Biomedical Science Year 3 suggested options

Cancer affects over a quarter of the world’s population, and its control and cure provide considerable challenges for research. Progress over last four decades has resulted in an improved understanding of the disease and the formulation of novel strategies for prevention and cure. A number of groups in the University are involved in research projects in cancer, and the establishment of the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre (ACSRC) in the Faculty of Medical and Health Science has now provided a strong focus for a multidisciplinary research programme. The international successes of the ACSRC include the development of five drugs from the design stage through to clinical trials in cancer patients. This background provides a number of opportunities for research projects with a high degree of relevance to human cancer. Current research can be divided into three interlinking areas:

• Cancer biology: includes studies on the genetics and cell biology of cancer growth, and studies of responses of cancer cells to DNA damage and to inhibition of growth signalling pathways. Research includes both molecular and cellular approaches, and includes work on the properties of cancer cells grown from tissue donated by cancer patients.
• Cancer causation: includes studies of mutagenesis by dietary and chemical carcinogens and the development of new strategies for preventing cancer, particularly those involving modulation of dietary components.
• Cancer therapeutics: includes the design, synthesis and evaluation of new types of anticancer drugs. Emphasis is placed on drug pharmacokinetics since this has close connections with clinical trials of new anticancer drugs developed by the ACSRC. Further research areas include the delivery drugs to targets within the tumour, the activation of prodrugs within tumours, interactions between drugs and radiotherapy, and the tumour microenvironment. The latter includes studies on the role of both vascular and immune components in the action of new anticancer drugs.
   

For further information or advice contact:

Dr Nuala Helsby
School of Medical Sciences
Phone: +64 373 7599 ext 89831
Email: n.helsby@auckland.ac.nz

Imagine a single cardiac muscle cell contracting. These cells, in combination with other cells, form the heart.  The heart's rhythm and function are regulated by the central nervous system and gives rise to blood vessel tone and blood pressure.  This is the essence of the breadth of cardiovascular research covered within The University of Auckland.

Cardiovascular disease kills 50% of the population and is a major area of health and research expenditure worldwide. The University of Auckland contains the largest and most respected grouping of cardiovascular researchers in New Zealand. Students choosing cardiovascular biology have an enormous range of research laboratories to choose from including molecular and cellular issues relating to cardiac muscle cells and blood vessels, heart structure and function, control of blood pressure and human cardiovascular studies.

There is large demand for graduates in cardiovascular biology in such varied employment areas as drug development, pharmaceutical sales, fundamental research, teaching, clinical research, patent attorneys, biotechnology companies and hospitals.

For further information or advice contact:

Associate Professor Laura Bennet
School of Medical Sciences
Phone: +64 373 7599 ext 84890
Email: l.bennet@auckland.ac.nz

The primary objective of biomedical research is to understand biological processes in normal and diseased tissues at the cellular and molecular level. This option offers students a chance to focus their study at a fundamental level and apply it to the widest possible range of biomedical research themes. The emphasis is on how basic studies in molecular and cellular biology contribute to the development of knowledge in a variety of biomedical fields. Students will gain first-hand experience in the application of state-of-the art technologies including genomics and proteomics, biomolecular structure analysis, cellular imaging and electrophysiology. Research interests of affiliated staff cover gene structure and expression, molecular cell biology and the structure and function of biomolecules as applied to molecular neuroendocrinology, metabolic regulation, diabetes and insulin resistance, molecular virology, membrane transport, cellular physiology and drug development. Fourth year studies for the Cellular and Molecular Biomedicine option could include courses that cover techniques in genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics, the application of transgenic methods to the biomedical industry, current themes in biomedical research, biomolecular structure and function or applications of recombinant DNA technology to biomedicine.

