Research Fellow
Email heather.parker@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 378 6223
Research interests
Dr Heather Parker graduated with an Honours degree in Cellular & Molecular Biology from the University of Canterbury in 2003, she then completed her PhD in the Helicobacter Research Group at the University of Otago, Christchurch in 2007. Since then she has worked at the Centre for Free Radical Research. She is experienced in microbiology, cell biology, fluorescence and electron microscopy, and flow cytometry.
Dr Parker is Postgraduate co-ordinator for the Department or Pathology and Biomedical Science and student liaison within the Centre for Free Radical Research. She has co-supervised two PhD students, three Master's students, one Honour's student and six summer students. Dr Parker has a passion for students and their learning and welfare.
Dr Parker's area of research focus is the neutrophil, in particular how neutrophils use oxidants, such as bleach, to kill bacteria. In addition, she is interested in the mechanisms used by bacteria to evade neutrophil killing. Currently,
Dr Parker is studying how the bacterium Mycobacterium smegmatis, a close relative of the significant human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, protects itself from killing by neutrophils. She is also involved in research to understand how Streptococcus pneumoniae protect themselves from the damaging effects of neutrophil-derived oxidants. She has also been involved in studies on the role of oxidants in the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), structures released by neutrophils that can trap and kill bacteria.
Publications
Parker, H. A., Magon, N. J., Green, J. N., Hampton, M. B., & Winterbourn, C. C. (2014). Analysis of neutrophil bactericidal activity. In M. T. Quinn & F. R. DeLeo (Eds.), Neutrophil methods and protocols: Methods in Molecular Biology (Vol. 1124). (2nd ed.) (pp. 291-306). New York, NY: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-1-62703-845-4_19
Kasperkiewicz, P., Poreba, M., Snipas, S. J., Parker, H., Winterbourn, C. C., Salvesen, G. S., & Drag, M. (2014). Design of ultrasensitive probes for human neutrophil elastase through hybrid combinatorial substrate library profiling. PNAS, 111(7), 2518-2523. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1318548111
Parker, H., & Winterbourn, C. C. (2013). Reactive oxidants and myeloperoxidase and their involvement in neutrophil extracellular traps. Frontiers in Immunology, 3, 424. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2012.00424
Parker, H., Albrett, A. M., Kettle, A. J., & Winterbourn, C. C. (2012). Myeloperoxidase associated with neutrophil extracellular traps is active and mediates bacterial killing in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Journal of Leukocyte Biology, 91(3), 369-376. doi: 10.1189/jlb.0711387
Parker, H., Dragunow, M., Hampton, M. B., Kettle, A. J., & Winterbourn, C. C. (2012). Requirements for NADPH oxidase and myeloperoxidase in neutrophil extracellular trap formation differ depending on the stimulus. Journal of Leukocyte Biology, 92(4), 841-849. doi: 10.1189/jlb.1211601