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The global volume of surgery is on the rise and despite significant advances in care, the act of surgery still comes with a risk of postoperative illness or death. Taking a novel approach focused on the immune response to surgery, translational research scientist Dr Kathryn Hally (pictured) is on a quest to find immunological biomarkers that can be used to predict an adverse recovery from surgery.
The University of Otago lecturer has just been awarded a $249,000 Emerging Researcher First Grant from the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) to help develop her skills and leadership in the field of surgical immunology. She is one of 17 researchers receiving a combined $4.2 million in HRC funding designed to support early career researchers in establishing independent research careers.
Working with patients undergoing vascular and orthopaedic surgery, Dr Hally will use cutting-edge technology to measure in an in-depth and granular way how their immune system responds to surgery, and whether that response can be mapped against how well patients recover.
“Surgery isn’t risk-free,” says Dr Hally. “Moreover, the risk of adverse postoperative recovery is not shared equally across our population. Older patients, patients of Māori descent, and patients with comorbidities have a disproportionately higher risk of postoperative complications.”
She says the immune response to surgery is a key pathophysiological mechanism that can contribute to adverse outcomes, but it’s not yet fully understood how the immune response is altered in individuals who go on to experience poorer recovery from surgery.
“The immune response to surgery is a complex interplay between some immune mechanisms that are hyperactivated and some that are dampened down, and we’re not really sure how any of those particular pathways are related to patient outcomes,” says Dr Hally. “We’re going to try and characterise some of these well-known hyper-inflammatory and immune-suppressed pathways and link them to how well patients report themselves to be recovering from their surgery.”
Using blood samples taken from patients just before, during and after surgery, Dr Hally’s team will use advanced cell analysis techniques to identify unique immune signatures, at various time-points during hospitalisation, that correlate with a patient’s recovery and progress.
The goal is to build risk prediction models for adverse postoperative recovery, taking into account blood-based biomarkers as well as patient characteristics such as age, ethnicity and comorbidities that might predispose individuals to poorer outcomes.
This research draws on previous studies in this field, most of which have reported on broad immunological biomarkers and their correlation with postoperative recovery. But Dr Hally’s team aims to create more detailed biomarker panels that help advance the field further.
“We’re trying to characterise a number of distinct functional immune pathways and, over time, track an increase or decrease in those particular functions in response to surgery.”
The first step is discovering what the immune response looks like, especially in Aotearoa New Zealand’s unique population which hasn’t been studied in this way previously.
“If predictive immunological biomarkers are identified, then in the long run this could mean better support for patients because we would be able to pre-empt adverse outcomes,” she says.
“The idea is to eventually detect high-risk patients as early as possible, then start to intervene as early as possible with treatment options that help ensure they don’t go on to have an adverse recovery from their surgery.”
Dr Hally says this research will develop a pipeline for blood-based biomarker discovery, and in future could extend beyond vascular and orthopaedic surgery and into a range of major and minor surgeries.
Chief Executive of the Health Research Council, Professor Sunny Collings, says this emerging researcher grant will help create a multidisciplinary research group in surgical immunology as well as generate knowledge for clinicians and other researchers.
“Research grants of this size and significance can make the difference to an early career researcher who is shaping an independent research stream. Supporting New Zealand researchers with highly specialised skills is good for our people’s health and great for the sector, both of which benefit from the findings, collaboration, and capability built throughout the research process.”
See below for the full list of 2023 Emerging Researcher First Grant recipients. To read lay summaries about any of these research projects, go to hrc.govt.nz/resources/research-repository.
