News

July 2022: The team at the New Zealand Brain Research Institute is currently recruiting for a worldwide clinical trial of a new investigational treatment (gantenerumab) for people at risk for Alzheimer’s dementia.

Alzheimer’s dementia is thought to be caused by a combination of factors which trigger brain changes, with the subsequent accumulation of amyloid protein outside the brain cells (neurones) and tau protein tangles inside brain cells. This ultimately leads to the loss of brain cells and symptoms. Research show that amyloid accumulation may start up to 20 years prior to the start of clinical symptoms. This study plans to examine the effect of gantenerumab on people with normal cognition, but who are at risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia because they have increased level of amyloid in their brain. To be eligible for this study, participants have to be 60-80 years old, have normal cognition, and have elevated level of amyloid protein in the brain - which can be evaluated by screening. To enquire about being part of the trial, please call 0800 114 903 or email trials@nzbri.org.

June 2022 The latest IRANZ newsletter is out now. It's another bumper issue full of the latest independent science research news from around Aotearoa New Zealand.

Read all about:

• Ngā Mahi Ngātahi IRANZ Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Programme

• Speaker’s Science Forum - Science for Sustainable Fisheries

• Xerra: New Zealand Biosecurity Supreme Award winner

• Cawthron research finds algal blooms threaten shellfish health

• WSP: New study measures harmful cost of nitrate in drinking water

• Lincoln Agritech: Groundbreaking research explains braided rivers

• Aqualinc: Disentangling the water reforms

• . . . And much more.

The climbing galaxias (kōaro) - one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s migratory species of freshwater fish. Photo: teara.govt.nz

June 2022: Hāpaitia te ara tika kia pūmau ai te rangatiratanga mō ngā uri whakatupu, Mā ngā hononga e whakareii te mana o ngā rōpū te hunga Māori me IRANZ - ‘Foster the pathway of knowledge to strength, independence, and growth for future generations through partnerships that enhance the mana of Māori and IRANZ’.

Last year, MBIE issued a request for proposals for its Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Capability Fund. The Fund seeks to support research organisations to identify and break down barriers to attracting, retaining, and growing an equitable, diverse, and inclusive workforce. The Fund aims to promote best EDI practice across Aotearoa New Zealand to ensure our research sector includes different perspectives reflecting our diverse population.

An IRANZ project to enable Independent Research Organisations to build stronger connections and partnerships with Māori has been accepted.

June 2022: Follow the link for more details on the June 2022 news briefs from our Independent Research Organisations.

• The Hon. Judith Collins visits IRANZ
• TTW: Māori Biosecurity Symposium first of its kind
• MRINZ receives Independent Research Funding from HRC
• Malaghan: Dr Kerry Hilligan awarded HRC Emerging Researcher First Grant
• Motu: Applications are open for Āheitanga Thesis Scholarship
• Mātai: London conference and US visit
• Bragato: Grape Days 2022 - Winegrowing in a Changing Environment
• Dragonfly Data Science: Wellington stopover for Cambridge-bound student
• . . . and more.

From left, TTW CEO Melanie Mark-Shadbolt, WSP Research (NZ) CEO Wendy Turvey, the Hon Judith Collins, Motu CEO John McDermott, IRANZ Executive Office Rob Whitney, and MRINZ early career researcher, Georgina Bird. Photo: Rebecca Alo.

June 2022: Te Tira Whakamātaki, home of the Māori biosecurity network, will be holding a three-day wānanga to celebrate Māori biosecurity practices and connect biosecurity practitioners, in New Plymouth, from 28 – 30 July 2022.

Named ‘Te Wānanga Whakamātaki’, this symposium will provide a unique opportunity for communities, industry, and agencies to come together in a kaupapa Māori environment to consider how Māori and their mātauranga can contribute to the restoration of our natural world.

Supported by Biosecurity New Zealand, the programme encourages participants to delve deeply into te ao Māori - to understand the depth of indigenous knowledge available to conservation practitioners, and to discover how a blended approach to biosecurity practices in Aotearoa New Zealand can benefit all.

June 2022: Luring wētā away from the “buffet” of budburst is a potential outcome of research into the native insect munching Awatere Valley vines.

The project, project managed by the Bragato Research Institute, seeks to develop an environmentally and economically sustainable solution to the growing problem of ground wētā (Hemiandrus bilobatus) grazing tender foliage in spring.

“That’s a real challenge,” says Dr Jessica Vereijssen, a crop protection entomologist at Plant & Food Research, who is used to working with introduced pest species like the meadow spittle bug, a potential vector for Xyella fastidiosa. “With a lot of the horticultural pests we work with, the last option – if you can’t find a solution – is always to spray them with a pesticide. With the wētā, we have to make sure it stays alive and that we don’t affect it.”

Wētā. Photo: Louise Thomas.

June 2022: The New Zealand wine industry gathered in June to hear the latest research presented by scientists and industry experts at the annual Grape Days events.

Held in Hawke’s Bay, Marlborough and Central Otago from 13 – 17 June, the one-day technical events were designed to share the latest industry-driven research with a practical emphasis on helping winemakers and grape growers apply the findings.

Based on this year’s theme, Winegrowing in a Changing Environment, Bragato Research Institute worked with its science partners and local industry experts to deliver a relevant and thought-provoking programme.

Topics ranged from trunk disease to agroecology, reducing carbon emissions and vineyard waste, alternative pruning methods, and responding to hail and frost events in vineyards.

June 2022: In late May, a team of researchers and students from Te Tira Whakamātaki attended the Seventh Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2022) in Bali, Indonesia, hosted by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. The global forum shares knowledge and discusses the latest developments and trends in reducing disaster risk.

At the session the team from TTW launched the International Campaign for Disaster Risk Reduction in Indigenous Communities, a three-year UN endorsed campaign designed to reduce risk from disasters in Indigenous communities and integrate Indigenous experiences in ongoing DRR dialogues.

From left, TTW Co-founder, Trustee and CEO Melanie Mark-Shadbolt, Hon Ron Mark, Assoc Professor Simon Lambert, Rodolfo Romario Magzul (Guatemala), Marcus-Rongowhitiao Shadbolt, and Phoebe Fordyce at the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2022) in Bali, Indonesia. Photo TTW.

June 2022: A team at Motu, led by Isabelle Sin, recently published a literature review to provide background for a forthcoming empirical investigation of the pathways through education that lead to successful labour market outcomes for Māori students with different aptitudes in high school.

