Elan Gin

From MathsDept

Short Bio: Elan Gin began her Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Mathematics in 2006, under the supervision of Professor James Sneyd and Dr. Edmund Crampin, and supported by a Bright Futures Top Achiever Doctoral Scholarship. She first constructed a mathematical model of how parotid acinar cells transport water to make saliva, and then used single-channel data from an intracellular calcium channel to study how that channel is involved in saliva secretion.

In her research, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, U.S.A., she showed how the production of saliva is controlled by a tightly regulated set of ionic channels, which are in turn controlled by the concentration of calcium inside parotid acinar cells. She was the first in the world to use advanced mathematical and statistical methods to construct models of the intracellular calcium channels, and her model of calcium dynamics and saliva secretion now forms the core of a major research project, involving six different laboratories in New Zealand and the United States.

Elan is now working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Technical University of Dresden, in Germany, and continues to apply mathematical techniques to the study of human physiology.

About studying Mathematics at UoA:

Elan Gin was constructing a mathematical model of the mechanisms underlying saliva secretion as she studied and researched for her PhD. Her research supervisor was Professor James Sneyd, a leading mathematical physiologist and a key reason why Elan chose to study in Auckland.

Elan rates meeting like-minded people and the opportunities she’s had to travel while studying as highlights of her time at The University of Auckland.

"A key element of a science degree is being able to communicate your field of study to non-experts. I feel my MSc helped develop my ability to explain my research at a more accessible level."