The Foundation for Research Science and Technology has announced this year’s recipients of its annual postdoctoral fellowships.
Research topics for the recipients of the Foundation’s Postdoctoral Fellowships include the affects of climate change on wine production, links between food allergies and other allergic diseases, how the brain stores memories, better breast-screening technology, establishing best-practice guidelines for questioning of adolescent witnesses, and using the immune effects of vaccination to improve cancer treatment.
One of the fellows is the Foundation’s current MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year, Rebecca McLeod of the University of Otago. She will look at how naturally-occurring chemicals in seaweeds can be used as indicators of the diets of coastal animals, particularly those inhabiting beaches.
Recipients are offered an annual stipend of up to $61,000 a year for three years, plus allowances for research costs and ongoing skills development, with each fellow eligible to receive a total of up to $277,500 over the three years.
The fellowships have been awarded to:
- Matthew Rayner (NIWA; University of Auckland)
Seabirds – indicators of ocean hotspots for resource management - Helen Fitzsimons (Massey University)
Holding onto our memories – the role of epigenetics in memory storage - Xuezhao Sun (AgResearch)
Mitigation of livestock greenhouse gas emissions using forage herbs - Robert McKay (Victoria University of Wellington)
Climatic shifts at the East Antarctic margin - Hannah Lee (Lincoln University)
Calpains as a drug target in neurodegenerative diseases - Marco Jacometti (Lincoln University)
Evaluating the effects of climate change on wine production - Thomas Lotz (University of Canterbury)
Digital Imaging-based Elasto-Tomography (DIET) Breast Cancer Screening Technology - Rebecca McLeod (University of Otago)
Biomarkers as tools for understanding coastal ecological processes - Fiona Jack (University of Otago)
Towards establishing best-practice guidelines for questioning adolescents in legal contexts - Abby Cuttriss (City University New York, formerly at the University of Otago)
Grass roots – the role of carotenoids in enhancing stress tolerance in crops and pasture grasses - Elizabeth Forbes (Malaghan Institute)
Getting to the guts of allergic inflammation - Rachel Perret, (Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne, formerly at the Malaghan Institute)
Investigating the immune effects of vaccination to improve cancer immunotherapy