New Zealand Lottery Grants Board Distribution of Funds

Health Research Committee
Te Tahua Rangahau Hauora
PESTS MAY BE SOLUTION
TO PROSTATE PUZZLE
When well-meaning pioneers introduced
the Australian brush-tailed possum to
New Zealand in 1837, little did they know they
had opened an environmental Pandora’s Box
which has cost this country millions of dollars.
New Zealand has no hungry dingoes and
few bushfires. Instead, we provide these furry
critters with near perfect conditions; so good
they can breed up to twice a year.
It has taken a few years to establish, but it
looks as though possums might be of some
use after all. With funding of $133,249 from
the Lottery Health Research Committee in
2005, scientists have been working for the
past four years on the possibility of those
pests holding the key to prostate problems
Recipient Amount Recipient Amount Recipient Amount
Alexandra Wallace $102,000
Associate Prof Catherine Day $74,017
Associate Prof Jean-Claude Theis $18,450
Brigit Mirfin-Veitch $107,512
Caroline Larsen $43,385
Cheng-Mee (Jimmy) Leong $84,411
Chris Charles $101,417
Christopher Squire $124,880
Dawn Elder $37,673
Deming Gong $79,623
Dr Barry Palmer $108,580
Dr Colin Brown $83,024
Dr Kypros Kypri $21,464
Dr Leigh Hale $70,413
Dr Toni Pitcher $72,165
Euphemia Leung $37,780
Graham Le Gros $43,720
which affect millions of men all over the world.
At the moment, surgery is the only effective
treatment for men who suffer from urinary
trouble caused by an enlarged prostate.
Professor Helen Nicholson, from Otago
University’s Anatomy Department, and an
AgResearch team led by Dr Bernie McLeod
have found that possums have prostates very
similar to those of humans’. They have also
found that possum prostates enlarge during
the breeding season and then regress.
It’s this regression that has the scientists
excited. They say that if they can understand
the hormones that cause the regression,
there may be an understanding of how to
prevent the enlargement problem in men. The
solution to the prostate puzzle might just be
sitting on a rimu branch.
Irene Vorontsova $28,333
Irene Vorontsova $56,666
Jacqueline Keenan $79,668
Jennifer Jordan $87,842
Jillian Cornish $139,000
Joanna Rachelle Kirman $92,680
Judith McKenzie $62,088
Kenneth McNatty $116,180
Larry Chamley $125,000
Mark Oliver $96,211
Martin Kennedy $105,500
N Susan Stott $52,404
Nancy Jong $28,333
Nancy Jong $56,666
Naomi Brewer $60,319
Patrica Lawlor $115,827
When it comes to possums, eradication
or control takes first priority, but this
research, being carried out at the Centre for
Reproduction and Genomics, may lead to a
scientific breakthrough that gives the pests a
new respect!
The Lottery Health Research
Committee funds research
that promotes the health of
New Zealanders. This Committee
also funds major items of
shared equipment, making it an
essential component of health
and biomedical research funding
in New Zealand.
Prof Jeroen Douwes $50,000
Prof Zoltan H Endre $79,628
Randolph Grace $26,265
Richard Cannon $71,930
Richard Stubbs $116,000
Ritva Vyas $4,846
Rod Dunbar $96,498
Sarah Saunderson $28,333
Sarah Saunderson $56,666
Serina Natasha Digby $47,892
Stephanie Hughes $125,848
Stephen Robertson $124,840
Te Hereripine Sarah-Jane Paine $44,140
Te Hereripine Sarah-Jane Paine $51,519
Vicky Cameron $82,218
Wayne Patrick $48,163
6 Lottery Grants Record 2008–2009
Specialist Committees
A pest which might be of some use after all