Thesis - Honours
Recent Deposits
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The Ratio of RyR2 and CSQ2 in Calcium Handling
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia of the heart, affecting 2-3% of the population. AF decreases the quality of life and increases the risk of mortality in patients. Although many patients see improvement ... -
Profiling the pregnancy-specific glycoprotein genes in pre-eclampsia.
Background: Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy which is characterised by reduced placental cell invasion into the maternal arteries. Lack of invasion causes insufficient transformation of arteries ... -
Targeted Epigenetic Editing Using a dCas9- SunTag Methylation System
DNA methylation is a stable and somatically heritable epigenetic process. It is classically understood as a gene silencing mechanism, whereby hypermethylation of gene promoters is largely associated with transcriptional ... -
Characterising TRIB1 Nanobodies using a Yeast Surface Display Platform with Flow Cytometry
The mammalian tribble (TRIB) pseudokinase family has three homologues, which act as an adaptor protein to regulate cell signalling pathways. TRIB proteins can bind the E3 ligase, Constitutive Photomorphogenesis Protein 1 ... -
High Dimensional Analysis of Myeloid Cells in Colorectal Cancer
Development of immune therapy requires an in-depth knowledge of immune cells, how they act in a tumour, and how they can be manipulated. Colorectal cancer (CRC) patients have shown less favourable outcomes with immune ... -
Investigating RNF43 Mutations as Biomarkers for ctDNA Surveillance of Colorectal Cancer
This project aimed to investigate the utility of RNF43 mutations for circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) surveillance of colorectal cancer (CRC). CRC is the second deadliest cancer in New Zealand. CRC patients currently under-go ... -
Investigating the activation of nucleus accumbens projective paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus during cue-food reward conditioning
When a previously neutral cue is learnt to predict a food reward, the presence of the cue itself can elicit the motivation to obtain the food. The nucleus accumbens shell (nAccSh) in the mesolimbic system is involved in ... -
Building a Metabolic Profile for Human Innate-Like T Cells using Spectral Flow Cytometry
Obesity is a growing epidemic often leading to metabolic disease, and immune dysregulation is an associated pathology. This dysregulation could be targeted therapeutically to minimise some of the negative effects of obesity, ... -
The Role of Lhx9 in the Male Reproductive System
Leydig cells (LCs) are found within the interstitium of the testes. LCs are crucial to male reproductive function due to their role in testosterone synthesis, a process vital for both organogenesis and secondary sex ... -
Vitamin C as an Epigenetic Therapeutic for Acute Myeloid Leukaemia
Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is a deadly disease characterised by the abnormal proliferation of immature blood cells in the bone marrow with a block in haematopoietic differentiation. The disease is heterogeneous, and ... -
Evaluating the Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Activity of a Lipid Extract from the Giant Kelp Macrocystis pyrifera
Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) affect millions of individuals worldwide, every year. SSTIs vary in complexity and severity, ranging from superficial skin infections such as impetigo to more severe, polymicrobial, ... -
Bacterial Lipopolysaccharide and Immune Activation in Colorectal Cancer
Colorectal cancer (CRC), is the second deadliest cancer in New Zealand. At early stages tumours can be treated with surgery or a combination of surgery and chemotherapy. However, once the cancer has metastasized, treatment ... -
Impact of carbon monoxide releasing oCOm-21 on the NLRP3 inflammasome
During cardiac bypass procedure, the heart is subjected to repeat cycles of ischaemia reperfusion injury (IRI). This is highly detrimental to clinical outcomes in patients, presenting as myocardial dysfunction and contributing ... -
Hyperuricemia impairs PAX4 protein expression and plasticity in pancreatic β-cells
Uric Acid (UA) is a product produced from the metabolic breakdown of purines that is highly associated with several signaling pathways in pancreatic β-cells. High plasma uric acid (hyperuricemia) is associated with gout, ... -
The role of gene duplication and neofunctionalization in the sexual plasticity of teleost fish
Sex determination and differentiation varies widely across vertebrates. In teleost fish these processes are remarkably plastic. In contrast to a gonochoristic system where the sexes are separate, fish that begin life as ... -
A novel leptin receptor mutation causes delayed puberty onset in mice
Reproductive function is tightly controlled by nutritional state due to its high energetic demands. Regulation of fertility according to available energy stores is attained through the integration of metabolic status signals ... -
Assessing the translational potential of oxytocin receptor blockade as a novel therapy for cardiac sympathetic activation following acute myocardial infarction
Abnormal elevation of cardiac sympathetic nerve activity (cSNA) is a major contributor to the high mortality rate associated with acute myocardial infarction (MI). Increase in cSNA results in the propagation of ventricular ... -
Characterization of the Potential Antiviral Activity of Peptides and Peptoids against Influenza A Virus and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has caused worldwide panic during 2020. To date SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, has caused 1 million deaths and infected over 35 million people in under ... -
Epicardial adipose tissue morphology diversity in Māori, Pacific and New Zealand/European post mortem cases
Obesity is a global epidemic, and is the leading risk factor for heart disease and associated morbidities in New Zealand. Furthermore, Māori and Pacific New Zealand populations are up to 8 times more likely to develop ... -
Tumour Necrosis Factor Signalling Heterogeneity in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is chronic, heterogeneous diseases characterised by excess inflammation in the gastrointestinal system and a dysfunctional mucosal immune response. Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) is a ...