Please note, the recipients of the HRC’s Rangahau Hauora Māori Emerging Researcher First Grants and Pacific Emerging Researcher First Grants will be announced in June.2023 Emerging Researcher First Grant recipients
General category
Dr Veronica Boyle, The University of Auckland
Genomics and Functional Metabolomics of Phaeochromocytomas and Paragangliomas
36 months, $246,918
Dr Alistair Brown, Research Trust of Victoria University of Wellington
Building a synthetic biology pipeline to develop nucleoside therapeutics
24 months, $250,000
Dr Teodora Georgescu, University of Otago
Prolactin-mediated suppression of fever during pregnancy
36 months, $250,000
Dr Kathryn Hally, University of Otago
Harnessing the immune system for predicting adverse postoperative recovery
36 months, $249,214
Dr Alice Hyun Min Kim, University of Otago
The effects of climate variability on the risk of enteric diseases
36 months, $249,968
Dr Nicola Ludin, The University of Auckland
Sleep, Mental Health and Wellbeing for young people: An online RCT of apps
24 months, $244,755
Dr Deborah Raphael, The University of Auckland
The adaptation of a web-based psychosocial intervention for cancer survivors
24 months, $245,102
Dr Jeanette Rapson, The University of Auckland
Vegetables as first foods for babies, e tamariki, kai o huawhenua i te tuatahi
24 months, $250,000
Dr Mak Sarwar, University of Otago
Novel targeted therapeutic strategy for ovarian cancer treatment
36 months, $249,959
Dr Ilana Seager van Dyk, Massey University
Affirming Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Rainbow Youth and Whānau in Aotearoa
36 months, $250,000
Dr Sarah Stewart, Auckland University of Technology
The relationship between physical activity and gout flares
36 months, $249,824
Dr Rachael Sumner, The University of Auckland
Toward profiling and treating neurosteroid withdrawal in catamenial epilepsy
36 months, $249,985
Dr Natalia Yewdall, University of Canterbury
Unravelling the role of protein oligomerisation in acute myeloid leukemia
36 months, $250,000
Dr Amber Young, University of Otago
Protecting hapū māmā and pēpi from vaccine preventable diseases
36 months, $249,998
Health Delivery category
Dr Lisa Daniels, University of Otago
Maternal perception vs actual breast milk supply: is there a difference?
36 months, $249,454
Rebecca Findlay, The University of Auckland
Prevalence of refractive error and access to eye care for New Zealand children
36 months, $249,931
Dr Annie Wong, University of Otago
Circulating tumour DNA in hastening the diagnosis of lung cancer
36 months, $250,000
The 8th ANZSPM Medical and Surgical Update is an important intensive meeting for medical clinicians, training doctors and advanced practice nurses who work in palliative care across Australia and New Zealand. The focus is on emerging, changing or challenging areas of practice that impact on specialist palliative care delivery. For more information, see the event website.
The Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) has today announced $53.7 million in government funding for research into pressing health issues, including a large trial to help New Zealanders quit vaping and a project to improve the health and wellbeing outcomes of young Māori released from prison and youth justice residences.
HRC Chief Executive Professor Sunny Collings says the 44 Project Grants supported through this funding provide exciting opportunities to help advance our knowledge and drive meaningful change in the health system.
“We are fortunate to have an extremely talented pool of health researchers in Aotearoa. These project grants are an important way for us to help develop and sustain the country’s health research workforce so they can continue to do the necessary mahi to improve health outcomes for New Zealanders,” says Professor Collings.
University of Auckland’s Associate Professor Natalie Walker and her team will use their grant to carry out a large community-based clinical trial of two low-cost interventions to help New Zealanders stop vaping. The trial will test whether cytisine – a medicine that partially blocks the effects of nicotine on the brain – is more effective than a tapered reduction in nicotine, when accompanied with text behavioural support from the New Zealand Quitline.
Associate Professor Natalie Walker says it is inevitable that vaping in New Zealand will continue to increase as new tobacco control policies come into effect that will decrease the number of tobacco retailers and only allow reduced nicotine tobacco to be sold.
“These policy changes in the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 Action Plan will make medical nicotine replacement therapy and vapes (e-cigarettes) the only legal nicotine available for smokers to manage withdrawal symptoms,” says Associate Professor Walker.
“Over time, people who vape may also wish to stop, yet little evidence exists on the best ways to support people to do this. Our trial plans to add to that evidence base, as ideally being both smoke and vape free is optimal for health.”
“The priority remains that people should not smoke cigarettes, which kill about 5,000 New Zealanders a year1. Our trial will also assess whether interventions for quitting vaping have any unintended consequences on smoking rates.”
Dr Paula Toko King (Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua, Waikato Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto) and Charlizza Matehe (Ngāti Kahungunu) from the community-based rangatahi Māori research organisation Toi Matarua are co-leading a Rangahau Hauroa Māori project to explore culturally safe and effective pathways to improve the health and wellbeing of mokopuna Māori aged 10 to 24 years following release from youth justice residences and prisons.
