Maria Rowe

The 2007 Recipient of the Kate Sheppard Memorial Award is Maria Rowe, a 48 year old woman from Auckland.  The Award is being used to help pay for resources necessary to help Maria undertake her research into the aggregation and dispersal of Uropathogenic Escherichia coli.

Maria graduated from the University of Auckland in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science.  She then entered post-graduate study at the University of Auckland and completed her Master of Science in Molecular Microbiology.    Her research was a successful project in aggregation and dispersal in uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) which has formed the preliminary basis for the research she is now undertaking at a PhD level.

This initial research has identified UPEC as a model system to study the molecular biology of dispersal from aggregates.  The aim of her PhD research is to:

1.                  Confirm the molecular nature of adhesive material;

2.                  Elucidate the mechanism of dispersal;

3.                  Characterise the signals activating dispersal; and

4.                  Characterise the effects of blocking dispersal upon biofilm formation and the invasion of bladder epithelium cells in vitro.

Maria believes that understanding the signals that control UPEC during dispersal in the infection cycle will decrease the rate of re-infection and chronic urinary tract disease. Specific knowledge of UPEC dispersal mechanisms will allow a greater understanding of biofilm processes causing urinary tract disease. She is hoping that the results of her research may lead to novel anti-infective strategies that will assist in new therapies.

Maria has had a long involvement within the medical arena.  She was a Medical Laboratory Scientist at St Paul’s Hospital, in Vancouver Canada from 1980 until 1982.  From there, she moved to Mineral Springs Hospital in Alberta until 1985 when she shifted to New Zealand.   For the next 3 years Maria was employed as a first year Nursing Science instructor at Napier Polytechnic before returning to Canada where she remained until 2001.  She moved backed to New Zealand and commenced work at Middlemore Hospital in Manukau for a short period of time until she took her present position as Laboratory Demonstrator at the University of Auckland where she has worked as she completed her university studies.

To become a researcher has been a growing process for Maria.  This is highlighted by her decision to undertake university studies as a mature student.  Maria came into her field of study with a broad based knowledge in pathology and diagnostic medicine and this was why she chose to enter the Biomedical Science programme as a way to enhance her understanding of health research.

Maria sees her research as benefiting not just herself as a student/researcher but it will also enhance the university’s reputation as a research facility on the leading edge of science, as well as helping the wider community by sharing the knowledge that affects so many people in so many ways.