The paper summarises three main areas of existing literature: the pathways students can take through the Aotearoa New Zealand education system, this includes summary statistics on the proportion of students who pursue each pathway and the differences in these by ethnicity and gender; the relationship between higher education and labour market outcomes internationally, in Aotearoa, and for Māori in Aotearoa specifically - the paper also highlights non-financial potential benefits that may motivate students to pursue higher education; and lastly, the value in the labour market of Māori-medium education and te reo-English bilingualism.

June 2022: In a recently-released research report, Mahi a Rongo the Helen Clark Foundation and WSP in New Zealand are recommending how congestion charging can be implemented fairly in Aotearoa New Zealand.

The Helen Clark Foundation / WSP report is the first of its kind in New Zealand that focuses on the equity impacts of congestion charging. Insights and recommendations from the report include:

• City specific modelling shows that a congestion charge will meaningfully reduce traffic and emissions in Auckland and Wellington.

• Equity concerns must be front and centre of any congestion charging scheme, robust community engagement should be undertaken, and alternatives like public transport should be improved before implementation.

Photo: Meruyert Gonullu, Pexels.

June 2022: Who migrates to Aotearoa New Zealand and what skills do they bring? What impact do migrants have on our economy? How can we create an immigration system fit for the future? Immigration is complex in its causes and effects. It’s a major topic of public and policy debate, with migration re-emerging as a driver of population growth.

In a recent seminar on 16 June, the Productivity Commission presented its recent inquiry on immigration and its final recommendations to the New Zealand Government on what immigration policy settings would best help Aotearoa New Zealand’s long-term economic growth, productivity, and the wellbeing of New Zealanders. The seminar involved Motu's Dr Arthur Grimes, and a video of the seminar as well as the overheads used by the speakers are available on the Motu website.

Image: Andrea Piacquadio, Pexels.

June 2022: Starboard Maritime Intelligence, MDA Ltd., and Unseenlabs successfully collaborated on a live demonstration of satellite surveillance technology at the Indo Pacific 2022 International Maritime Exposition held in Sydney last month.

The operation, dubbed “18c”, focused on uncovering illegal fishing for southern bluefin tuna and showed how technology can help both fisheries and intelligence analysts navigate increasingly rich and complex data.

“We know intelligence teams are excited about the possibilities of fusing data from multiple space-based sensors and using machine learning to support their work, but it can sometimes be hard to take that step into operationalising these opportunities,” says Heather Deacon, Business Development Manager for Starboard.

Satellite trajectory and sensor coverage from Unseenlabs (B4 and B5), MDA (R2), and real-time AIS (orbits in cyan). Image: Xerra.

June 2022: What if farmers could use satellite data to pinpoint exactly where fields were suffering from water or nutrient stress – and exactly how much water or nutrients they needed?

If drone imaging could reveal objectively which plants had desirable traits, and so speed up crop breeding programmes? Or if data from images could reveal the early symptoms and spread of crop diseases?

These possibilities are becoming realities, thanks to the science of remote sensing and its application by multidisciplinary teams across the primary sector. It’s a worldwide growth area, and Lincoln Agritech is growing its capability through Precision Agriculture 2IC Francelino Rodrigues.

Dr Francelino Rodrigues, who joined Lincoln Agritech in July 2021, has been working with precision agriculture and remote sensing since his undergraduate days in Brazil. Photo: Lincoln Agritech.

June 2022: Cawthron Institute researchers have supported Ngāti Koata of Te Tauihu in the development and launch of a cutting-edge virtual experience of Rangitoto ki te Tonga/D’Urville Island’s Lake Moawhitu.

The web-based tool presents four ‘virtual worlds’ of Moawhitu throughout history and intro the future, and aims to help Iwi members understand the lake’s cultural history, water quality issues, and restoration goals.

The tool is part of a much wider project to restore the ecological health of Lake Moawhitu involving Marlborough District Council and other community groups.

Aunty Mel McGregor and her grandson Te Ākau exploring the VR experience at the Virtual Reality Experience Launch in June 2022. Photo: Cawthron Institute.

June 2022: At first glance, Aotearoa New Zealand’s migratory freshwater fish and little-known 19th century scientists don’t have much in common. But, thanks to equations developed over 170 years ago, we’re learning more about how fish can better navigate our waterways.

Many of our native fish migrate to access habitats for feeding, reproducing, and to complete their lifecycles. Unfortunately, they’re often challenged by obstacles like weirs and culverts. These disrupt the natural flow of water and can prevent fish from getting where they need to be.

In a new piece of research, WSP Principal Stormwater Engineer Mark Groves, Ecologist Mark Hansen and Graduate Water Engineer Francesco Martin harnessed the power of computational fluid dynamics and 3D models to see how different river channel designs affect the flow of water.

The climbing galaxias (kōaro) - one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s migratory species of freshwater fish. Photo: teara.govt.nz

June 2022: There have been several new words, names, and phrases added to water-related vocabulary recently - Freshwater Reforms, Taumata Arowai, Te Mana o te Wai — to name a few.

Aqualinc researcher Matt Bubb writes that there has been a lot going on at central government in the water space. "The speed of what’s been happening, together with new vocabulary, has led to some confusion." Matt provides clarity around the changes.

There are three aspects to recent reforms. These are: the proposed Three Waters Reforms, the Water Services Act, and the Freshwater Reforms. These three are linked to some extent, but the core issues are separate.

The proposed Three Waters Reforms relates to local authority infrastructure for drinking water supply, stormwater, and wastewater.

Photo: Aqualinc Research.

June 2022: Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are a known and well-managed risk to food safety and human health, with extensive monitoring and mitigation measures in place. However, new Cawthron Institute research has revealed that the health of shellfish that ingest or come into contact with the algae can be negatively affected, with implications for the shellfish aquaculture industry.

In a recently published paper in ‘Toxins’, Cawthron researchers examined HAB species known to bloom globally and in New Zealand and their effects on commercially important shellfish and fish species. Their findings include the effects of Alexandrium pacificum exposure on juvenile flat oysters and Greenshell mussels, which include paralysis and reduced byssal pad formation, leading to increased shellfish death.

Drone image of a Harmful Algal Bloom in Marlborough Sounds. Photo: Cawthron Institute.

June 2022: The numbers of seabirds found dead on beaches across the country is a large collection of records managed by Birds New Zealand. It proved to be an interesting dataset for user experience design students from Victoria University of Wellington to try out the skills they’ve been learning.

