Hither and Yon: Life and Times in New Zealand: September 2014

Sunday, September 28, 2014

We recently attended a rugby game where our All Blacks took on the South African Springboks. Watching the national team live has been a dream since we started following rugby when we moved to NZ two and a half years ago. But every time the All Blacks have visited Wellington we were out of the country or couldn't afford tickets. Needless to say we were thrilled when the plans to see this game with a couple friends came together. It was finally going to happen!!

The game was surreal in that we've closely followed the All Blacks always making arrangements to watch the "re-aired" games on TV or finding a sports bar playing the game on their big screens. We've come to know and recognize the players which is fun when a player is racing towards the try line and you can fly out of your seat, yelling, "GO Julian!!!!". :)

For reasons I don't yet understand New Zealand produces some of the best rugby players in the world and so we've become accustomed to them winning. In almost three years we've seen them lose once and draw twice. Yeah, they have a bit of a corner on the market. So this game we attended was unsettling. The scores were low, the play was gritty and I was biting my nails, perched on the edge of my seat until the final horn sounded. In the end the All Blacks came out on top but just barely!

Before the game we walked over to Civic Square to check out the "Fan Zone". They had a area sectioned off where kids could play rugby as well as a photo booth, face painting and an opportunity to win a rugby ball. I went up and asked if they were just giving them away to kids but they said, "No, if you tackle the training dummy you get a ball". I then had to make a decision. Was I going to potentially embarrass myself in front of a bunch of people just to get a rugby ball? Now I don't remember my logic here but somehow I came to the conclusion that I should do it. I know, this from an admitted non-athlete like me! What?! So I faced the training dummy, held up my a volunteer, and said, "Ok, I, um, I've never tackled anything before in my life!". He reassured me that was ok and said, "Just keep low". Throwing caution to the wind I launched myself forward and within a few strides was at the point of no return. I wrapped my arms around the dummy and went for the tackle dragging it to the ground as my entire body was flying through the air. Exhilarated and a little embarrassed I hauled myself up off the ground and began brushing the grass off my clothes and face. I know I had a silly smile on my face, I mean, who wouldn't after doing something so ridiculous?! I was congratulated for my efforts and presented with my very own rugby ball! :)

After that we spent some time playing catch in the grass, I got my face painted and we took a turn in the photo booth. It was a fun lead up to the game. From there we walked with a mass of fans down to the stadium where we saw the house packed to the rafters. It wasn't long until we saw "our boys" running out onto the field. Oh yeah!!!!

Lecture....

This past week my primary supervisor, Bart, gave his Inaugural Lecture. After promotion to Full Professor (at Victoria) academic staff give a public lecture as a kind of "debut" to share their research interests with the wider Victoria and Wellington communities.

He spoke about the "crisis" surrounding the development of pharmacological treatments for psychiatric disorders ranging from depression and anxiety to autism and drug addiction. For the staggering amount of money poured into drug development there are very few compounds that make it through all preclinical and clinical trials to be successful pharmaco-treatments for patients. This low success rate has prompted a move, from the pharmaceutical industry, away from investing in drug development for psychiatric disorders. And considering that an individual who suffers from depression may combat the disorder for a large portion of his/her lifetime the need for new effective treatments is very real.

After describing this crisis Bart went on to discuss ideas that may increase the success rate in drug development. First, he stressed that despite the fact that psychiatric disorders are classified as constellations of symptoms many of those symptoms overlap. For example there is a great deal of comorbidity (more than one disorder happening in an individual simultaneously) between anxiety and mood disorders; in addition, many individuals who fit the diagnosis for schizophrenia also struggle with drug addiction. With this said there may be a place for developing drugs that serve as target treatments for symptoms of a disorder. His second point is that any compound that is approved for human trials must pass rigorous preclinical testing in animals. Therefore, we need better preclinical models to help researchers predict how a drug will perform within the human system. Lastly, he pointed out that in order to make any headway with respect to successful drug development the pharmaceutical industry must "come back to the table" and participate in this venture. Otherwise, we will continue to see a deficit in viable treatments for individuals with psychiatric disorders.

This lecture reminded me how proud I am to be a part of this lab. And I am truly fortunate in having such a great supervisor. After I completed my Master's degree and was contemplating PhD work I remember thinking that it would be unlikely that I would find another great supervisor. I'm pleased to say that I was dead wrong about that. :)