For further information or advice contact:

Dr Judy O’Brien
School of Biological Sciences
Phone: +64 373 7599 ext 88764
Email: j.obrien@auckland.ac.nz

Associate Professor Paul Donaldson
Department of Optometry and Vision Science
Phone: +64 373 7599 ext 84625
Email: p.donaldson@auckland.ac.nz

Developmental biology is concerned with how multicellular organisms and their complex structures such as different organs and tissues arise from a single cell. Much of the excitement in developmental biology today arises from our growing understanding of how genes direct these developmental processes. This option will explore how cells interact to build organisms and how the structure of organisms is influenced by the genome. There is reason to believe that the extraordinary complexity of an adult organism is the product of a set of somewhat simpler programmes, set in place during development. Many of these genetic programmes are accessible to researchers through model systems that are less complex than humans. Basic regulatory and developmental pathways are remarkably conserved among diverse organisms (fruit fly, nematode worm, zebrafish, frogs, mice, humans). The completion of the human genome sequence, together with the sequencing of the genomes of several other model organisms, has demonstrated the extraordinary similarities between the genomes of humans and those of simpler organisms. The sequences provide further evidence that the study of genetic pathways in these simpler organisms, where work can be done more rapidly, provides fundamental knowledge directly applicable to the study of human genetics and disease. Many computational tools that comprise the area of bioinformatics are used widely in development and genetics.

In summary, reference will be made to many model organisms in this option and you will learn how genes influence development by focussing on specific organs and tissues. We will also consider how problems in development underpin many diseases of the human body. Research in all areas of biomedicine require an appreciation of the temporal and spatial patterns of gene expression, and developmental programmes. It is these areas that are highlighted in this specialization.

For further information or advice contact:

Associate Professor Phil Crosier
School of Medical Sciences
Phone: +64 373 7599 ext 86279
Email: ps.crosier@auckland.ac.nz

Associate Professor Don Love
School of Biological Sciences
Phone: +64 373 7599 ext 87228
Email: d.love@auckland.ac.nz

The course of infectious disease in humans is determined by the replication and spread of microbial pathogens on the one hand and the ability of the host immune system to recognise and eliminate these invaders on the other. Outcomes of these competing processes are determined through the spectrum of molecular interactions made between the host and invading pathogen. Thus the Microbiology and Immunology option integrates two of the most active areas of biomedical research: the molecular microbiology of bacteria, viruses and microbial eukaryotes together with the nature and complexity of the immune response triggered by their infection of animal hosts. The overall objective is to give students an insight into the interactions between pathogens and host at the molecular level and to provide a view of the human immune system as both an effective barrier to disease and the major driving force behind microbial evolution.

Course material will focus on major current themes in molecular microbiology with emphasis on signalling within microbial communities, analysis of microbial genomes, the structural biology of microbes and the molecular basis of microbial pathogenesis. A medical perspective is also included that addresses how bacteria perceive and respond to the host environment as well as the emergence of novel pathogenic microbes, the re-emergence of old ones and the problem of antibiotic resistance. From the immune system perspective this option will focus on the diversity and regulation of host processes that are active during various infections, the genes and proteins involved in innate and adaptive immunity, and how the immune system distinguishes self from non-self. Links between the immune and nervous systems and how these influence physiological and behavioural responses to infection are also covered.

Research groups are active in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences and the School of Biological Sciences, providing many exciting opportunities for postgraduate research projects in this area.

For further information or advice contact:

Associate Professor Roger Booth
School of Medical Sciences
Phone: +64 373 7599 ext 86475
Email: rj.booth@auckland.ac.nz

Neurobiology is one of the fastest growing areas of modern biomedical science. Research in this field deals with structures and mechanisms that underlie the function of the brain and nervous system in health and disease. The approaches used are interdisciplinary and integrate knowledge from the level of the molecule to that of the most complex neural systems. Neurobiology is an area in which The University of Auckland is particularly strong with numerous research groups acknowledged as world leaders in their fields. Multi-disciplinary teams in the School of Medical and Health Science are working on the development of the nervous system, the cellular basis of learning and behaviour, mechanisms of hearing and vision, control of breathing and circulation by the central nervous system, regulation of feeding behavior and body weight; and the molecular and cellular basis of neuro degenerative brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease and on stem cell repair in these disorders. These groups employ techniques ranging through molecular biology, biophysics, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, gene therapy and a range of modern imaging methods. Functional brain imaging is being used to investigate aspects of cognition and behaviour in the Department of Psychology, while computer modelling and neurophysiology are being combined in the School of Biological Sciences to study the role of the cerebellum in the coordination and control of movement.