The data has been collected over decades by volunteers who walk stretches of a beach searching the high tide mark to record any dead birds they find. While prions are the most commonly found species – usually in ones and twos – ‘wrecks’ of hundreds of birds have also been recorded after large storms.

Dragonfly has been involved in creating an online database for the beach patrol data, and streamlining data entry for the volunteers.

Image: Dragonfly Data Science.

June 2022: A new study from WSP and University of Otago has found that if nitrate concentrations in groundwater increase beyond current levels, Christchurch City and Waimakariri Districts could see more cases of colorectal cancer and premature births. The health treatment costs alone would run into the tens of millions of dollars. Treating the water to remove nitrate would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

The nitrate limit in Aotearoa New Zealand’s drinking water standards is set at 11.3 mg/L to prevent blue baby syndrome. But in the past decade, international studies have observed exposure to nitrate levels as low as 1 mg/L increasing the risk of colorectal cancer. The risk of premature births increases from 5 mg/L.

Much of the Waimakariri District is a major recharge area for Christchurch’s aquifers. Photo: WSP.

June 2022: HERA have recently launched an online corrosivity map to enable users to search by address to determine a recommended corrosion classification for their project.

HERA's Manager Structural Systems, Kaveh Andisheh, says the original paper-based maps did not provide corrosion classification within 500m of the coastlines, which meant designers needed to use additional table data to determine macro-climate classification, making the process laborious and time consuming for an engineer as it required them to determine relative distances to saltwater, whether the areas was considered calm or had breaking surf, along with coastal aspects and prevailing winds.

"Getting this right is crucial, as the durability of a steel structure has a direct link to the life span of the structure. If we are able to assist in increasing the lifespan of steel structures, it in turn, increases the sustainability of steel structures for future generations."

June 2022: A new project investigating precision weeding in vineyards could prevent thousands of litres of herbicide use – and save water – across New Zealand’s viticulture and horticulture industries.

Six New Zealand vineyards are partnering with Lincoln Agritech and the Ministry for Primary Industries’ (MPI’s) Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures (SFF Futures) fund to trial high-pressure water weeding (also known as waterjet weeding).

The project will run over two years, with the first trial set for vineyards in Canterbury and Marlborough this winter, ahead of the main weed growing season in spring.

Between them, the six vineyards cover nearly 5000 ha. If the technology works as expected, it will take more than 50,000 litres of herbicide a year out of their weed management programmes.

The Caffini Grasskiller in action at Waiata Vineyards. Photo: Lincoln Agritech.

June 2022: New Zealand’s braided rivers dominate our east coast environments. But how do they affect the amount of water that’s in our aquifers, and available for human activity and nature? And how do we find out?

Until recently, no one knew how they worked beneath the surface and interacted with our aquifers. But with a lot of technology and perseverance we are now beginning to find the answers.

Lincoln Agritech’s Scott Wilson is leading a five-year project, funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment to find out just how braided rivers and regional aquifers interact, to store and transport water.

Mathias Vang (right) of Denmark’s Aarhaus University discusses the APSU surface nuclear magnetic resonance system with (from left) Lincoln Agritech’s Blair Miller, Shaun Kingsbury, and Scott Wilson. Photo: Lincoln Agritech.

June 2022: The Malaghan Institute reports that CAR T-cells are changing the game in how we fight previously untreatable blood cancers. However, much still stands in the way of CAR T-cell therapy becoming an effective treatment option for all cancer types, particularly in solid tumours like lung or breast cancer. Researchers at the Malaghan Institute are working hard to find solutions to apply CAR T-cell technology to a broader range of cancers.

Dr Rachel Perret leads the Malaghan Institute's Freemasons CAR T-cell Research Programme team to improve the CAR T-cells’ ability to find and target cancer.

“We’re trying to design a dual CAR system where we’ll make T-cells that can target two different cancer proteins instead of one,” says Dr Perret. “That way, we can guard against cancers losing a single protein and becoming ‘invisible’ to the immune response.”

CAR T-cells. Image: Malaghan Institute.

June 2022: The talented Dr Ciléin Kearns at MRINZ, working with the rest of the research study team has created an entertaining and informative comic about their recently published research on the characteristics of self-isolating household units (‘bubbles’) during the COVID-19 Alert Level 4 period in New Zealand. The research has been published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Open. The comic summary was created to help make the results more accessible, as a huge number of people took part in the study.

Almost 15 thousand surveys from across the country were included in the analysis. On average, New Zealand bubble sizes were small (three to four people), mostly limited to one household, and a high proportion (almost half) contained essential workers and/or vulnerable people. Understanding these characteristics from a country which achieved a low COVID-19 infection rate may help inform public health interventions during this and future pandemics.

How researchers imagine the peer review board. Illustration: Dr Ciléin Kearns, MRINZ.

June 2022: A digital apple crop estimation project in Hawke’s Bay aims to provide the information to help businesses with logistics and planning.

Work has started on a digital apple crop estimation project working with Envy, JAZZ, and Rockit apple varieties. The initial project will assess how effective image-based tools can be in the orchard to eventually provide robust information to growers, orchard managers and packhouses.

Research scientist and project lead Henry Kirkwood says the first stage, expected to last six months, will allow them to understand and define challenges that can be addressed with digital crop estimation, and then design experiments to test the hypotheses.

An orchard set for depth imaging, extracting size, weight, and blush from imagery. Machine readable codes are used to assist in large scale data collection for associating image features with measurements, such as diameter or weight, taken with other more traditional means. Photo: PlantTech.

June 2022: As an independent research organisation PlantTech has turned the traditional research model on its head.

“We differ from other research providers,” says Research Director Ian Yule. “We are much more closely aligned to industry, our research agenda is informed by industry, and our goal is to find answers to industry problems.”

Five years ago, New Zealand didn’t have a compelling answer to the challenge of delivering economic and societal benefit from its research base. The idea behind PlantTech was to create a research institute based on delivering high value crop systems using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Three years on the organisation has navigated its way to establish credibility and acceptance within the science system.

Ian Yule, Research Director. Photo: PlantTech.

May 2022: A homegrown COVID-19 booster vaccine could protect our population against future waves and variants of COVID-19. But more than that, developing the capability to make our own vaccines is establishing an independent pipeline for Aotearoa New Zealand’s future biomedical endeavours says Malaghan Institute Director Professor Graham Le Gros.

