Seminars

The aquaculture industry of Aotearoa relies heavily on the farming of three species, which includes only one finfish species (the non-indigenous king salmon). To enhance food security and better support local communities, The Smart Māori Aquaculture initiative has identified haku/warehenga as a high-potential indigenous finfish for aquaculture. However, genetic information for wild haku populations surrounding Aotearoa is limited; this project will develop new genomic resources for this species to support the aquaculture initiative.

Catherine is a Lecturer in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Otago. Her research focuses on population genomics of animals whose distributions have been influenced by humans transporting them, and subsequent interactions between humans and these animals.
 

Dafni Anastasiadi is a scientist at Plant and Food Research Nelson. Her research interests focus on the role of epigenetics in eco-evolutionary processes using marine species as models. Her work has produced results with far-reaching implications in the epigenetics field, including the first epigenetic clock to accurately predict age in fish.

Stephen Robertson is the Curekids Professor Paediatric Genetics at the University of Otago University. Phillip Wilcox (Ngāti Kahungunu ki te Wairoa, Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Rakaipaaka, Te Aitanga a Mahaki) is trained in molecular and quantitative genetics and has a background in both genomics and te ao Māori.

Bacteria have evolved ‘immune systems’ as a result of their constant exposure to foreign mobile genetic elements, including bacteriophages and plasmids. Recently, there have been major advances in our understanding of these systems and the different strategies that phages have evolved to evade these immune mechanisms. This talk will present recent research into bacterial defence systems and phage counter-defences.