MWC news
6 June 2013: Centre members win $29 million in national health research funding round
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3 June 2013: International award for excellence in pharmacological research
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16 May 2013: International funding for cancer research project
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15 May 2013: Prestigious honour for New Zealand medical researcher
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13 May 2013: Cutting‐edge science for secondary schools
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22 April 2013: Centre supports cell therapy and regenerative medicine events
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16 April 2013: Remembering Guy Dodson (1937-2012)
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26 March 2013: Maurice Wilkins Centre hosts rheumatic fever symposium
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11 March 2013: Maurice Wilkins Centre hosts Japanese immunologists
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25 February 2013: Scientific advisor honoured
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19 February 2013: Rheumatic fever investment welcomed by Maurice Wilkins Centre
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4 February 2013: New mechanism regulating insulin secretion may explain genetic susceptibility to diabetes
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29 November 2012: Communication award for Auckland scientist
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21 November 2012: Maurice Wilkins Centre celebrates national research honours
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21 November 2012: Image-conscious researchers to meet at symposium
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16 November 2012: Secondary school book award for principal investigator
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8 November 2012: Science day for secondary school teachers
Auckland secondary school teachers yesterday received an intensive update on the latest in biomedical science at an event sponsored by the Maurice Wilkins Centre. The NCEA Level 3 Content Day, held for the first time this year, was organised by Head of Biology at Epsom Girls Grammar School Rachel Heeney and Maurice Wilkins Centre principal investigator Professor Peter Shepherd.Top researchers presented the latest research on topics ranging from how the body regulates blood pressure and glucose levels to the future of stem cell biology, and issues raised by advances in assisted reproductive technology and genomic sequencing. The talks offered teachers material, ideas and discussion points for the classroom aligned with the Level 3 curriculum. The day proved extremely popular with 130 registrations, more than three times the number originally anticipated. The organisers hope to build on its success with similar events in the future. |
Research features on cover of prestigious journals
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17 September 2012: Promising New Zealand compound selected as drug candidate for tuberculosis
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Maurice Wilkins Centre hosts Chinese regional leaders13 September 2012 
From Left to right: Prof Rod Dunbar, Prof Jun Yang, Mr Peter Lai, Mr Wang Yiqi, Prof Xin Fu, Dr Taiwei Jiang Regional leaders from Zhejiang province yesterday visited the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, to continue developing scientific links between China and New Zealand. The purpose of their visit was to discuss collaborative research projects and learn from New Zealand experience in the commercialisation of research. The Maurice Wilkins Centre is building portals into Asia for New Zealand science. “New Zealand’s strengths in biomedical science and clinical translation are greatly respected by our counterparts in Asia. By developing mutually-beneficial links between New Zealand and Asian countries we aim to expand both partners’ research programmes, which ultimately will benefit health and the economy,” says Director Professor Rod Dunbar. The visitors are officials from a province that Professor Dunbar visited earlier this year, as part of a Maurice Wilkins Centre delegation to China. Their trip to New Zealand is intended to strengthen the developing relationship between the two countries. The visit also follows a recent trip by Chinese scientists and members of the Asian Chemical Biology Initiative. The Chinese delegation toured Maurice Wilkins Centre facilities at The University of Auckland and held discussions with the Auckland UniServices Limited, the company that manages the university’s intellectual property. It was led by Dr Taiwei Jiang, General Director of the Department of Science and Technology, Zhejiang Provincial People's Government and Director of the Zhejiang Provincial Science and Technology Development Strategy Research Institute.
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Maurice Wilkins Centre’s links with Asia reported on TV9The recent visit by Asian science leaders to the Maurice Wilkins Centre was reported on TV9, a New Zealand television channel that encourages links between Asia and New Zealand. The purpose of the visit was to build relationships that will link New Zealand inventors into innovation networks within Asia. 9News reporter Kay Chao spoke with Maurice Wilkins Centre principal investigator Professor Garth Cooper and Professor Ming-Wei Wang, Director of the National Centre for Drug Screening, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), Chinese Academy of Sciences. To find out more about the visit, read the Maurice Wilkins Centre media release.
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Local cancer drug approved for first clinical trial in United States and New Zealand30 August 2012  The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted approval for PR610, an anticancer “stealth” drug invented in New Zealand, to move forward to human clinical trials through its approval of an Investigational New Drug (IND) Application for the drug.
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New Zealand excellence in drug discovery attracts Asian science leaders24 August 2012 The visitors represent prestigious research institutions in Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing, China; Seoul, Korea; and Kyoto, Wakô and Sapporo, Japan. Like their New Zealand hosts they are experts in chemical biology and drug discovery.