“We've got some of the greatest scientists in the world. We've some really advanced technology and insight. I believe we have some cutting-edge vaccine candidates that could be of major benefit in minimising COVID-19 and all its variants to come,” say Prof. Le Gros, who oversees Vaccine Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand – Ohu Kaupare Huakete (VAANZ) as Programme Director.

“This independence from international pharmaceutical companies will set the stage for national research initiatives that can be driven to address specific health outcomes that are relevant to Aotearoa’s unique population,” says Prof Graham Le Gros. Photo: Malaghan Institute.

May 2022: The Mātai Medical Research Institute’s first major mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI/concussion) study began last year with support from the Gisborne Boys High School First XV and Second XV rugby teams, to help the institute monitor and understand any changes in the brain from injury.

The research involves brain scans at Mātai, using some of the world’s most advanced brain imaging technology in partnership with GE (General Electric) Healthcare; HITIQ high-tech mouthguards to monitor head impacts; eye-movement monitoring; small-RNA analysis by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research Ltd (ESR); and advanced biomechanical modelling by a team at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI) and others.

The research recently featured as a lead article in the Gisborne Herald.

One of the Gisborne Boys High players undergoes an MRI scan on a 3T GE Premier system at Mātai. Photo: Mātai.

May 2022: The Speaker’s Science Forum series, supported by IRANZ, Science New Zealand, Universities New Zealand, and the Royal Society Te Apārangi, has now resumed, the first for 2022 was held earlier this month at Parliament. The central focus of the forum was how science can improve the sustainability of fisheries in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Associate Professor Maren Wellenreuther, University of Auckland, discussed the potential of DNA technology to help us understand more about past and present fish stocks, while Dr Chris Cornelisen, Cawthron Institute, provided a broad overview of sustainability challenges facing fisheries in Aotearoa New Zealand. Both speakers emphasised the importance of new technologies to support ecosystem-focused fisheries management and the overall health of our oceans/moana.

Dr Chris Cornelisen, Chief Science Capability Officer at the Cawthron Institute, delivers his talk at Parliament. Photo: Royal Society Te Apārangi.

May 2022: A fixed-dose 2-in-1 combination of salbutamol and budesonide, used as an as-needed rescue medicine, has been shown for the first time to significantly reduce the risk of severe asthma attacks.

In the MANDALA trial, patients using the investigational AstraZeneca and Avillion product PT027, which combines salbutamol (marketed as albuterol within the U.S.) with budesonide, were 26% less likely to experience severe asthma attacks than those using albuterol alone.

These findings were reported by lead author Professor Alberto Papi, of the University of Ferrara in Italy, and colleagues, including Professor Richard Beasley, director of the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand (MRINZ), published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Sunday 15 May, and presented this week at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) 2022 International Conference.

Photo: MRINZ.

May 2022: The Malaghan Institute welcomes the 19 May Budget announcement of $40.7M over four years to support an RNA platform and R&D pipeline in Aotearoa New Zealand.

“We already have the skills and expertise across New Zealand to start applying this breakthrough science, this investment will help ensure we have the capability to make it happen and improve our nation’s health and economic productivity,” says Dr Kjesten Wiig, Malaghan Institute Director of Strategic Partnerships.

“RNA technology presents a significant opportunity for New Zealand to supercharge its thriving biotech sector and become a leader in the development of novel RNA therapeutics. This RNA platform will build on established capability to prepare New Zealand for future pandemics and ensure vaccine security.”

Photo: Malaghan Institute.

May 2022: Core Independent Research Organisation (IRO) funding has been granted to the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand (MRINZ) by the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC).

The funding, spread over a seven-year timeframe, is awarded through a negotiated process, based on the quality, expected impact, and proposed plans for future research, aligned with national health research priorities.

The Malaghan Institute of Medical Research also received HRC IRO support in this funding round.

Professor Richard Beasley, MRINZ director and founder, seen here explaining an asthma inhaler to a patient, says MRINZ has been extraordinarily fortunate to have received such strong funding support from the HRC over their twenty-one years of operation, enabling them to make major advances in knowledge and clinical practice across multiple areas of research interest. Photo: MRINZ/Otago University.

April 2022: The Whakakī Lake community near Wairoa treasure their mahinga kai, and in particular their tuna/eel population. However, a deterioration in lake health has resulted in cyanobacteria blooms that are poisoning the eels and threatening the health of people who eat them.

The Whakakī Lake Trust and the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre have received funding through MBIE’s Vision Mātauranga Capability Fund to implement community-led monitoring for cyanobacterial toxins (cyanotoxins) at Whakakī Lake and better understand the risks posed by the toxins in the lake.

The collaborative research team will include members of the Food Safety Centre and the Whakakī community, as well as Cawthron Institute’s Dr Tim Harwood, Dr Jonathan Puddick, and Dr Cath McLeod.

Photo: Louise Thomas.

April 2022: Vintage 2022 for BRI’s viticulture extension team meant harvesting fruit from trials across multiple vineyards, taking the next step in research which covers the entire cycle from viticulture to finished wine.

Trial harvests were for both commercial clients and levy-funded research initiatives, including remedial surgery for grapevine trunk disease, a comparison of long spur with four-cane pruning, and the influence on foliar applied fertiliser on vine recovery after frost.

Harvesting for BRI researchers is slow, detailed work. It means handpicking each vine, keeping grapes separate so bunches can be counted, the production of each vine weighed, and sometimes berries individually counted and assessed for disease.

Irene Tozzi harvests grapes for research into the use of remedial surgery as a management tool for grapevine trunk disease. This year, they are assessing the effect of remedial surgery on wine quality. Photo: Bragato Research Institute.

April 2022: A BRANZ survey looked at the impact COVID-19 has had on the satisfaction of new house owners since the first lockdown in early 2020 through to the end of 2021.

In 2020, the impact of COVID-19 according to new house owners was significant. Over half of the respondents (55%) reported that COVID-19 had a moderate to major impact on their build.

The impacts could include months of delays, with issues including supply/material constraints, unspecified delay and other COVID-related delays having a major impact on a high proportion of builds. Other issues included council delays and cost increases. Many of the 2020 respondents described the impact on their build as related to the 4–6-week Level 4 lockdown in early 2020.

The BRANZ New House Owners’ Satisfaction Survey has been running for over a decade and is one of the few datasets available that measures the performance of residential builders.

Photo: BRANZ build magazine.

April 2022: Cawthron scientists have been teaching local students about the biggest ever study of Aotearoa New Zealand lakes.