Dr King says community re-entry, including release from incarceration and the days, weeks, months and years following, is a crucial intervention point for addressing the health and wellbeing impacts of incarceration on mokopuna Māori.
“Child and youth incarceration is increasingly recognised as a determinant of health and wellbeing across the life course, with age at first incarceration an important predictor of outcomes. Our project will provide the most comprehensive knowledge in Aotearoa to date about community re-entry for mokopuna Māori. This is an area where we need effective solutions, not only for Māori, but also for Indigenous children and young people around the world,” says Dr King.
One of three Pacific-focused grants has gone to two emerging Pacific health researchers, Dr Zaramasina Clark from the School of Biological Sciences, Research Trust of Victoria University of Wellington, and Dr Edmond Fehoko from the Department of Human Nutrition, University of Otago. The pair will co-lead a study to identify how assisted reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF) can better serve New Zealand’s Pacific population, who experience higher levels of infertility than other ethnicities in New Zealand yet are among the least likely to seek fertility treatments.
One important consideration the team will explore is the contentious clinical use of body mass index (BMI) to prioritise patients who seek assisted reproductive technologies through the public health system, a practice that disadvantages ethnicities with higher BMI such as Pacific and Māori women. Their project aims to provide critical data for evaluating whether the use of BMI cut-offs for prioritising publicly funded assisted reproductive technology treatments are fit for purpose in New Zealand.
See below for the full list of 2023 Project Grant recipients (Rangahau Hauora Māori, Pacific Health and General categories). To read lay summaries about any of these research projects, go to hrc.govt.nz/resources/research-repository and filter by proposal type ‘Projects’ and year ‘2023’.1 Ministry of Health, www.health.govt.nz/your-health/healthy-living/addictions/quitting-smoking/health-effects-smoking
2023 Project Grants recipients
Rangahau Hauora Māori Project Grants
Dr Paula Toko King, University of Otago and Charlizza Matehe, Toi Matarua (co-leaders)
Ngā Hau o Tāwhiri - Returning our mokopuna to the winds of Tāwhiri
36 months, $1,199,965
Dr Tess Moeke-Maxwell, the University of Auckland
Waerea: Māori whānau experiences of assisted dying in Aotearoa New Zealand
36 months, $1,199,999Pacific Health Project Grants
Dr Apo Aporosa and Associate Professor Sione Vaka, University of Waikato (co-leaders)
The therapeutic potential of kava in the treatment of psychological trauma
36 months, $997,453
Dr Zaramasina Clark, Research Trust of Victoria University of Wellington, Dr Edmond Fehoko, University of Otago (co-leaders)
Can assisted reproductive technologies better assist Pacific people in Āotearoa?
36 months, $1,199,999
Professor Daryl Schwenke, University of Otago
Can loss of a ‘hunger’ hormone increase cardiovascular disease in Pacific people?
