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Genomics Aotearoa – growing genomics research capability in NZ
In early 2018, the New Zealand Government announced the funding of Genomics Aotearoa, a $35
million investment in genomics research over seven years, as a collaborative endeavour involving
the University of Otago, University of Auckland, Massey University, AgResearch, Environmental and
Science Research, Landcare Research, and Plant and Food Research. Genomics Aotearoa
provides funding for exemplar projects across the broad fields of Primary Production, Environment
and Health, as well as supporting the development of underpinning research infrastructure in
bioinformatics and Vision Mātauranga.
This talk will provide an overview of the Bioinformatics component of Genomics Aotearoa, focusing
on the goals of the project, as well as describing the computational resources that are being put in
place, and the training and community building opportunities that are being delivered.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Associate Professor Mik Black received a BSc(Hons) in statistics from the University of Canterbury, and a MSc (mathematical
statistics) and PhD (statistics) from Purdue University. After completing his PhD in 2002, Mik returned
to New Zealand to work as a lecturer in the Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland.
An ongoing involvement in a number of Dunedin-based collaborative genomics projects resulted in
a move to the University of Otago in 2006, where he now leads a research group focused on the
development and application of statistical methods for the analysis of data from genomics
experiments, with a particular emphasis on human disease. Mik has also been heavily involved in
major initiatives designed to put in place sustainable national research infrastructure for NZ:
Genomics Aotearoa and NZ Genomics Limited for genomics, digital literacy training via The
Carpentires, and NeSI (New Zealand eScience Infrastructure) for high performance computing and
eResearch.