Lakes 380 is a national research programme co-led by Cawthron and GNS Science which began nearly five years ago. By collecting and analysing water and sediment samples from approximately 10% of Aotearoa’s 3800 lakes, scientists are documenting the history of the lakes to better protect them in future.

Jonathan Puddick (JP), a Cawthron scientist working on Lakes 380 project, said they were inspired to share their work with students because lake restoration is a multi-generational journey.

"Nearly half of Aotearoa’s lakes have poor or very-poor water quality and we need to do something to halt and reverse that decline in lake health. One of our best hopes for protecting the health of our precious lakes is to get our tamariki passionate about them."

Nelson Intermediate students go pollen hunting with Cawthron Scientist Jonathan Puddick. Photo: Cawthron.

April 2022: A clinical study investigating immune responses to the Pfizer vaccine in New Zealanders at risk for COVID-19 disease has provided reassuring results says Dr Fran Priddy, the Executive Director of Vaccine Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand – Ohu Kaupare Huaketo (VAANZ).

The study, Ka Mātau, Ka Ora (from knowledge comes wellbeing) – the largest evaluation of COVID-19 vaccine immune responses in Māori and Pasifika – showed near universal strong immune responses in New Zealand vaccine recipients, after two doses.

“The results are reassuring given the study represented some of those New Zealanders most at risk for COVID disease – older adults, Māori, Pacific peoples, and those with co-morbidities like diabetes, obesity or heart disease,” says Dr Priddy.

“Antibody responses overall were robust and consistent with international data, and reassuringly were not related to ethnicity, gender, or to overweight/obesity,” says Dr Priddy.

April 2022: Biosecurity Minister the Hon. Damien O’Connor recently announced this year’s New Zealand Biosecurity Awards winners, saying their skills, dedication and knowledge underpin Aotearoa’s world-leading biosecurity system – a fundamental aspect to New Zealand’s economic strength.

Maritime intelligence project 'Starboard' from the Xerra Earth Observation Institute is the New Zealand Biosecurity Supreme Award winner. The Starboard tool uses data and analytics to assess the biosecurity risk of every vessel entering New Zealand waters.

“The Xerra team realised that the risk of a vessel bringing unwanted organisms to Aotearoa is strongly related to its past journey track and characteristics of travel. They have built a multidisciplinary team of environmental, remote sensing and data scientists, software engineers and product designers to deliver a game-changing system for marine biosecurity,” says Damien O’Connor said.

The Starboard Marine Intelligence system helps nations tackle complex maritime challenges, ranging from risk assessing arriving vessels to detecting illegal fishing and uncovering non-reporting dark vessels.

March 2022 The latest IRANZ newsletter is out now. It's another bumper issue full of the latest independent science research news from around Aotearoa New Zealand.

Read all about:

• Future pathways for science system – an independent research response

• Dragonfly Data Science aids in ‘State of the nation’ RSI report

• Motu: Link between land confiscation and smoking

• MRINZ: ICU study shows disparities in health outcomes for Māori patients

• Cawthron Institute and Durham University search for biofouling solutions

• Verum Group: Using song to count and identify individual birds in the wild

• WSP: Designing for safe and accessible light rail

• Land & Water Science: First radiometric survey for cherry orchardists

• . . . And much more.

A deep learning method developed by Verum Group researchers is able to count and distinguish the call of individual birds. Photo: Louise Thomas.

March 2022: The Government’s Te Ara Paerangi – Future Pathways Programme wants to create a modern, future-focussed research system for Aotearoa New Zealand that is adaptable for a rapidly changing future, resilient to changes, and connected; to itself, to industry, to public sector users of research, and internationally. In the call for submissions on their Green Paper, IRANZ offered the collective response of this country’s Independent Research Organisations (IROs) to how such a system could operate to achieve these aims.

Not being Government-owned, the IROs provide important targeted research and expertise in specific economic, environmental, and social areas not adequately covered by Crown Research Institutes and universities and are frequently part of “the best teams” required for important research programmes.

Photo: Tara Winstead, Pexels.

March 2022: Follow the link for more details on the March 2022 news briefs from our Independent Research Organisations.

• New Trustee announced for Cawthron Institute Trust Board
• Charles Eason appointed to MBIE Science Board
• Te Tira Whakamātaki CEO awarded 2021 Women of Influence: Public Policy
• Aqualinc: Karl Emil Hilgard Hydraulic Prize awarded to Jane Alexander
• Motu Research Doctoral Scholarship awarded to Livvy Mitchell
• BRI welcomes Irene Tozzi and Jessica Rivera-Perez
• PlantTech welcomes Rajasheker Pullanagari
• Outgoing Chair “immensely proud” of Lincoln Agritech
• Summer of labs and learning at Lincoln Ag
• Dragonfly Data Science: Pūhoro intern digs into data analysis
• Mātai: Unlocking Curious Minds
• HERA joins SoMAC CRC programme

Cawthron has announced the appointment of Danette Olsen as a new Trustee to the Cawthron Institute Trust Board. Photo: Cawthron.

March 2022: Soil is the engine room of any primary industry, yet it is seldom mapped at the type of resolution necessary for farm scale decision-making.

The need for more resolved soil mapping underpins not just farm production, but irrigation and fertiliser use efficiency, soil GHG production and sequestration, and water quality.

Researchers at Land & Water Science have recently completed their first radiometric surveys for several cherry orchardists in Cromwell using their new gamma-ray spectrophotometer.

“The radiometric sensor, plus ground truthing soil samples, are being used to produce high resolution digital soil maps, including soil texture (clay, sand, or silt fractions), carbon, nitrogen, pH, and other chemistry, for the orchard owners as they seek insights on how to optimise their existing water rights, along with deploying water in a more spatially targeted manner to produce larger cherries more consistently across the orchard,” says Director and Principal Scientist Dr Clint Rissmann.

Photo: Barbara Krysztofiak, Unsplash.

March 2022: When you hear birds calling, you’re listening to a conversation. Often, the birds you hear might know each other as individuals, and they may recognise one another based on song alone. Conservation can benefit from this voice recognition too. Being able to identify individual birds from their song could allow us to monitor individuals, neighbourhoods, and populations with minimal disturbance.

Researchers at Verum Group have successfully developed machine learning approaches for individually identifying roroa – great spotted kiwi (Apteryx haastii) by their calls. In the Paparoa Range, they collected and analysed hundreds of roroa calls from thousands of hours of recordings during the 2020/21 roroa breeding season, and have confirmed that individual adult roroa can be distinguished acoustically. Studies are ongoing, but they have also successfully applied their methods to the songs of riroriro – grey warblers (Gerygone igata) collected with directional microphones in the Christchurch and Banks Peninsula areas.