36 months, $1,199,984General Project Grants
Professor Greg Anderson, Dr Caroline Decourt, University of Otago (co-leaders)
Curbing the reproductive hormonal axis to control PCOS
36 months, $1,199,989
Dr Htin Lin Aung, University of Otago, Dr Anneka Anderson (Te Kupenga Hauora Maori, University of Auckland), Dr Veronica Playle (Te Whatu Ora - Counties Manukau) and Mr Gregory Gimenez (University of Otago) (co-leaders)
Understanding inequitable tuberculosis transmission in Aotearoa
36 months, $1,180,728Dr Ashleigh Barrett-Young, Professor Richie Poulton, University of Otago (co-leaders)
Blood-based biomarkers of dementia in a longitudinal birth cohort
36 months, $1,200,000
Dr Ben Beaglehole, University of Otago
Ketamine versus ketamine plus behavioural activation therapy for depression
36 months, $1,194,434
Professor Antony Braithwaite and Dr Kunyu Li, University of Otago (co-leaders)
A role for p53 isoform Δ133p53 in the progression of inflammatory bowel disease
36 months, $1,199,998
Professor Winston Byblow, the University of Auckland
A compositional neurophysiological biomarker for predicting stroke recovery
36 months, $1,199,999
Professor Rebecca Campbell, University of Otago
Identifying central therapeutic targets in polycystic ovary syndrome
36 months, $1,198,920
Research Professor Christopher Charles and Dr Nicola Scott, University of Otago (co-leaders)
PDE9: inhibition in experimental MI and plasma levels in human heart disease
36 months, $1,194,867
Professor Alan Davidson, the University of Auckland
Development of a targeted drug therapy for acute kidney injury
36 months, $1,199,999
Professor Sarah Derrett, Professor Emma Wyeth, University of Otago (co-leaders)
Hinapōuri ki Hīnātore: Improving mental health outcomes and services
30 months, $1,199,861
Associate Professor Allan Gamble, University of Otago
Cancer targeted bioorthogonal prodrugs
36 months, $1,199,997
Dr Sarah-Jane Guild, the University of Auckland
Improving lives of hydrocephalus patients - first human trial of a novel device
36 months, $1,199,015
Dr Caroline Halley, Professor Julian Crane, University of Otago (co-leaders)
Urban farm-like dust: microbial origin and protective effects on later asthma
48 months, $1,196,993
Associate Professor Sarah Hetrick, Dr Tania Cargo, the University of Auckland (co-leaders)
TIPS: Trans-Tasman Internet-delivered Prevention of (youth) Suicide
36 months, $1,437,012
Professor Merilyn Hibma, Associate Professor Peter Sykes, Gregory Gimenez, University of Otago (co-leaders)
A molecular triage test to reduce colposcopy referrals after HPV testing
36 months, $1,199,987
Professor Philip Hill, Dr Nina Scott, University of Otago (co-leaders)
Towards tuberculosis elimination for Māori
36 months, $1,135,327
Professor Julia Horsfield and Dr Jisha Antony, University of Otago (co-leaders)
Fighting leukaemia colonisation of the haematopoietic niche
36 months, $1,198,340
Dr Carrie Innes, University of Otago
Where are the inequities in the journey from health to gynae cancer in Aotearoa?
36 months, $1,187,765
Dr Hannah Jones, Auckland Hospitals Research and Endowment Fund, Dr Cynthia Sharpe, Te Whatu Ora – Te Toka Tumai Auckland, Dr Skekeeb Mohammad and Professor Russell Dale, University of Sydney, Professor Anna Ralph, Menzies School of Health Research (co-leaders)
A randomised controlled trial of oral dexamethasone to treat Sydenham's chorea
60 months, $1,438,044
Associate Professor Peter Jones, University of Otago
Establishment of a new molecular target for arrhythmias and heart failure
36 months, $1,198,100
Professor Kurt Krause, University of Otago
Targeting microbial energetics to achieve a rapid cure for tuberculosis
36 months, $1,199,908
Professor Rita Krishnamurthi, Auckland University of Technology
Digital technologies for stroke prevention: a randomised controlled trial
48 months, $1,440,000
Dr Kate Lee, the University of Auckland
Toward a mechanism for CREBRF R457Q to drive diabetes protection
36 months, $1,199,861
Dr Julie Lim, the University of Auckland
Disposable, not dispensable: Reducing the incidence of cataract post vitrectomy
36 months, $1,139,547
Dr Sunali Mehta, University of Otago
Relaxed quality control: How rogue AS-NMD drives cancer evolution
36 months, $1,184,999
Professor Suetonia Palmer, University of Otago
IMPEDE-PKD: Metformin to protect kidney function in polycystic kidney disease
60 months, $1,439,999
Professor Julian Paton and Dr Fiona McBryde, the University of Auckland (co-leaders)
A novel intracranial baroreceptor mechanism for blood pressure control
36 months, $1,199,911
Dr Rachel Purcell, University of Otago, Professor Francis Fizelle, University of Otago/Te Whatu Ora – Waitaha Canterbury/Te tai o Poutini West Coast (co-leaders)
Targeting the tumour microenvironment to improve outcomes in rectal cancer
36 months, $1,200,000
Dr Charlene Rapsey, University of Otago
Connected: Who benefits from online delivery of mental disorder treatment?
