Otago Biochemistry
@otagobiochemist.bsky.social
Department of Biochemistry at the University of Otago
Te Tari Matū Koiora, Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka
Te Tari Matū Koiora, Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka
Congratulations to Ria Knoef on being awarded the Neurological Foundation PhD Scholarship!
Otago Biochemistry's Rare Disorder Genetics Lab is delighted to welcome her back next year as she begins her PhD journey.
Exciting discoveries ahead — well done, Ria! 👏🧬
Otago Biochemistry's Rare Disorder Genetics Lab is delighted to welcome her back next year as she begins her PhD journey.
Exciting discoveries ahead — well done, Ria! 👏🧬
November 18, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Congratulations to Ria Knoef on being awarded the Neurological Foundation PhD Scholarship!
Otago Biochemistry's Rare Disorder Genetics Lab is delighted to welcome her back next year as she begins her PhD journey.
Exciting discoveries ahead — well done, Ria! 👏🧬
Otago Biochemistry's Rare Disorder Genetics Lab is delighted to welcome her back next year as she begins her PhD journey.
Exciting discoveries ahead — well done, Ria! 👏🧬
Looks like some useful stuff here for biochemists wanting to extend themselves in all sorts of directions...
November 18, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Looks like some useful stuff here for biochemists wanting to extend themselves in all sorts of directions...
Looks like the NZSBMB conference in Rotorua went well. Lots of Otago Biochemistry postgrad students presented posters.
Congrats to Jess Willans (& supervisor Liz Ledgerwood) who won a prize for her Peroxiredoxin 2 research poster!
Congrats to Jess Willans (& supervisor Liz Ledgerwood) who won a prize for her Peroxiredoxin 2 research poster!
November 13, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Looks like the NZSBMB conference in Rotorua went well. Lots of Otago Biochemistry postgrad students presented posters.
Congrats to Jess Willans (& supervisor Liz Ledgerwood) who won a prize for her Peroxiredoxin 2 research poster!
Congrats to Jess Willans (& supervisor Liz Ledgerwood) who won a prize for her Peroxiredoxin 2 research poster!
We're very excited that Dr Alice-Roza Eruera will be returning from Harvard to take up a Mana Tūāpapa Future Leader Fellowship, jointly hosted by the Department of Biochemistry and the Department of Microbiology & Immunology. She plans to study ancient viruses for use in biotech. Ka mau te wehi!
November 7, 2025 at 2:47 AM
We're very excited that Dr Alice-Roza Eruera will be returning from Harvard to take up a Mana Tūāpapa Future Leader Fellowship, jointly hosted by the Department of Biochemistry and the Department of Microbiology & Immunology. She plans to study ancient viruses for use in biotech. Ka mau te wehi!
Just confirming what we already knew: Otago Biochemist Associate Professor Lynette Brownfield is an awesome postgrad supervisor! This week awarded the Division of Health Sciences Supervisor of the year. Here she is with her group of young scientists enjoying a well-earned break amongst the rhodies.
November 7, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Just confirming what we already knew: Otago Biochemist Associate Professor Lynette Brownfield is an awesome postgrad supervisor! This week awarded the Division of Health Sciences Supervisor of the year. Here she is with her group of young scientists enjoying a well-earned break amongst the rhodies.
Congratulations to all 2025 Marsden recipients, but especially Otago biochemists Dr Matthias Fellner, (Unravelling the mystery of protein-based pigments in starfish) & Professor Peter Mace (Helping plants see the light - plant specific regulation of the COP1 ubiquitin ligase)!!!
November 5, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Congratulations to all 2025 Marsden recipients, but especially Otago biochemists Dr Matthias Fellner, (Unravelling the mystery of protein-based pigments in starfish) & Professor Peter Mace (Helping plants see the light - plant specific regulation of the COP1 ubiquitin ligase)!!!
More fascinating science this week with the final session of this year’s MSc presentations. Brooke Morrison targeting lncRNAs for cancer therapy, Rosie Morris exploring fungal microbial compound production for use on pine trees, and Michael Hawkins analysing Ribo-seq.
November 5, 2025 at 2:10 AM
More fascinating science this week with the final session of this year’s MSc presentations. Brooke Morrison targeting lncRNAs for cancer therapy, Rosie Morris exploring fungal microbial compound production for use on pine trees, and Michael Hawkins analysing Ribo-seq.