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Maurice Wilkins Centre investigators part of consortium awarded international grant8 June 2012 The Wellcome Trust (UK) has approved a three-year, $NZ 8.8 million international grant to support a consortium of research groups in New Zealand and Australia to continue the development of a new class of immune-suppressive drugs to protect transplanted bone marrow stem cells against immune destruction
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Maurice Wilkins Centre instigator awarded major Health Research Council grant7 June 2012 Maurice Wilkins Centre principal investigator Professor John Fraser and his research team at The University of Auckland were awarded significant funds in the annual Health Research Council of New Zealand grant round, for their research tackling infectious disease.
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Maurice Wilkins Centre Symposium on tuberculosis drug discovery and immunology17-18 May 2012 The Maurice Wilkins Centre hosted a special two-day symposium on tuberculosis drug discovery and immunology highlighting links between New Zealand and Colorado State University.
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Professor John Fraser appointed Dean of Medical and Health Sciences29 February 2012 After an international search, Maurice Wilkins Centre principal investigator Professor John Fraser has been appointed as Dean of Medical and Health Sciences at The University of Auckland, becoming both the first alumnus and the first non-clinician to hold the position.
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Maurice Wilkins Centre investigator named “Science bright spark”29 February 2012 Associate Professor Michael Hay, a member of the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre and a Maurice Wilkins Centre investigator, has been named by New Zealand’s North & South magazine as amongst the country’s 2011 “science bright sparks”.
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Maurice Wilkins Centre instigator receives New Year Honour1 February 2012 The Maurice Wilkins Centre is delighted that one of its principal investigators, Distinguished Professor Margaret Brimble, was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to services in the 2012 New Year Honours.
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Distinguished professors13 December 2011 Three Maurice Wilkins Centre investigators are amongst the thirteen professors who have been appointed to the rank of Distinguished Professor at The University of Auckland – principal investigators Margaret Brimble and Bill Denny, and associate investigator Ian Reid.
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Maurice Wilkins Centre research features in “Ever Wondered”25 August 2011 TVNZ New Zealand science programme Ever Wondered dedicated an entire episode, which screened for the first time today, to the research of Maurice Wilkins Centre investigators from the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre (ACSRC).
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Second New Zealand anticancer “stealth” drug targeted for clinical development4 August 2011 A second anticancer “stealth” drug designed by New Zealand scientists has been targeted for clinical development under a collaborative agreement between Proacta Incorporated (San Diego) and Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd. (Tokyo). PR610 belongs to an exciting new class of hypoxia-activated pro-drugs for the treatment of cancer, designed by Dr Jeff Smaill and Dr Adam Patterson from the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre (ACSRC) and Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery. |
Compound designed in New Zealand starves cancer cells of glucose4 August 2011 Scientists from the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre (ACSRC) and Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery have designed a new compound that starves certain cancer cells of glucose, depriving them of energy. The potential of the compound, STF-31, as an anti-cancer drug has been demonstrated in the laboratory through a collaboration with researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine, and the findings have been published today in Science Translational Medicine. |
Clues on antipsychotic drugs side effects offer hope5 July 2011 Weight-gain and diabetes-like symptoms are common side effects of antipsychotic medications, and New Zealand research into the chemical changes involved is raising hope that these effects may be better managed or eliminated. |
New Zealand Cancer Drug PWT33597 goes to clinical trials13 June 2011 A novel cancer drug designed by scientists from The University of Auckland and Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery, and licensed to university spin-out company Pathway Therapeutics, Inc., has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to enter clinical trials. Pathway Therapeutics has also secured an additional US $7.5 million in investment to undertake the Phase I clinical trials. |
New drug CE-209 reaches clinical trials7 June 2011 A novel anti-tumour agent, CEN-209, created by MWC scientists will enter clinical development under two international agreements announced last week. |
Founding Chair of MWC, Mr. Bill Falconer recognised by the University of AucklandApril 2011 Founding Chair of Maurice Wilkins Centre, Mr William Falconer, CNZM, LL.B. has been named a Fellow of the University of Auckland in recognition of his services as the founding chair of the Maurice Wilkins Centre. |
New class of anticancer ‘stealth’ drug proceeds to clinical development23 February 2011 The first of an exciting new class of anti-cancer drugs designed in New Zealand will proceed to clinical development in the United States, following the announcement today of a deal between Proacta Incorporated and Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd. (Tokyo). Under the new agreement the lead compound, PR509, will be developed for non-small cell lung cancer. It is also likely to be evaluated in other cancers such as gastric, breast, and pancreatic cancer. |
