Science Research Showcase 2022 Results
Celebrating the research of doctoral candidates and research masters at the Faculty of Science.
2022 competition winners
Judges Choice Awards - 2022
First Place – Edy Setyawan
Investigating reef manta ray nursery in Wayag lagoon, Raja Ampat
An 8-year study utilising multidisciplinary approach including drones, photo identification, satellite, and passive acoustic tracking has proven that the Wayag lagoon in Raja Ampat, eastern Indonesia, is a reef manta ray nursery habitat. This study provides the most robust assessment and comprehensive description to date of a manta ray nursery.
Second Place - Claire Webster
Manuka Honey Mead; Worth the Buzz?
Mānuka honey is a uniquely New Zealand product, with high value placed on its active compound, MGO. When fermented into mead, MGO is degraded by the yeast enzyme Glo1. Addition of an inhibitor during fermentation could result in a highly desirable Mānuka mead, with the honey’s bioactive properties still intact.
Third Place - Trevyn Toone
Flexing our Mussels: Restoring New Zealand's Wild Intertidal Mussel Reefs
Mussel reefs around the globe have been decimated by overharvesting and land use changes, threatening their roles as water filterers and habitat generators. This research details the first successful trial of intertidal mussel restoration in New Zealand and what that means for restoration managers and the rest of us.
People’s Choice Awards – 2022
First Place - Juan Patino-Echeverria
Beyond chaos: Is there a wild butterfly effect?
We explain possible parameter-dependent transitions to wild chaos, a new type of chaotic dynamics that can only arise in flows of dimension at least four. In particular, we show the bifurcation diagram of a 4D Lorenz-like model that has a wild chaotic attractor.
Second Place - Nitisha Bhargava
The Orange Conundrum; Understanding orange-fleshed kiwi berries
Carotenoids are colourful isoprenoids that are synthesized and accumulated in the photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic (flowers, fruits and vegetables) tissues of plants. Orange-fleshed Actinidia species acts as great genetic resource to understand the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway for breeding novel kiwifruit varieties with high carotenoid concentrations and health benefits.
Third Place - Vicky Juan
Structural, mechanistic and inhibition studies of M. tb 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase Rv3406
It is estimated that a quarter of the world’s population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We report our work on the structural and mechanistic characterisation of Rv3406, a putative alkyl sulfatase that has been implied in the antibiotic resistance mechanism against some antitubercular drugs.
Merits (Top 25)
View our top 25 posters that qualified for the School of Graduate Studies Research Showcase (academic poster category) on Figshare.