Thesis - Honours
Recent Deposits
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Modelling the effect of inflammation on Chitinase 3-like 1 expression
Chitinase 3-like 1 (CHI3L1) is a protein believed to play a role in activating immune cells and tissue remodelling. CHI3L1 is increased in several inflammatory conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Accordingly, ... -
Effect of Coenzyme Q10 and MitoQ on Mitochondrial Function in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Introduction Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex and severe condition with unknown aetiology which affects over 20,000 people in New Zealand. Only in the last 20 years has it been ... -
Defining Leptin-Responsive nNOS Neurons for Puberty and Fertility
Reproduction is a resource intensive process by which animals propagate their genes, hence it must be coordinated carefully with the body’s availability of energy stores to produce viable offspring. The adipocyte-derived ... -
Investigating the inflammatory response within the ageing oviduct
One in four people attempting to conceive will experience infertility. The current theory is that infertility is caused by a decreased number and quality of eggs in the ovary. However, ovarian aging cannot be the sole cause ... -
Characterising the role of peroxidasin in breast cancer
The ability of cancer cells to migrate and invade into surrounding tissues is one of the fundamental hallmarks of cancer progression. The process of cancer cell invasion is not well understood leaving a gap in knowledge ... -
Internalin proteins, the weapons wielded by Listeria monocytogenes
Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) is a bacterial pathogen capable of causing meningitis, septicaemia and fetoplacental infections in the immunocompromised, elderly, and pregnant women. Disease caused by Lm (listeriosis) manifests ... -
Exploring virtual reality simulation’s role in medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic
Background: The COVID-19 lockdown caused significant limitations in experiential learning opportunities for medical students. Experiential learning is an essential aspect of medical education which allows medical students ... -
Mitochondria function in differentiating Megakaryocytes
Megakaryocytes (MKs) are specialised cells which function to produce platelets and release them into the blood stream. MKs descend from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), via a stepwise differentiation model. A reduction in ... -
The role of cytoskeletal F-actin in homomeric and heteromeric ∆N-TRPV1 and TRPV4 mechanotransduction.
Hypertension is one of the leading health concerns facing our population today, however the mechanisms underlying it are not fully understood. This highlights the need to investigate other potential regulators of blood ... -
Investigating Genomic Imprinting in the Brushtail Possum
While almost all mammalian genes express their maternally and paternally inherited copies equally, a small subset of genes (~100 in humans) are subject to parent-specific expression. This peculiar form of gene expression, ... -
ADSC-EVs Effect on Fibroblast Phenotyping in vitro
Background: Breast Cancer is the most common cancer amongst wāhine in Aotearoa, with approximately 3,300 diagnoses every year. Breast reconstruction after breast cancer treatment (e.g. mastectomy) is an important part of ... -
Investigating the role of Fn14 expression in hormone receptor positive breast cancer
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women. Approximately 75% of invasive breast cancers are hormone receptor (HR) positive, and have the option to receive targeted endocrine therapy. However, a ... -
Investigation of a Wnt/Cohesin cause for Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML)
Cohesin is a multiprotein complex essential for cell division and three-dimensional genome organisation. Mutations in genes encoding the cohesin-subunits, particularly STAG2, are found in ~13% of acute myeloid leukaemia ... -
Allelic Diversity of the Pharmacogene CYP2D6 in Māori and Pasifika
CYP2D6 is an important pharmacogene encoding an enzyme by the same name, responsible for metabolising around 25% of commonly prescribed drugs. These include cardiac drugs such as metoprolol, the pain medication codeine, ... -
The role of Mirna in response to irradiation in a rectal cancer cell line model
Neoadjuvant radiotherapy/chemoradiotherapy (N-RT/CRT) is frequently used to treat rectal cancer due to its ability to reduce tumour bulk prior to surgery. It has been shown to significantly reduce the recurrence of cancer ... -
Transitioning from analysing methylation profiles in bulk populations of Colorectal cancer cells to methylation profiles of single cells
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading causes of death by cancer in New Zealand, largely due to metastasis of the primary tumour to secondary sites around the body. The initiation, progression and eventual metastasis ... -
Smad7: a master regulator of β-cell plasticity in T2DM controlled by uric acid
Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is a growing pandemic that affects over 380 million people worldwide, especially in New Zealand where Māori and Pacifica populations are disproportionately affected. Besides insulin resistance, ... -
Characterizing the Role of Long Non-Coding RNA CAN3 in Colorectal Cancer
Colorectal cancer (CRC) has been ranked among the leading cause of cancer-related mortality, accounting for 19.5% of cancer incidence, globally. Over the years, while there have been advancements with therapeutic treatments ... -
Ligand-specific differences in VEGFR-2 activation in response to VEGF-A and VEGF-E binding
Angiogenesis is the process of generating new blood vessels from existing ones. Vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) and their receptors (VEGFRs) are the main proteins and receptors involved in this process. VEGFR-2 ... -
Dissecting the receptor signalling events responsible for the immune suppressive and immune stimulatory effects of IL-10
Interleukin 10 (IL-10) is a dynamic cytokine produced by most adaptive and innate immune cells. Though known as a potent anti-inflammatory cytokine, IL-10 has been shown to promote the immune stimulatory activity of B ...