When you hear a riroriro/grey warbler singing they might be discussing their territorial boundaries with their neighbours or arranging a meet and greet - now a deep learning method developed by Verum Group researchers is also able to distinguish the call of individual birds. Photo: Louise Thomas.

March 2022: The National Exotic Forest Description (NEFD) details the area of land in plantation forests in defined wood-producing regions in New Zealand, including the species and age of the trees. It is a Tier 1 statistic – these important statistics are recognised as essential for national decision-making and monitoring.

The NEFD information is presented in 24 figures, 20 tables, and a high-level commentary, as well as the accompanying data in a downloadable form. While the report is updated with new information each year, the format is largely unchanged. Its compilation and release has been led by MPI since 1985.

Dragonfly Data Science have been working with the Ministry for Primary Industries to replace the manual production process with an automated system. New data can now be piped in to recreate each year’s National Exotic Forest Description – Dragonfly says this is significantly faster, cheaper, and more accurate than building the report from scratch using Word, Excel and InDesign.

Photo: Dragonfly Data Science.

March 2022: As part of the BRANZ-led Transition to a zero-carbon built environment programme, WSP has received Building Research Levy support to identify evidence-based effective emissions reduction approaches that can also deliver benefits for well-functioning communities. Good evidence empowers and enables community decision makers to make beneficial decisions about emissions reduction on behalf of their communities and environments.

Working with local authorities and their communities, central government, and key urban development agencies, the project will look at real-world examples and practice internationally and domestically.

In an article published in build Magazine in February, Dr Vivienne Ivory, Technical Principal at WSP Research and Innovation, writes that the research is particularly timely, as there are important discussions both locally and nationally about emissions reduction alongside new measures to accelerate infrastructure development and construction in communities.

A combined effort from all New Zealanders is required to reduce emissions and transition to a low-carbon future. Photo: build Magazine.

March 2022: The majority of Aotearoa New Zealand's Sauvignon Blanc vines are genetically identical. This means that a new pest, disease, or environmental change that affects one Sauvignon Blanc vine could affect every one of them. If New Zealand had a large, diverse collection of our premier Sauvignon Blanc plants available, we could choose from them, selecting appropriate traits to respond to a changing environment, market opportunities, and biosecurity threats.

The Bragato Research Institute is working on new vines, produced by accelerating a natural system that plants have that triggers new diversification in response to environmental stress. Since this doesn’t involve crossings with other vines, the plants are still Sauvignon Blanc. Using latest-generation DNA sequencing technology, Bragato can study the rates at which the vines change in response to stress, and exactly what DNA changes have occurred, even before the plants are mature enough to express those changes as new traits. Plants with promising new traits will be observed in vineyard trials.

Researchers at Bragato are using the newly installed Oxford Nanopore PromethION sequencer to carry out the work. The sequencer is also available for other projects to support research in grapevine improvement and other fields.

March 2022: Dragonfly Data Science created a pipeline to collect, verify, manage, and visualise data about the accidental bycatch of marine protected species by recreational fishers. This data management system is helping DOC better understand interactions between fishers and protected species and informing management decisions.

DOC is working towards a national goal of zero bycatch in 2050. Finding out how and where recreational bycatch occurs and which species are most at-risk, is essential for informing conservation work to meet the goal.

Research with fishers in 2020 identified that most were open to reporting any bycatch. Dragonfly worked closely with the software development company Xequals to create an app. It allows fishers to report a bycatch event when they are out fishing or back on shore. The reports are anonymous.

The app was successfully trialled in the Marlborough Sounds in summer 2020/2021, then expanded to cover the whole country in 2021.

Recreational fishing is popular in Aotearoa New Zealand, but fishers sometimes accidentally catch seabirds, sharks, seals and other marine protected species. Photo: Dragonfly Data Science.

March 2022: The Tūhoe Charitable Trust has been honoured at the ACE Awards for a roading project that incorporated engineering, science, and mātauranga Māori.

The Road to Nature project took out the ACE New Zealand Client Award at the event on Tuesday 22 February. The project involved a stretch of State Highway 38 in Te Urewera used by locals and tourists that was becoming dangerous due to dust and potholes.

Ngāi Tūhoe, who are kaitiaki of Te Urewera, commissioned engineering consultancy WSP to investigate environmentally friendly and sustainable options for resurfacing and maintaining the road in keeping with Tūhoe values.

WSP conducted research, lab testing, and analysis to find a resin-based by-product of the wood pulping process that was effective in binding gravel and keeping it in place. The substance replaces the usual bitumen used on roads and can be recycled on-site without additional aggregates. The world-first solution also suppresses dust – an issue on gravel roads as it obscures visibility – with waterproofing attributes that reduces the occurrence of potholes and corrugations.

Photo: WSP.

March 2022: Recently Tūranga FM Breakfast co-hosts Rāhia Timutimu and Mātai Smith visited Mātai Research as part of their regular weekly filming for their popular ‘Parakuihi’ online show, which showed Rāhia getting an MRI scan done on her brain.

Mātai Smith, who had an MRI in September 2020, said that Rāhia had always wanted to get one done. “She’s been amping to see if she too has the ‘grey matter’ that matters to try and match me, so when the opportunity came to film it, she was literally ready to MRI – or ‘move-run immediately’ so as to ascertain the results of her brain!”

Ably assisted by Taylor and Paul from Mātai, Rāhia was made to feel at ease and they also explained in detail what she was to expect when she’s in the machine being scanned, she even had the choice of listening to Tūranga FM if she so wished, but instead opted for an episode of ‘Friends’ on Netflix.

After approximately 30 minutes, it was all done and Rāhia was surprised at how quick it was, including her results which were almost instant.

Tūranga FM Breakfast co-hosts Rāhia Timutimu and Mātai Smith. Photo: Mātai Research.

March 2022: In October last year, the Minister of Research, Science and Innovation the Hon. Dr Megan Woods, launched a ‘state of the nation’ report on the performance of New Zealand’s research, science and innovation system.

Dragonfly Data Science worked closely with staff from the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to produce the report, helping the Ministry to present the report in a digital format for the first time.

The report is based on data from a range of sources, including Stats NZ, Tertiary Education Commission, government investment and OECD data. It features a commentary on the data, dual language section headers, information panels and case studies. Responses made to the COVID-19 pandemic from MBIE and from scientists are highlighted throughout.

