From spoiled meat to seaweed and secure software – a wide range of University of Otago research projects have secured $8 million in funding.
Eight projects received $1 million each, over three years, in Smart Ideas funding in the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) latest Endeavour Fund investment round.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) Professor Richard Blaikie is pleased with the results and congratulates the recipients.
“Each of these projects will provide real-world impact to Aotearoa New Zealand, across primary, technology and healthcare industries, with positive flow-on effects for communities.
“The funding also, once again, underscores the stunning range of research being undertaken by so many talented researchers at Otago.”
MBIE describes the Endeavour Fund as an important tool in the Government’s 10-year vision for a highly dynamic science system in New Zealand and supports research that can transform the economy, environment and society.
Smart Ideas are smaller innovative research projects that catalyse and rapidly test promising, innovative research ideas with high potential for benefit to New Zealand, and refresh and enable diversity in the science portfolio.
Smart Ideas funding recipients – all $1 million
Associate Professor Sherlock Licorish, Information Science
Automating software violation detection and repair: future-proofing software reputation and skills development
Software errors have led to dire consequences over the years, from failed space missions to aeroplane crashes. Many of these errors are introduced by unassuming software developers who reuse publicly available code. In fact, it is estimated that 96 per cent of all software products reuse code that is publicly available online. AI-inspired code generation techniques will exacerbate the reuse of error-prone code, as large language models are often trained on the same online code. Solutions generated by these models have indeed been shown to inherit the errors that are typically found in code online.
New Zealand software development companies such as those provisioning life-critical software are not immune to the threats of reusing faulty code. While New Zealand’s tech sector contributed $18.8 billion to GDP in 2021 and exported $8 billion, as overseas sales grew 14.4 per cent, the continued success of New Zealand companies will depend on the delivery of highly reliable and secure software. They need to be vigilant that modules reused in their products do not result in failure or vulnerabilities that may lead to hacking and compromises in client safety, thereby threatening New Zealand’s growing software reputation, especially in light of skill shortages faced by the software development industry.
This project aims to develop and deliver AI-inspired software violation detection and repair algorithms to support New Zealand software developers in their efficient and rapid delivery of high-value, reliable and secure software, with export potential. Further, we will package our algorithms to support the upskilling of under-represented groups in developing coding competency, enhancing participation, and reducing the skill shortage.
Dr Daniel Pletzer and Dr Sam Wardell, Microbiology & Immunology
A Host Defense Peptide-based antibiofilm spray to control food spoilage
The red meat industry in Aotearoa generates annual revenue of $10.8 billion, constituting approximately 15 per cent of the country’s total export earnings. This vital sector also employs more than 25,000 individuals, typically in rural areas around Aotearoa. The meat industry reports that 0.5-1 per cent of export product is returned/rejected due to spoilage or contamination issues, amounting to financial losses of tens-of-millions of dollars annually.
The main reason for product spoilage is bacterial contamination. Bacterial growth and the production of extracellular materials as they form a complex community is called a biofilm which coats the surface of the meat, leading to off-odours. This contaminated product cannot be exported to international markets is due to the presence of bacterial pathogens. We will leverage the animal’s innate defences, so-called Host Defence Peptides (HDPs), to attack the bacteria responsible for meat becoming spoiled or rejected. HDPs are part of the immune system in animals and have recently been shown to have the ability to kill bacteria, including those within biofilms. We will identify novel bovine and ovine HDPs, assessing the activity of these ‘natural’ compounds against spoilage and pathogenic bacteria, with the goal of developing an HDP-based spray product for commercial use.
Our interdisciplinary team, comprising industry experts from Alliance Group Ltd and Microbiology and Food Science researchers from the University of Otago, have co-designed this project. The Alliance Group will continue to provide guidance and be involved with in-plant implementation of HDPs based mitigation strategies against the twin problems of meat-spoilage and contamination. The development of a next generation natural bacterial control strategy will help to future proof the red meat industry and enhance its competitiveness and sustainability globally.
Professor Chris Hepburn, Marine Science
Extracting value from an invasive seaweed using applied ecophysiology and green solvents
Extracting value from invasive species could develop new environmentally positive industries while sustaining control programmes, thus reducing the negative impacts of invasives. The invasive kelp Undaria pinnatifida reached New Zealand in the late 1980s and is now ubiquitous part of valuable rocky reef habitats, particularly in the southeast of the South Island and Stewart Island. Undaria (Wakame) is an important food and is rich in bioactives however the low landed value for whole Undaria in New Zealand is not sufficient to sustain control programmes and is a key bottleneck to accessing this resource. To address this problem, we will merge fine-scale maps of Undaria biomass and data on key drivers (e.g. temperature, light) of bioactive concentration to build a Bioactive Forecast Model that directs control programmes and processing pathways to maximise value of the Undaria resource and the efficiency of extraction. In parallel, we will optimise and apply green extraction technology with the dual purpose of determining bioactive concentration to inform predictions while developing technology to extract bioactives within regionally distributed research and bioactive extraction hubs. The project will initially focus high value bioactives within Undaria but the technology developed can extend to other bioactives, other algae, terrestrial plants and waste streams. This project will inform and equip specialist Undaria control divers providing fine scale maps of high value resources and green bioactive extraction technology – allowing value to remain in the small coastal communities that surround the Undaria resource – unlocking a quadruple bottom line industry.
