7 October 2002 Postgraduates appreciate opportunity to contribute to NZ's economy

They may be technically still "students", but through their research projects postgraduates at Lincoln University make many major contributions to New Zealand's economy. The work of Tuapapa Putaiao Fellowship holder Rachel Forrest from Rangitikei is a prime example.

Working under the supervision of biochemist Dr Jonathan Hickford, Rachel has just completed a three-year doctoral research project on cold tolerance in lambs.

It's very topical at this time of the year with lambs gambolling around everywhere amid the final throes of winter.

"Fifteen to 20 percent of all lambs born in New Zealand die within the first weeks of life," says Rachel.

"At least one third of these deaths are due to starvation and cold exposure, so the results of my work will have a direct benefit to farmers and the national economy."

Rachel's research has involved developing a technique using DNA typing to identify sheep that can efficiently channel energy into heat generation when they are stressed by the cold.

"In the long-term we hope to be able to provide farmers with a simple blood test that will help them identify lines of sheep whose lambs have the genetic capability to survive the cold better," she says.

There are also implications for leanness because the gene ultimately involved in the heat generation process has also been found to influence fat levels in lambs. So it might be possible to produce leaner lambs as well.

Dr Hickford has been involved in the supervision of other postgraduates' research projects which have produced results clearly linked to economic benefits for the whole country.

Well-known is the work on the costly problem of foot rot in sheep.

Supported by the Public Good Science Fund, the research has involved a number of masterate and doctoral students over the years. Sandy Slow from Takaka, now Dr Slow and a laboratory scientist at Christchurch Hospital, was one of the postgraduates involved in this work as was Dr Huitong Zhou, a New Zealand citizen originally from China, who is now a scientist back at Lincoln University where he studied.

From the known fact that some sheep appeared to have a greater resistance to foot rot than others, the Lincoln team of scientists and postgraduates took investigations down the genetic path and identified a gene marker for footrot.

A test for the marker has been commercialised and will provide an early detection system for culling potentially foot rot-prone stock.

Postgraduates like Rachel Forrest, Sandy Slow and Huitong Zhou are immensely appreciative of the opportunity Lincoln University provided to work at the frontier of economically important science. They reflect with satisfaction that in their student days they were able to make a real contribution to the country's primary production industries.

Postgraduate studies at Lincoln are coordinated through the University's Postgraduate and Research School under the directorship of Professor Roy Bickerstaffe.

Financial support for postgraduates comes from many sources both inside and outside the University with the winning of scholarships, fellowships and prizes being important factors in the continuation of study by many students. Such awards are coordinated by Lincoln's Scholarships Manager, Kent France. The University has some 250 scholarships on its books of varying value and application criteria.

"Scholarships are well worth investigating if you are thinking of going on to postgraduate study," says Kent. "They can be a lifeline to success when you’re looking at a commitment of three years or more of study for a PhD, for example."

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.