Morphine, spiders and joints all earn scholarship cash

Studies into the production of morphine and codeine from yeast, how the East African jumping spider selects its prey and a non-invasive way to check joint replacements are some of the projects that will receive a share of $3.88 million from the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology.

The Crown entity awarded 15 postdoctoral fellowships under a scheme that aims to aid future scientific leaders and build greater national knowledge.

"We are investing in top talent here – these are the people who will take New Zealand science capability to the next level," foundation chief executive Murray Bain said.

Fellowship recipient Catherine Thodey, based at Stanford University in California, was seeking a new way to produce morphine and codeine using yeast.

She hoped to do that by identifying the enzymes responsible for creating them naturally within the opium poppy, then recreating this with yeast by fermentation.

It would mean the drugs could be created in greater quantities, more cheaply, and would reduce demand for the opium poppy trade.

Geoffrey Rodgers of Otago University planned to develop a way to check the loosening and wear on hip and knee joint replacements using ultra-sonic measures.

With 7000 joint replacement operations carried out each year in New Zealand, the ability to diagnose the impending failure of a joint without the need for surgery would save time, money and ease the suffering of patients.

Fiona Cross's study of the East African jumping spider hoped to discover how it used smell to choose its dinner.

The spider has a taste for those mosquitoes that feed on vertebrate blood – specifically mozzies that could carry malaria.

The study's broader aim was to find how understanding the spider's biology might help stop the spread of the disease in Africa. NZPA

- NZPA