36 months, $1,439,846
Dr Euan Rodger and Associate Professor Aniruddha Chatterjee, University of Otago (co-leaders)
Identifying epigenetic markers for early detection of colorectal cancer
36 months, $1,199,979
Professor Franca Ronchese and Dr Sotaro Ochiai, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research (co-leaders)
Plasticity of the skin IL-13+ innate lymphoid cell niche
36 months, $1,200,000
Professor Nicole Roy, University of Otago
Effect of an Aotearoa New Zealand diet for metabolic health on the gut microbiome
36 months, $1,174,971
Professor Gisela Sole, University of Otago
Stepped rehabilitation for people with persistent shoulder pain
36 months, $1,187,250
Associate Professor Lisa Te Morenga, Massey University
Bringing manaakitanga to waitlists with tailored Smart Start letters
36 months, $1,198,634
Associate Professor Natalie Walker, the University of Auckland
The New Zealand Quit Vaping Trial
36 months, $1,438,524
Associate Professor Christopher Wilkins, Massey University
Translating, modelling and evaluating cannabis policy reform
36 months, $1,187,932
Dr Esther Willing, Dr Amber Young, University of Otago (co-leaders)
Protecting hapū māmā and pēpi from vaccine preventable diseases
36 months, $1,158,530Professor John Windsor, the University of Auckland
Protecting the lungs of the critical illness patient
36 months, $1,199,915
Professor Paul Young, Medical Research Institute of New Zealand
Low OxyGen Intervention for Cardiac Arrest Injury Limitation (LOGICAL) Trial
48 months, $1,191,990More than NZ$2 million has been awarded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR, Singapore) to support research into cancer through a joint research initiative. The initiativesupports applicants to engage in research activities that will produce gains for New Zealand and Singapore, and offer significant leverage to build New Zealand’s health research capacity.
The joint fund was open to proposals from New Zealand and Singapore-based public research organisations, including universities and institutes supported by the HRC and A*STAR. In New Zealand, the fund was also open to companies doing research including Crown Research Institutes, research associations and private companies.
The partnership is part of the HRC’s work on the development of international funding partnerships with other countries to facilitate research programmes of joint interest.
Details of funding offered to the research team in the HRC/A*STAR joint initiative are as follows:
YB-1 interacting partners in breast cancer progression
Principal Investigators: Professor Antony Braithwaite(University of Otago) and Professor BoonHuat Bay (NationalUniversity of Singapore)
Project summary: Y-box binding protein 1 (YB-1) is commonly elevated in many human cancers. The cancer-promoting properties of YB-1 are associated with increased resistance to drugs, tumour growth and poor patient outcome. Control of these processes takes place in the nucleus. The precise molecular nature of the active cancer-promoting subtype of YB-1 present in the nucleus is unknown. Identification of this species will provide the basis for a specific and highly prognostic indicator. This proposal, which builds on our recently published analyses of endogenous YB-1, aims to identify the molecular nature of this cancer-promoting subtype of YB-1 and to determine how it functions. From this knowledge we will develop an antibody that specifically recognises only the nuclear YB-1 species and establish this species as a prognostic indicator for human cancers.
Oestrogen-dependent regulation of gene expression by cohesin in breast cancer
Principal Investigators: Dr Julia Horsfield(University of Otago) and Dr Yijun Ruan(Genome Institute of Singapore)
Project summary: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women worldwide. About 70% of breast cancers are positive for oestrogen receptor alpha (ER) and are dependent on oestrogen for proliferation. ER-positive breast cancers are treated with anti-oestrogens such as tamoxifen, but resistance to anti-oestrogens is common. Understanding the action of oestrogen is essential for developing new therapies. Cohesin is a multi-unit protein involved in both cell division and gene expression. Importantly, cohesin colocalizes with ERon chromosomes, and controls expression of the oestrogen-responsive cancer-causing gene, c-MYC. Since c-MYC overexpression causes resistance to anti-oestrogen therapy, targeting cohesin could overcome endocrine resistance in breast cancer.We will determine how cohesin contributes to genome organization by ERand identify specific cancer-causing genes that are regulated by both ERand cohesin. We will focus on c-MYC in particular. We expect to identify new pathways for future therapy in ER–positivebreast cancers.
