University academics in biochemistry, microbiology, and biomedical science are among the recipients.
The grants recognise and fund high-impact research aimed at improving health outcomes for all New Zealanders, with a focus on developing excellent researchers and supporting the best ideas and innovations.
The four Te Herenga Waka recipients are:
HRC Emerging Researcher First Grants
Dr Abigail Sharrock (School of Biological Sciences)
Dr Sharrock is leading innovative research to improve the effectiveness of immunotherapies against cancers that are currently less responsive to treatment. Supported by this grant, her research will focus on making certain immunotherapies compatible with both next-generation and traditional chemotherapies, allowing these approaches to be used together. Dr Sharrock will combine several methods to find and modify enzymes that can protect immune cells from being damaged by chemotherapy drugs. Her work represents a significant step toward combination cancer treatments to improve patient outcomes.
HRC Explorer Grants
Associate Professor Mattie Timmer (School of Chemical and Physical Sciences)
Associate Professors Mattie Timmer and Bridget Stocker are investigating the therapeutic potential of Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells. These newly described subset of T cells are abundant in humans and play a role in various infectious and non-infectious diseases. However, to use MAIT cells as effective therapeutic targets, a deeper understanding of the molecules that activate them is necessary.
The HRC Explorer Grant will enable Mattie and Bridget to specifically explore the therapeutic applications of MAIT cells and to better manage their negative impact in autoimmune diseases.
Dr Chelsea Vickers (School of Biological Sciences)
Dr Vickers is leading research to develop novel prebiotics from marine glycans.
With the support of this grant, she will use synthetic biology to design new-to-science prebiotics from New Zealand seaweeds. She will also assess the prebiotic potential of these compounds using an in-house customised in-vitro gut microbiome model system. Using this system, she can determine the effects that compounds have on microbial metabolism of the gut microbiome and the associated health benefits.
Dr Vickers anticipates that the outcomes of this work will enhance the understanding of how prebiotics function, providing greater confidence in the effectiveness of these compounds.
Dr Olga Zubkova (Ferrier Research Institute)
Dr Zubkova’s multidisciplinary team are investigating potential uses of synthetic molecules that mimic heparan sulfate (HS). With over thirty-five pathogenic viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, using HS to attach to cells, blocking this process could provide methods to stop many different viruses.
Additionally, new HS mimics can inhibit the enzyme heparanase to reduce inflammation and enhance innate defence mechanisms. Heparanase aids the spread of viruses, so blocking it could be effective against viruses that use HS to infect cells.
The team designs multi-branched HS mimics to take advantage of how they can bind to and interact with multiple biomolecules at once. They will assess the antiviral activity of these synthetic mimics against various human pathogenic respiratory viruses and develop techniques to image and locate where these molecules go in the body.