Professor Sarah Hook, Pharmacy
Triggerable responsive antibiotic prodrugs (TRAPDs) as a platform technology for sustainable agriculture
Antibiotics are widely used in agriculture to treat and prevent the spread of disease. However, there is increasing concern about killing of non-target animal, plant and environmental ‘good’ bacteria. In addition, use of antibiotics in farming has been linked to both good and bad bacteria (including those that cause life-threatening infections in humans) becoming resistant to antibiotics so that they no longer work. Due to these concerns, regulations limiting agricultural use of antibiotics are being introduced. This will have impacts on the ongoing sustainability of farming in New Zealand.
We have an innovative planet-positive approach to address this problem. We are re-engineering current antibiotics, carrying out chemical modifications to selectively activate antibiotics in diseased tissues. Our technology means farmers can continue giving antibiotics to animals, but active antibiotic will be concentrated in diseased tissue in sick animals, where it can effectively and safely treat the infection. Importantly, good bacteria in/on healthy or infected animals are not harmed and antibiotic resistance is less likely to develop. The amount of active antibiotic ending up on pastures and in waterways will be reduced, as will impacts on environmental bacteria.
We have shown we can modify antibiotics to remove activity and that anti-bacterial effects are restored upon exposure to bacterial infection. In this research, we will refine our technology, assess its effective use in common New Zealand farming infections and work with pharmaceutical companies to bring products to market.
Dr Simon Jackson, Microbiology & Immunology
Computational design of enzyme inhibitors to engineer bacteriophage-based precision antimicrobials
Pathogenic bacteria are a major challenge in healthcare and agriculture, particularly antibiotic resistant ‘superbugs’. Antibiotic resistance is rising and spreading rapidly, driving a global health crisis. The economic impacts of antibiotic resistance are predicted to exceed US$1 trillion annually by 2030 but the global research and development pipeline for new antibacterials is described by the World Health Organisation as “insufficient”. As such, innovation is required to develop new, commercially viable therapies targeting antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Here, we will combine cutting-edge generative artificial intelligence tools with a 100-year-old therapy to develop engineered bacterial viruses, known as bacteriophages, into precision antibiotic products that can be commercially scaled for global use.
Professor Peter Mace, Biochemistry
Tuning protein degradation for next-generation plant productivity
Signalling proteins control all aspects of plant growth—how a plant responds to its environment, the stature of a plant as it develops, the size of seeds and fruit a plant produces, and everything in between. Small changes in signalling protein levels can markedly change growth characteristics and have outsized impact on plant productivity. Therefore, fine-tuning the turnover rate of signalling proteins has significant potential upside for agriculture.
There are multiple examples where changing the degradation rate of signalling proteins has had massive agricultural impact. However, most examples have required decades or centuries of traditional plant breeding to integrate genetic variants that occur randomly, or mutagenic screens with chemicals that must be carried out in a laborious manner in whole plants. Both traditional approaches are effectively looking for genetic needles in a haystack.
Here we will develop an approach to massively accelerate the identification of genetic variants with favourable growth characteristics. Using molecular approaches in the laboratory will enable the discovery of genetic variants that alter turnover rate of signalling proteins on much faster timescales, and in a more cost-effective manner, than traditional approaches. This work will focus on a defined set of targets that are pivotal regulators of plant growth, and in the future the approach could be applied to enhance growth traits and productivity of diverse crop species.
Dr Matthew de Roe, Marine Science
Development of a multidimensional, fine-scale mapping toolkit for adaptive fisheries management
To combat the decline of culturally and commercially valuable fish stocks and the habitats that support them it is essential we shift away from broad-scale management approaches to more bespoke, adaptive legislation that can be applied at scales that capture the dynamic ecological processes occurring in coastal oceans.
To achieve this, we will harness technological advancements in seafloor mapping and satellite derived environmental datasets to produce ultra-fine scale, four-dimensional (time integrated) maps of species and habitat distribution. These maps will also factor in the effects of the major stressors on our coastal ecosystems (e.g. fishing, climate change, land-use practices) to forecast impacts and prioritise remediation and restoration action.
This project will work alongside Tangata Tiaki (legislatively empowered fisheries managers) across Customary Protection Areas (i.e.mātaitai and taiāpure) in the Ngāi Tahu takiwā to develop the toolkit and generate proof of concept. This will create a network of highly skilled coastal managers that will lead fisheries management in Aotearoa with the best data possible. We will package this toolkit and make it available for roll out nationally, creating an efficient and standardised approach to coastal management.
This project will once again place Aotearoa at the forefront of international fisheries management and ensure sustainable industry, foster cultural practices and safeguard future opportunities associated with our valuable marine resources.
Dr Htin Aung and Associate Professor Michael Knapp, Anatomy
A rapid, point of need diagnostic test for infectious diseases in livestock
Bovine tuberculosis (bTB), caused by Mycobacterium bovis, and Johne’s disease (JD), caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) are highly infectious livestock diseases that cost Aotearoa’s primary sector NZ$160 million a year. Rapid detection and isolation of infected animals can reduce disease spread. The current gold-standard bTB and JD tests require at least 72-hour turnaround, specialist equipment, skilled staff, and laboratory infrastructure, preventing diagnosis of the disease on farm, and allowing infected animals to stay in their herds.
We will develop a rapid, cost-effective, point-of-need multiplex test (NZ-TBDx) for simultaneous detection of bTB and JD, that can be performed by non-experts. Our diagnostic test will facilitate herd management with farmers able to implement disease control solutions rapidly to reduce cost and production losses. Our test can also serve as a platform technology for the detection of other pathogens.
