School of Health Sciences staff

Contact details +6449793906

Dr Penny Truman DipBusStud, PhD

Senior Lecturer

Doctoral Supervisor
School of Health Sciences

My most recent projects in biotoxins have involved looking at biological assay methods for anatoxin-a variants, so that we can assess their relative toxicity. An MSc project to look at the effect of these toxins on cells in culture is available.

My tobacco work has seen the group identify six new monoamine oxidase inhibirtors from tobacco smoke, and work is on-going to look at the biochemistry of their interaction with the enzyme, and the behavioural effects of these inhibitors, in strengthening nicotine dependence.

This work also has implications for e-cigarettes. They should be less addictive than tobacco smoking, but are they? There are a number of MSc level projects that could be developed in this area.

I have come to Massey from a background in Government science, working for a Crown Research Institute, ESR.

My research expertise is in biological assessment of toxic exposures. I have several years of experience in monitoring of marine and freshwater biotoxins, where my recent work has been in assesing the biological activity of new marine biotoxin variants; helping to decide how they should be regarded from a food safety perspective.

My main research focus is on addictive substances in tobacco smoke - nicotine's "partners in crime", Can we use what we learn to help more people to stop smoking?

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Professional

Contact details

Ph: 63906
Location: 3C13
Campus: Wellington

Qualifications

Diploma in Business Studies - Massey University (2009)
Doctor of Philosophy - University of Otago (1983)

Research Expertise

Research Interests

1. Marine Biotoxins: management of marine biotoxin contamination of shellfish, particularly saxitoxins and ciguatoxins

2. Freshwater biotoxins: finding effective biological methods for rapid monitoring of the toxicity of cyanobacterial blooms

3. Determining the chemicals responsible (with nicotine) for tobacco dependence. their identity, and biochemical and behavioural effects (working with Victoiria University of Wellington)

4. Tobacco control policy: how can what we are learning be used to assist decisions on policy direction?

Research Opportunities

MSc level studies on the addictiveness of e-cigarettes (01/03/2019) Interviewing vapers to assess their level of dependence. Possibly use of electronic surveys, depending on the research question decided on.
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors from tobacco smoke (01/03/2019) Looking at the effects of these inhibitors on neural cells in culture: now filled
Biological methods for the detection of cyanotoxins (01/03/2019) Use of cell culture methods to detect and characterise cyanobacterial toxins in culture.

Thematics

Health and Well-being

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Environmental Monitoring (050206): Environmental Science and Management (050200): Environmental Sciences (050000):
Medical And Health Sciences (110000): Neurosciences (110900): Neurosciences not elsewhere classified (110999)

Keywords

marine biotoxin analyses

cyanobacterial toxins

protein biomarker discovery

tobacco dependence

monoamine oxidase inhibitors

E-cigarettes

Research Projects

Completed Projects

Project Title: Changing our view of tobacco dependence; The monoamine oxidase inhibitor story - Penny Truman

Date Range: 2017 - 2019

Funding Body: Health Research Council of New Zealand

Project Team:

Dr Penny Truman - Project Leader

Project Title: PSAF: A new monoamine oxidase inhibitor from tobacco smoke

Date Range: 2016 - 2020

Funding Bodies: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment; Massey Ventures Ltd

Project Team:

Dr Penny Truman - Project Leader

Consultancy and Languages

Consultancy

2009 to 2012 - Ministry of Primary Industries
Assessing the toxicity of complex marine biotoxin mixtures
2012 to Aug 2015 - Ministry of Health
Emerging issues in Environmental Health
2011 - Cawthron Institute
Brevetoxin and ciguatoxin analyses
June 2015 to Aug 2015 - Ministry for the Environment
Benthic cyanobacteria, towards consistent regulation
July 2016 to June 2018 - Cawthron Institute
Biological methods to detect anatoxin-a, a cyanobacterial toxin sometimes found in streams, rivers and lakes
June 2016 to Dec 2016 - Laurelton Research Ltd
Testing for monoamine oxidase inhibitory activity in e-cigarette liquids
Oct 2015 to July 2016 - Toboacco Control Research Turanga
Web based survey of e-cigarette users
Dec 2016 to Dec 2017 - Laurelton Research Ltd
Testing e-liquids for toxicity
Sept 2017 to Mar 2018 - Ministry of Health
Member of Technical Advisory Group: electronic cigarette regulation

Teaching and Supervision

Contact Supervisor

Current Doctoral Supervision

Co-supervisor of:

Jangrez Khan - Doctor of Philosophy
QUANTIFICATION OF DIETARY TITANIUM DIOXIDE (E171) IN NEW ZEALAND FOOD PRODUCTS TO ESTIMATE POPULATION INTAKE AND ITS ROLE IN THE PATHOGENESIS OF METAB

Completed Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

2023 - Sa Weon Hong - Doctor of Philosophy
Biochemical characterisation of six novel monoamine oxidase inhibitors identified in tobacco smoke