Scientific Assessment Committee

Research Professor BSc PhD (Cape Town)
Professor Gabi Dachs completed her undergraduate and PhD studies in Cape Town, South Africa, followed by postdoctoral work at the MRC Harwell in the United Kingdom. Prior to joining the University of Otago in Christchurch, Professor Dachs worked as senior scientist at the Gray Cancer Institute in London, UK.
Research interests: Professor Gabi Dachs is interested in why human tumours are difficult to treat, and in new ways of treating them. Current research interests at present include:
- Can we dampen the activity of the global transcription factor HIF-1 using vitamin C? Can we reduce tumour growth in mice using vitamin C? Can we increase vitamin C in cancer cells using gene therapy? What is the relationship between ascorbate and HIF-1 in tumours from kidney cancer patients?
- Why do obese cancer patients often fare worse than non-obese patients? Can we identify the molecular factors associated with obesity in cancer? What effect do these obesity-related factors have on chemotherapy?
- Which human enzymes are responsible for the activation of novel anticancer pro-drugs (in collaboration with Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre)? Can this knowledge guide clinical use of these agents?
- Can we improve gene directed enzyme prodrug therapy combinations to target solid tumours or their vasculature?

Associate Professor Melzer is involved in a wide range of neurological research, including child development, mild traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, neurodegenerative diseases, and more. As a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Medicine, his primary focus is on the development and application of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques to advance our understanding of cognitive decline in Parkinson’s disease.

Bachelor of Science (Honours), Doctor of Philosophy
Research interests include neuropsychology, including disorders of memory, neuro-degenerative disorders, recovery of function after brain damage; behavioural neuro-science, including animal models of the effects of brain damage in humans, neural transplants, hippocampal system function, enriched environments; and behavioural pharmacology, including effects of drugs and nutritional factors in humans and animals.
- Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Multiple Sclerosis
- Behavioural pharmacology
- Enriched environments

Research in our lab focuses on the structure, function and inhibition of key enzymes involved in infection and disease. We are also interested in the evolution of enzyme function, and conversely its design and manipulation. We study a variety of enzymes: from those responsible for the biosynthesis of amino acids, in particular lysine, since these are validated drug targets; to glycolytic enzymes, such as pyruvate kinase, since these are tractable model systems to understand enzyme allostery. The list is ever increasing. A common theme in the lab is the role protein-protein interactions in a variety of biological systems, mostly derived from bacteria, but more recently including eukaryotic proteins involved in cancer, where we hope to address the twin problems of how and why proteins form complexes and the functional consequences of these associations.
- Enzymology
- Enzyme evolution and Enzyme design
- Structural biology
- Biophysics

Associate Professor Theys’ research aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of normal speech production and speech production disorders by combining behavioural and neuroimaging approaches. To grasp the complexity of the speech production process, she uses an integrated approach of neurocomputational modelling with brain imaging and neurophysiological techniques capable of capturing the spatial ((f)MRI) and temporal (EEG) neural correlates of speech. This approach is based on state-of-the-art models, data acquisition and processing techniques, and complemented by novel, custom-developed techniques. The fundamental scientific component of this research focuses on detailed mapping of the neural speech network. This is conducted through the study of normal speech production as well as stuttering and acquired neurogenic speech disorders. Associate Professor Theys’ studies on speech disorders also have a strong translational component. It is anticipated that understanding the neural basis of speech production problems will eventually lead to effective and personalized treatment approaches, with a positive impact on health and well-being.

He has conducted multiple studies into the neurobiology of mood disorders and particularly the neurobiology of cognitive impairment and is now conducting studies of cognitive remediation in mood disorders. He is a consultant psychiatrist specialising in psychiatric care of adults with intellectual disability and also sees patients with treatment resistant mood disorders for second opinions regarding treatment.

BSc (Hons) PhD (Cant) Department of Medicine (UOC), Department of Psychological Medicine (UOC) Chris Frampton is the departmental biostatistician and is involved in departmental teaching and the design and analysis of research studies.
His particular research interests include the modelling and prediction of long-term outcome data, and developing structural equation models for defining personality constructs.

I have been lucky enough to work with some amazing people across a variety of research fields. This has led me to engage across many applications and develop a very diverse research skill set. I work predominantly with numerical methods in bioengineering. This concentrates in the forward problem, the inverse problem, and identifiability - typically in lumped parameter systems. However, I have also worked extensively in PIV analysis of biological flows, head injury mechanics and qualitative research in education. The full scope that I have worked in includes agricultural design, cellular modelling, aerospace design, and medical device design.

Parameter Identification
Model Identifiability
Diabetes
Numerical Methods
Application of Optimisation
Pulmonary Mechanics
Haemodynamics
Glycaemic Modelling
Flow Visualisation
Agricultural Design

My lab is focused on studying the structures, mechanisms and interactions of aggregating proteins. We are particularly interested in a certain fibre-like structure that is formed by a great variety of proteins called amyloid fibrils. We study amyloid proteins involved in disease, including Alzheimer's disease and motor neuron disease, as well as those that have functions in important biological processes.

The kinds of questions we are looking at include:
1) What are the functions of amyloids and aggregates in different biological processes?
2) What are the structural details of aggregates that have functional and disease-relevant roles?
3) How do other proteins and small molecules affect the aggregation of disease-relevant proteins, and at what stage do they affect aggregation? 4) What sequences are important for aggregation processes, and how can these be interfered with?
5) How do disease mutations affect aggregation or functional behaviour of aggregation-prone proteins?

We are studying these topics with a range of structural and biophysical techniques including NMR spectroscopy (both solid-state and solution state), fluorescence-based aggregation assays, electron microscopy.

Most of Professor Vissers research revolves around determining the biological functions of vitamin C (ascorbate), which is widely considered to be an important natural antioxidant. However, ascorbate is also an essential co-factor for a family of enzymes, the 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases, which control many biological processes, ranging from the stress response to hypoxia, to the regulation of epigenetic enzymes. These processes are important in cancer and we are investigating the contribution of ascorbate to cancer growth as a result of its co-factor activity for these enzymes.

Dr Faatoese is a Research Fellow with the Christchurch Heart Institute, University of Otago Christchurch. Her work and passions are driven by helping to improve the health of Pasifika families and communities. Her research focuses on identifying genetic, epigenetic and circulating biomarkers associated with cardiometabolic risk among Pacific communities. Also, she is the Convenor of Pacific Health Teaching to medical students at UOC.

Senior Lecturer, Academic Lead MHealSc Programme, Centre for Postgraduate Nursing Studies, UOC.
Dr Trip’s clinical and research focus is healthcare equity and access for populations considered vulnerable, particularly people who identify with intellectual (learning) and developmental disability. Her Masters thesis focused on primary healthcare access for people with intellectual disability, and her PhD on the perspectives of ageing and future planning for this population and their family. Leading qualitative research exploring the self-management approaches to diabetes with this population, resulted in an international collaboration to develop an international consensus guideline for reasonable adjustments. A focus on long-term conditions, inclusion, supported decision-making, social models of disability, and gaps in healthcare workforce education to optimise healthcare outcomes for people with disability are a key focus of her research.

Michael is an infectious disease and respiratory physician who has trained in NZ and internationally.

He currently works as a clinician at Te Whatu Ora Waitaha Canterbury and as a senior lecturer at the University of Otago Christchurch.

His research interests include all aspects of respiratory infectious disease, and One Health approaches to zoonotic infections, particularly in tropical low- and middle-income countries.