Jessie Jacobsen, a PhD student in The University of Auckland’s Department of Anatomy with Radiology, has been named New Zealand’s Young Scientist of the Year for 2007 for her work on Huntington’s disease. Jessie is one of four University of Auckland students chosen as outstanding scientists in this year’s MacDiarmid awards from the 120 entries into the award competition. The awards ceremony was held in Auckland recently. With the support of Freemasons New Zealand, Jessie’s PhD looks at the progression of Huntington’s disease in sheep. Understanding how Huntington’s disease develops in a large animal with a similar brain structure to humans could give scientists some insight into how the disease develops in the human brain, which will assist in the development and testing of new treatments for this and other neurological disorders.

Freemasons New Zealand has supported the transgenic Huntington’s disease project lead by New Zealand’s preeminent neuroscientist, Professor Richard Faull, from the very outset. Professor Faull commented: ‘The Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences is hugely indebted to the Freemasons of New Zealand for their generous and unstinting support of this research. We are really starting to make progress now and this honour for Jessie is wonderful recognition not only of Jessie’s ability but of the loyalty and dedication of our funding partners, the Freemasons.’

As winner of the MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year title, Jessie Jacobsen will earn a trip to the British Association Festival of Science along with a NZ$10,000 grant.



The 2007 MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year, Jessie Jacobsen