For further information or advice contact:

Dr Johanna Montgomery
Department of Physiology
Phone: +64 373 7599 ext 89828
Email: jm.montgomery@auckland.ac.nz

Nutrition is central to the maintenance of good health, and fundamental to biomedical science. While nutrients were traditionally considered necessary for preventing deficiency diseases, it is increasingly clear that inappropriate diet may be responsible for almost half of the global burden of Non Communicable Diseases, as well as significantly enhancing susceptibility to Communicable Diseases. More generally, “chronic disease” related to diet covers a range of disorders including abdominal obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease (cvd), certain cancers, osteoporosis, arthritis, and inflammatory disease. There is a considerable nutrition-related skill base across The University of Auckland, both in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences and in the School of Biological Sciences which also directs the Human Nutrition Trial Unit in Mt Eden, with several groups focused on different research areas ranging from molecular nutrition through to population-based studies, and also including clinically related examples.

This option covers a range of topics in nutrition and metabolism, the role of nutrients in signal transduction and the exciting new field of nutritional genomics (or nutrigenomics), which considers the influence of the genome on nutrition and has the potential to provide tailored nutritional advice. Both maternal nutrition (during pregnancy and breastfeeding), and genetic factors, have profound influences on development and growth, both in utero and in early infancy. They subsequently affect morbidity, physical and mental capacity throughout life, and the development of diet-related disease. Although most effectively addressed during interuterine development, nutritional intervention throughout life may overcome these genetic and/or epigenetic-related susceptibilities.

For further information or advice contact:

Professor Lynn Ferguson
School of Medical Sciences
Phone: +64 373 7599 ext 86372
Email: l.ferguson@auckland.ac.nz

You may not have thought about it yet, but it is likely that you believe that when the time is right you will choose to have children and that they will be normal and healthy. This is everyone’s expectation. Unfortunately for one in six couples, infertility, miscarriages and other diseases of pregnancy prevent this expectation from coming to fruition. Further to this, one in five children resulting from a successful pregnancy will still develop obesity, diabetes or health related complications as the grow through puberty into adulthood. In this option you will learn about reproduction in both humans and animals. You will study the normal development of humans from before conception through to development of the fetus. You will find how life in utero is different to life as we know it, and discover the problems that may be encountered in utero and how we are working to overcome these. While some of us will maintain a healthy weight into adulthood, others will be predisposed to developing metabolic diseases, obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome, so you will learn how hormones and growth factors regulate metabolism and what goes wrong when metabolic diseases develop.

The University of Auckland has a long tradition of excellence in reproductive science, growth and metabolism that continues today. Research groups in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Liggins Institute focus on fertility/infertility, ovarian function and failure, reproductive cancers, preterm birth, fetal development, protection of the newborn from brain injury, and the causes of miscarriages and other diseases of pregnancy. Research groups in the Department of Physiology, Molecular Medicine and Pathology and the Department of Medicine focus on hormones, growth factors and cell signalling mechanisms involved in fetal development. Staff from AgReseach, Ruakura (Hamilton) are also involved in this option. You will have the opportunity to visit Ruakura and see what goes on within New Zealand’s leading animal reproduction group.

For further information and advice contact:

Associate Professor Larry Chamley
School of Medicine
Phone: +64 373 7599 ext 89501
Email: l.chamley@auckland.ac.nz

Associate Professor Andrew Shelling
School of Medicine
Phone: +64 373 7599 ext 83504
Email: a.shelling@auckland.ac.nz