Steph co-chaired the conference,which ran alongside a Batten disease family conference. She also appears to have had a close encounter of an Aussie kind.
November 5, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Steph co-chaired the conference,which ran alongside a Batten disease family conference. She also appears to have had a close encounter of an Aussie kind.
Prof Steph Hughes and research group members Priyal Dass, Emma Deeney and Sakshi Mathur have been on the Sunshine Coast, Australia, at an international Batten disease conference (NCL2025). Sakshi and Priyal both presented posters and Priyal won the best student poster award. Congrats Priyal!!!
November 5, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Prof Steph Hughes and research group members Priyal Dass, Emma Deeney and Sakshi Mathur have been on the Sunshine Coast, Australia, at an international Batten disease conference (NCL2025). Sakshi and Priyal both presented posters and Priyal won the best student poster award. Congrats Priyal!!!
Department of Biochemistry MSc Research Presentations
Tue 2nd Nov, 12pm, Rm BIG13
Tue 2nd Nov, 12pm, Rm BIG13
October 29, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Department of Biochemistry MSc Research Presentations
Tue 2nd Nov, 12pm, Rm BIG13
Tue 2nd Nov, 12pm, Rm BIG13
Wonderful watching research presentations from some of our MSc students today; fascinating science partnered with clear communication. Well done Josh, Lachie & Jess. Looking forward to next week's session!
October 28, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Wonderful watching research presentations from some of our MSc students today; fascinating science partnered with clear communication. Well done Josh, Lachie & Jess. Looking forward to next week's session!
Aaron Hewson, MSc student in the Brownfield research group, has been using genetics to identify heritage apple trees.
Come and listen to his story!
Come and listen to his story!
October 27, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Aaron Hewson, MSc student in the Brownfield research group, has been using genetics to identify heritage apple trees.
Come and listen to his story!
Come and listen to his story!
Congratulations to this year's recipients of the Otago Medical Research Foundation Summer Studentships, especially the five who will be with us at Otago Biochemistry over summer:
Bonnie Huang, Campbell Buck, Gryffin Powell, Jay Taylor, Liam Young omrf.org.nz/research/sum...
Bonnie Huang, Campbell Buck, Gryffin Powell, Jay Taylor, Liam Young omrf.org.nz/research/sum...
October 23, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Congratulations to this year's recipients of the Otago Medical Research Foundation Summer Studentships, especially the five who will be with us at Otago Biochemistry over summer:
Bonnie Huang, Campbell Buck, Gryffin Powell, Jay Taylor, Liam Young omrf.org.nz/research/sum...
Bonnie Huang, Campbell Buck, Gryffin Powell, Jay Taylor, Liam Young omrf.org.nz/research/sum...
October 23, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Hoping the gusts have finished with Dunedin now!
October 23, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Hoping the gusts have finished with Dunedin now!
Teaching fellow Dr Fareeda Barzak organised a group of high schoolers with a refugee background to visit yesterday. We enjoyed giving them a taster of undergrad biochemistry (yay pipettes and gels!), a tour through some research labs, & some ideas for their future studies. Fantastic effort Fareeda!
October 22, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Teaching fellow Dr Fareeda Barzak organised a group of high schoolers with a refugee background to visit yesterday. We enjoyed giving them a taster of undergrad biochemistry (yay pipettes and gels!), a tour through some research labs, & some ideas for their future studies. Fantastic effort Fareeda!
Latest publication from Otago Biochemistry
Assessment of Lysosome Trafficking in iPSC-Derived Neurons Utilizing Time-Lapse Videos and TrackMate ImageJ Plugin Software
link.springer.com/protocol/10....
Assessment of Lysosome Trafficking in iPSC-Derived Neurons Utilizing Time-Lapse Videos and TrackMate ImageJ Plugin Software
link.springer.com/protocol/10....
October 13, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Latest publication from Otago Biochemistry
Assessment of Lysosome Trafficking in iPSC-Derived Neurons Utilizing Time-Lapse Videos and TrackMate ImageJ Plugin Software
link.springer.com/protocol/10....
Assessment of Lysosome Trafficking in iPSC-Derived Neurons Utilizing Time-Lapse Videos and TrackMate ImageJ Plugin Software
link.springer.com/protocol/10....
