classicly ‘settler societies’ like New Zealand that have come to rely on immigration to support and enhance population wellbeing, economic development and international relationships. Yet, in a context of increasing temporary and circular migration, there is evidence that the relationship between nation and migration is being reworked in ways that challenge our conceptions of the stability of national populations and the capacity for the state to influence national futures. In New Zealand, recent decades have seen a gradual delinking of migration and settlement such that many new migrants either do not desire or are not permitted to take up permanent residence. At the same time, many New Zealanders, including naturalised migrants, are looking elsewhere, particularly to Australia, for opportunities that will fulfil their own desires for viable livelihoods or enhanced prosperity. This programme of research re-examines the relationship between nation and migration in this context of increasing mobility, temporariness and circularity through three studies that address the changing patterns of migration into New Zealand, the trans-Tasman mobility of New Zealanders, and the role of migration in governmental imaginings and enacments of national futures. The first study examines the mobility patterns and desires of new temporary migrants in three regional employment sectors that are commonly viewed as critical to national futures: trades workers in the Canterbury rebuild; dairy workers in Waikato; and nurses in the Auckland public health system. The second project mirrors the first in exploring mobility patterns and desires of both native and naturalised trans-Tasman migrants in the urban agglomerations of Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. The final project builds on these migrant understandings of nation and future to explore the govermental approach to different modes of migration in to, out of and through New Zealand focusing particularly on how migration is enlisted in visions for national future, the significance of diaspora and the political projects that seek to work on these populations. Cumulatively these projects constitute a programme of research that will significantly advance our understanding of the shifting patterns and dynamics of contemporary migration and their incorporation into national futures. The research develops an explicitly multi-scalar (local, national, regional, transnational) and multi-directional (inward, outward and transit) approach to studying migration in tandem with an emphasis on the governmental targetting of mobility as part of the nation. More broadly, by building on the New Zealand case this work promises an understanding of the complex and dynamic relationship between nation and migration that incorporates rather than rejects the increasing fluidity of contemporary mobility.

Public Summary: Cartilage defects are a major clinical challenge world-wide and can lead to painful joints with swelling, and mechanical impairment, often causing considerable disability by limiting employment, sport participation, and activities of daily living. With global ageing, clinicians are facing an epidemic in degenerative joint diseases, such as osteoarthritis. Total joint replacement with permanent metallic and/or polymeric prostheses is often the only current option to treat such advanced joint disease, yet these are susceptible to long-term wear and loosening, requiring costly revision surgery. Regenerative Medicine is a rapidly advancing new field that offers a solution to these debilitating conditions, and aims to restore tissue function by applying principles of engineering and life sciences to develop biological tissue substitutes that regenerate damaged or diseased tissues.
The aim of the proposed research programme is to develop new treatment concepts for injuries or diseases affecting cartilage and joints by regenerating damaged bone and cartilage tissue. Engineering an entire joint represents both a significant clinical breakthrough and technological challenge. This research programme has the potential to deliver solutions to such previously intractable problems through the development of innovative Biofabrication platforms applied to Regenerative Medicine strategies.
To date, joint resurfacing via Regenerative Medicine strategies has not been feasible as it has not been possible to fabricate large anatomically shaped implants using degradable biomaterials that would be sufficient to withstand significant joint loads in bone. In the proposed project, advanced osteochondral implants will be developed to repair both cartilage and bone tissues, to establish an entirely degradable joint resurfacing technology. This will be achieved by adopting advanced Biomanufacturing technologies to develop innovative composite multilayer biomimetic scaffolds which mimic the high degree of topographical organisation of cells and extracellular matrix constituents within native cartilage and bone environment. The project will further leverage the latest developments in design of degradable metals to combine with Biofabrication technologies, allowing the fabrication of mechanically superior osteochondral implants for high load bearing applications required for joint resurfacing.
The knowledge gained will develop unique capability in New Zealand for training undergraduate and postgraduates as well as young clinicians to enter cutting edge tissue engineering and regenerative medicine research and development and its clinical translation.

Public Summary: Enzymes are the molecular workhorses of life. They catalyse almost all of the biochemical reactions that constitute a cell’s metabolism. Biochemistry textbooks emphasize the high activities and exquisite specificities of enzymes. However, these properties also suggest a lack of versatility, in turn implying that enzymes are unlikely to evolve new functions. The textbook view is therefore at odds with the reality of evolution: new enzymes can evolve rapidly, as demonstrated by the emergence of microbes that degrade antibiotics and human-made pollutants. I am proposing a multi-faceted research programme that will address this apparent contradiction. We will use high-throughput tools from functional genomics and directed evolution, together with biochemistry and structural biology, to explore the evolutionary origins of enzyme functions and structures. We will characterize the latent, secondary activities of enzymes, as this ‘promiscuity’ is proposed to be critical for evolving new functions. In one case, we will build on work that we have published recently, and mimic the evolution of a previously uncharacterized determinant of antibiotic resistance. We will also explore the roles that enzyme promiscuity may play in shaping bacterial genomes. The ocean-dwelling bacterium, Pelagibacter ubique, has the smallest sequenced genome of any free-living microorganism. I hypothesize that its enzymes have evolved ‘backwards’, to be more promiscuous than their ancestors, and that the presence of multi-tasking enzymes has allowed P. ubique to minimize the size of its genome. We will test this hypothesis, by being the first researchers to study the properties of enzymes from this microorganism. Finally, we will use a novel experimental approach to explore the role that a previously overlooked process -- non-homologous recombination -- can play in the evolution of new protein structures. Together these experiments comprise a coherent programme of research, which will shed new light on longstanding questions in protein and genome evolution.