Molecular diagnostic test for the prediction of survival and drug response in ovarian cancer
Principal Investigators: Associate Professor Parry Guilford(University of Otago) and Professor Jean Paul Thiery(Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR)
Project summary: Ovarian cancer is a devastating disease with dismal survival rates. The main method of treatment uses platinum-based drugs in addition to surgery. These drugs are well tolerated by patients and have an initial response rate of over 70%. However, most patients eventually develop resistance to the drugs and succumb to the disease. We believe that resistance to these drugs is induced by a phenomena called the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). EMT results in cells becoming more mobile and resistant to cell death. We propose to develop a test to quantify the EMT in samples from ovarian cancer patients. This test will be able to be used to predict which patients are likely to benefit from platinum drug treatment, preventing the under or over-treatment of patients. Moreover, the test would be an important aid in the on-going development of drugs that aim to reverse the EMT and resensitise patients to platinum therapy.
Epigenomics of liver tumour induction and progression: use of a zebrafish model
Principal Investigators: Professor Ian Morison(University of Otago) and Dr Sinnakaruppan Mathavan(Genome Institute of Singapore)
Project summary: Global epidemiology of liver cancer reveals a high prevalence in South-east Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Molecular changes in liver tumour can be studied using human tumour samples or cancer cell lines. However, to study the molecular mechanisms of the induction and progression of the disease, there is a need for a vertebrate model. Zebrafish has been shown to be an ideal model for this approach. We have established zebrafish lines that can produce liver tumours by oncogene transgenics or carcinogens. Using these lines, we can monitor the induction and progression of tumours and analyse the molecular changes during their progression. We will use this model to analyse epigenetic changes (DNA methylation and histone modifications) by using established techniques (ChIP-sequencing and genome-wide bisulphite methylation sequencing). This project will help us to understand the mechanisms of liver tumour leading to the development of molecular markers and therapeutics for the disease.
Auckland scientist and HRC Māori Health Research PhD recipient, Dr Chris Rodley, travelled a long way to pick up his PhD at the first of six Massey University graduation ceremonies in Takapuna this month.
The young molecular biologist flew from Europe, where he works as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Geneva doing cancer cell research. He was one of 12 scientists to receive doctoral degrees at Tuesday morning’s ceremony for the College of Sciences, and among 32 students to graduate with doctoral degrees from the Albany campus this year.
Since finishing his doctorate at the end of last year he has been living in a tiny village in the French Alps with this French conservation biologist fiancée, and commuting one hour by bus daily across the border to Switzerland to the University of Geneva’s Department of Cellular Biology. He is the only English speaker among a team of 12 international researchers. The team is investigating the behaviour of cervical cancer cells to better understand the disease mechanisms.
Read the full article here on the Massey University website.
Smokers wanting to kick the habit needn’t be too worried about gaining a lot of weight after quitting, according to newly published University of Otago research.
The findings emerge from the world-renowned Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, which is supported by the Health Research Council of New Zealand. The study has closely followed the progress of around 1,000 people born in Dunedin in 1972–73. Smoking habits and weight were measured at regular intervals from 15 to 38 years old. About one-third of the group were smokers at age 21, and by age 38 around 40 per cent of these people had quit.
Over the 17-year follow up, the quitters’ weight returned to the same level as people of similar age who had never smoked in the first place. Furthermore, they gained only a relatively small amount of weight – about 5kg – compared to people who carried on smoking. The findings were the same for both men and women.
Lindsay Robertson, who led the research, says some earlier research had suggested that people might gain large amounts of weight after quitting, but many of these studies were not very reliable.
“We hope that our findings will encourage people who are thinking about quitting. They should not be put off by the fear of putting on large amounts of weight. It is important to be aware that a small weight gain is unlikely to offset the health benefits of quitting,” says Miss Robertson.
The researchers also found that being a smoker did not prevent long-term weight gain. All groups in the Dunedin Study tended to put on weight over time, regardless of their smoking status, she says.
The study, titled 'Smoking Cessation and Subsequent Weight Change' was authored by Miss Robertson, Professor Rob McGee (Cancer Society Social and Behavioural Research Unit) and Associate Professor Bob Hancox (Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study), in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine. It is published online in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.
News article courtesy of the University of Otago.