Latest publication from Otago Biochemistry
Assessing Perturbations in Lysosome Health by Flow Cytometry in iPSC-Derived Human Neuron Cultures
link.springer.com/protocol/10....
Assessing Perturbations in Lysosome Health by Flow Cytometry in iPSC-Derived Human Neuron Cultures
link.springer.com/protocol/10....
October 13, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Latest publication from Otago Biochemistry
Assessing Perturbations in Lysosome Health by Flow Cytometry in iPSC-Derived Human Neuron Cultures
link.springer.com/protocol/10....
Assessing Perturbations in Lysosome Health by Flow Cytometry in iPSC-Derived Human Neuron Cultures
link.springer.com/protocol/10....
Congrats Ruby!
October 12, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Congrats Ruby!
Latest publication with a contribution from Otago Biochemistry
Beyond single references: pangenome graphs and the future of genomic medicine
www.frontiersin.org/journals/gen...
Beyond single references: pangenome graphs and the future of genomic medicine
www.frontiersin.org/journals/gen...
October 8, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Latest publication with a contribution from Otago Biochemistry
Beyond single references: pangenome graphs and the future of genomic medicine
www.frontiersin.org/journals/gen...
Beyond single references: pangenome graphs and the future of genomic medicine
www.frontiersin.org/journals/gen...
Latest publication from Otago Biochemistry
RNF114, a RING E3 ligase that reads and extends the hybrid ADP-ribose-ubiquitin signal
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
RNF114, a RING E3 ligase that reads and extends the hybrid ADP-ribose-ubiquitin signal
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
October 8, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Latest publication from Otago Biochemistry
RNF114, a RING E3 ligase that reads and extends the hybrid ADP-ribose-ubiquitin signal
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
RNF114, a RING E3 ligase that reads and extends the hybrid ADP-ribose-ubiquitin signal
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
If you're around Dunedin in October, pop over to Waitati and appreciate a little beauty at the botanical art exhibition - features some beautiful works by Otago Biochemist Assoc Prof Sigurd Wilbanks.
October 7, 2025 at 10:39 PM
If you're around Dunedin in October, pop over to Waitati and appreciate a little beauty at the botanical art exhibition - features some beautiful works by Otago Biochemist Assoc Prof Sigurd Wilbanks.
Department of Biochemistry Seminar
Wed 8 Oct 12pm, Rm BIG13
Professor Andrej Luptak
Departments of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemistry and Molecular Biochemistry, University of California Irvine
Illuminating RNA Worlds
Wed 8 Oct 12pm, Rm BIG13
Professor Andrej Luptak
Departments of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemistry and Molecular Biochemistry, University of California Irvine
Illuminating RNA Worlds
October 5, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Department of Biochemistry Seminar
Wed 8 Oct 12pm, Rm BIG13
Professor Andrej Luptak
Departments of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemistry and Molecular Biochemistry, University of California Irvine
Illuminating RNA Worlds
Wed 8 Oct 12pm, Rm BIG13
Professor Andrej Luptak
Departments of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemistry and Molecular Biochemistry, University of California Irvine
Illuminating RNA Worlds
Friday-Rāmere: Tāu Mahi Pūtaiao i Roto kā Meneti e Toru.
Kaikōrero from across the BMS spoke about their research entirely in te reo Māori for three minutes. Three from Te Tari Matū Koiora (Department of Biochemistry): Gemella Reynolds-Hatem, Conor Vaessen and Dr Indranil Basak. Ka mau te wehi!
Kaikōrero from across the BMS spoke about their research entirely in te reo Māori for three minutes. Three from Te Tari Matū Koiora (Department of Biochemistry): Gemella Reynolds-Hatem, Conor Vaessen and Dr Indranil Basak. Ka mau te wehi!
September 22, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Friday-Rāmere: Tāu Mahi Pūtaiao i Roto kā Meneti e Toru.
Kaikōrero from across the BMS spoke about their research entirely in te reo Māori for three minutes. Three from Te Tari Matū Koiora (Department of Biochemistry): Gemella Reynolds-Hatem, Conor Vaessen and Dr Indranil Basak. Ka mau te wehi!
Kaikōrero from across the BMS spoke about their research entirely in te reo Māori for three minutes. Three from Te Tari Matū Koiora (Department of Biochemistry): Gemella Reynolds-Hatem, Conor Vaessen and Dr Indranil Basak. Ka mau te wehi!