2025 Renshaw Prize Certificate presented

14/10/2025

Emeritus Prof Pat Cragg (OMRF Council Chair) had the privilege of presenting the 2025 Renshaw Certificate to Luke Geddes’ father, Mark, at the OMRF AGM on 14th October as Luke is currently overseas.

Luke worked under the guidance of Dr Indranil Basik, Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago for his project “Investigating neuron-astrocyte crosstalk in Parkinson’s disease”.

Mark Geddes read out a few words on Luke’s behalf who thanked the OMRF. Luke had some very touching words as to the impact the scholarship has had on him and the opportunities it has opened for him. Several people have contacted Luke about the busback (you may have seen Luke on this!) which has allowed him to talk even more about neurodegenerative diseases.

Luke is currently taking a break from science this year, studying French and International Relations at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. Luke is still making the most of any science opportunities on his travels, and last week joined the New Zealand synthetic biology delegation at the NZ ambassador's soirée in Paris, which included former OMRF funding recipient Professor Wayne Patrick. The delegation's purpose is to grow connections with the European research community, and Luke reported he and the delegation having many productive discussions with proponents of the Horizon Europe funding pipeline, of which NZ is now a Pillar 2 associate.