Producing the report involved a team of four staff from MBIE as well as front-end development, design, data science and content writing from Dragonfly.

See The Research, Science and Innovation Report - 2021.

Image: Dragonfly Data Science.

March 2022: Working with the Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand (WRONZ), Lincoln Agritech scientists and engineers have developed a portfolio of new use product possibilities that capitalise wool’s inherent performance benefits – such as moisture management (making it comfortable next to the skin), colour binding, absorption, and neutralisation of pollutants.

In 2021, WRONZ launched the subsidiary Wool Source to commercialise the first of the innovations. Lincoln Agritech supported the commercialisation by acting as project leader on the build of a pilot-scale manufacturing facility on the Lincoln University campus, to deliver the first products, Wool Source Particles, Wool Source Powders, and Wool Source Pigments.

“We delivered this multi-million-dollar manufacturing facility on time and on budget, with support from engineering consultancy DETA Engineering,” says New Materials Group Manager Rob Kelly.

“This went well beyond the usual manufacturing prototypes and small-scale equipment our engineers would more commonly be involved in, and shows the scale-up expertise and practical process engineering capabilities within our team.”

Wool Source Pigments. Photo: Lincoln Agritech.

March 2022: Substantial moves to address building and construction industry workforce issues are under way, including the establishment of a Consortium to share knowledge and be well placed to meet evolving needs say BRANZ social scientists Dr Casimir MacGregor and Orin Lockyer.

"The building and construction industry is undergoing great change. The global COVID-19 pandemic has impacted supply chains, workers’ health and wellbeing and company finances.

"Further, the spectre of climate change and regulatory change to address the transition to a net-zero carbon economy presents some of the greatest challenges the industry has seen. Despite these challenges, one of the biggest changes facing industry started in 2018 – the reforms of construction skills education.

"In 2018, the government unveiled its Construction Skills Action Plan to address the skill and labour shortages in the building and construction industry. The vision of the action plan is to drive a rapid but sustainable shift that delivers the right people with the right skills to meet New Zealand’s current and future construction demands."

Photo: BRANZ/build magazine.

March 2022: When light rail starts rolling in the City of Sails, stations and stops should be safe and accessible for everyone - not just those who fit the average, able-bodied 'mould'. The design should be future proofed using behavioural science techniques that consider everybody’s needs. WSP Technical Principal for Behavioural Science Jared Thomas and People Research Manager Louise Malcolm explain.

"For many people living with a disability, for those who are older and less mobile, or who may be larger than average, public transport can be a less-than-ideal way of getting from A to B. Our current public transport systems are designed to fit the needs of the many - at the most times. But with much needed investment being funnelled into the development of new public transport systems, we're hopeful all that might be about to change."

The WSP researchers write that the planned light rail development presents a real opportunity for those at the drawing board to design from scratch with safety and accessibility for all at the core of the blueprint.

Photo: WSP.

March 2022: A study by Rowan Ropata Macgregor Thom and Motu Research/Victoria University's Arthur Grimes has found iwi whose land was confiscated in the New Zealand Wars have the highest smoking rates among Māori.

The researchers also found iwi least affected by raupatu (land confiscation) were more likely to speak te reo and visit their marae.

Arthur says the trauma hadn't gone away with time. "These effects don't just effect that generation, they can linger on for many many generations in the future."

He said the findings should help shape government funding and policy decisions.

The study "Land loss and the intergenerational transmission of wellbeing: The experience of iwi in Aotearoa New Zealand" was initiated by a Motu Research grant for Rowan Thom’s Motu Research internship. It is published in the prestigious journal Social Science and Medicine - the journal in which Sir Mason Durie first published his Te Whare Tapa Wha model of Māori wellbeing, which the authors refer to.

Photo: Michelle Ding, Unsplash.

February 2022: Dean Hyslop, a senior fellow at Wellington economic and public policy research institute Motu, was recently interviewed in Stuff on the Government's plans for an ACC-style Income Insurance Scheme. He said research suggested that people who had access to such schemes took longer to rejoin the workforce after being made unemployed.

He also said there was little evidence such schemes improved employment outcomes, at least when that was measured by the pay rate of the jobs people later landed

Higher pay was not the only measure of a better job, Hyslop said, “but it's a quantifiable one that labour economists often focus on, and my reading is there is very little evidence of that”.

Motu Research senior fellow Dean Hyslop says he is two minds about the Government's proposed income insurance scheme. Photo: Motu.

February 2022: The first large-scale national study to compare health outcomes for Māori and European patients admitted to New Zealand intensive care units (ICU) has been published today in the New Zealand Medical Journal.

The Medical Research Institute of New Zealand (MRINZ) compared and analysed data from more than 50,000 patients admitted to all major hospital ICUs over a 10-year period, finding that Māori patients were more likely than European patients to die within 180 days of ICU admission.

Compared to European patients, Māori were markedly more likely to be admitted to the ICU after trauma or with sepsis. Despite Māori being on average 13 years younger at ICU admission than their European counterparts, they had more co-morbidities, higher illness severity, and a higher risk of dying within 180 days (about 6 months). Photo: Natanael Melchor, Unsplash.

February 2022: Aqualinc researcher Matt Bubb has just published an article about water regulation in this month's Canterbury Farming newspaper. Over the last couple of years water regulations have been changing at lightning speed.

Matt writes that the next changes in the pipeline are to National Environmental Standards for Sources of Human Drinking Water, with the Ministry for the Environment having released a consultation document on 10 January, seeking feedback on the proposed changes.

He says that one of the major implications for the rural sector is how this fits with the recently passed Water Services Act 2021, which defines you as a Water Supplier if the water on your farm supplies more than just your household, for example, to workers' cottages, etc. There could be around 75,000 properties that meet this criteria, which would be required to register and comply with water supply standards, including providing proof.

Matt's article in the Canterbury Farmer, February 2022.

February 2022: It turns out that fidgeting is a good strategy to develop if you have ADHD says researcher Gina Waters from Mātai's Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) team.

This Gisborne Herald article by Avneesh Vincent discusses a collaborative study between researchers at Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI) and Mātai Medical Research Institute in Gisborne.

Three years ago ABI associate Professor Justin Fernandez and project leader formed a hypothesis that increased blood flow to the frontal lobe and increased neurotransmitter activity caused by fidgeting might help people with ADHD to concentrate.

Now, researchers from Mātai are using fMRI scans to investigate whether fidgeting, often seen in people with ADHD, might improve activation in the decision-making region of the brain.

Gina Waters is part of a ground-breaking Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) research team at Mātai Medical Research Institute. Gina talks to Avneesh Vincent from the Gisborne Herald about her role in the study, changing careers, and the need for advanced medical technology. Photo: Liam Clayton.

February 2022: An interdisciplinary collaboration between Nelson’s Cawthron Institute and researchers at Durham University has found that nanocoatings for surfaces could be developed into versatile and environmentally-friendly anti-fouling solutions in a variety of areas including aquaculture and especially for algae production. Biofouling is the build-up of microorganisms, plants, algae, or small animals where it is not wanted on surfaces in the water and it is a big issue for marine industries including aquaculture.

The researchers, led by Cawthron Institute algal biotechnologist Dr Mike Packer working together with Prof Jas Pal Badyal FRS, a world-leading expert in the chemistry of functional surfaces from Durham University, explored coatings that attract and repel water differently for their use in algal production in an aquaculture setting.

Dr Packer says the results of their experiments reveal that some of the coatings work very well to prevent biofouling of surfaces of algae culture systems and are non-toxic to algae used in aquaculture.

Cawthron Institute Algal Biotechnologist Dr Mike Packer in the laboratory. Photo: Cawthron Institute.

February 2022: With reports of whānau isolating in unsafe homes and Whakarongorau Aotearoa and Ministry of Health failing to conduct timely check-ins, South Auckland primary care professionals and their support teams stepped in to monitor and care for thirty-seven COVID-19 cases in their community at the end of last year.

An audit of COVID-19 case management at the Papakura Marae Health Centre during late 2021, co-authored by Professor Matire Harwood and research colleagues at the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand and published in the New Zealand Medical Journal on 4 February, outlines how the Papakura Marae Health Centre became the default provider of medical and welfare care for COVID-19 cases isolating in a Tāmaki Makaurau community during October and November 2021.

Professor Richard Beasley, Director of the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand says, “It is evident from this audit that the Papakura Marae Health Centre essentially undertook the role of the Ministry of Health’s system. Furthermore, the level, quality, and continuity of medical care provided by the Papakura Marae Health Centre was clearly better than that which could ever be achieved by a system based on remote monitoring by non-medical personnel, guided by decision support tools."

January 2022: Summer is usually a time for kicking back and taking it easy, but four students have been working hard, gaining hands-on experience working at Lincoln Agritech.

Serene Ratu (Ngai Tūhoe) and Haidee Middlewood-Krsinic have been working with the New Materials team, Samantha Taylor has been working with the GreenTech team, and Philip Stenger has been working with the Precision Agriculture group.

All four are studying at the University of Canterbury, and they all say their summer work experience has been interesting, valuable, and even fun!

Serene says a member of her iwi encouraged her to apply for a job at Lincoln Agritech, because of its work with Minginui Nursery to develop novel cellulose fibres and pigments from endemic plants, including tawa. “We are the guardians of Te Urewera Forest, and I wanted to be part of the project to make sure our tawa trees are being utilised for the right reasons.”

All four say the experience of working with Lincoln Agritech has helped confirm they are on the right path with their study – and even help to focus in on particular aspects that they really enjoy.

From left, Haidee Middlewood-Krsinic, Serene Ratu, Philip Stenger, and Samantha Taylor. Photo: Lincoln Agritech.

January 2022: A wero (challenge) that HERA has recently taken up, is to view their work through the lens of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

The output of this review was a report authored by International Institute of Welding (IIW) Fellow Chris Smallbone and HERA CEO Dr Troy Coyle, which assessed the initiatives HERA has undertaken to achieve sustainable heavy engineering.

Troy writes that there are many examples of heavy engineering initiatives that have been executed that have direct correlation to the SDGs. "Some examples for HERA are the improvement of national welding capability and our relationship with national and international networks, such as the IIW, which enable us to collaborate to progress the SDGs collectively.

"This work has also highlighted how the SDGs align with other key initiatives that both HERA and our industry support."

The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

January 2022: New Zealand’s ability to make its own mRNA vaccines like the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is a step closer with the arrival of cutting-edge nanoparticle technology, the first of its kind in New Zealand.

The NanoAssemblr Blaze is designed to produce lipid nanoparticles to encapsulate mRNA to safely deliver it to cells – the scientific breakthrough that thrust mRNA vaccines to the fore at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Funded by private donors to the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, the $1m Blaze landed in Timaru this month where it is being installed at South Pacific Sera, a biotech that is part of Vaccine Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand – Ohu Kaupare Huaketo (VAANZ).

Professor Graham Le Gros, Director of the Malaghan Institute and VAANZ Programme Director, says the arrival of the technology marks a significant step towards New Zealand producing its own mRNA vaccines and other RNA therapeutics in the future.

Photo: Malaghan Institute.

January 2022: A collaborative study between the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has found that a vaccine commonly used to treat tuberculosis – BCG – is also effective at preventing lethal infection from COVID-19 in mice when administered intravenously. The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, highlights the potential for novel methods for fighting respiratory viruses such as COVID-19 by increasing immune protection in the lungs.

BCG (Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette Guérin) is a live attenuated – or weakened – virus that is used as a vaccine to protect against childhood tuberculosis for over one hundred years.

“It’s one of the most widely used vaccines in the world and is administered intradermally (through the skin) within the first few days of life,” says International Research Fellow Dr Kerry Hilligan. Dr Hilligan is part of the Immune Cell Biology team at the Malaghan Institute and has spent the past several years at the NIH in Bethesda, USA.

Lung section from a K18-hACE2 mouse inoculated with BCG iv and subsequently infected with SARS-CoV-2. Image: Rose Perry-Gottschalk (NIAID, NIH).

January 2022: Saline, a 200-year-old medical therapy given to millions of patients around the world each day, appears to increase the risk of death in patients who are acutely ill.

A landmark intravenous (IV) fluid study, and a comprehensive systematic review paper, both published on 19 January in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), are of major significance for global public health, and set to change clinical practice worldwide.

Together the ‘PLUS Study’ and the ‘The choice between balanced crystalloids and normal saline: a systematic review and meta-analysis’ evidence paper provide compelling proof that for most people who are critically ill, using balanced crystalloids for intravenous fluid therapy rather than saline saves lives.

Saline, a 200-year-old medical therapy given to millions of patients around the world each day, appears to increase the risk of death in patients who are acutely ill. Photo: Anna Shvets, Pexels.