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Nina DickerhofPrincipal Investigator
Senior Research Fellow

MSc(Germany) PhD(Otago)

Email nina.dickerhof@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 364 0568

Research interests

Dr Nina Dickerhof's research is focused on neutrophil-derived oxidants and their role in health and disease. Her specialist expertise is mass spectrometry and its application to measuring oxidative modification of proteins, peptides and small molecules. She is interested in the development of biomarkers of neutrophil-derived oxidative stress in inflammatory and infectious disease with a particular focus on cystic fibrosis lung disease.

Dr Dickerhof is also studying the functional implications of oxidative modifications of proteins present at inflammatory sites, such as the pro-inflammatory cytokine macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and the neutrophil-resident antibacterial protein calprotectin.

More recently, she has become interested in understanding how bacteria protect themselves from oxidants produced by the immune system with a special interest in the role of bacterial low molecular weight thiols.

Publications

Shearer, H. L., Pace, P. E., Smith, L. M., Fineran, P. C., Matthews, A. J., Camilli, A., Dickerhof, N., & Hampton, M. B. (2023). Identification of Streptococcus pneumoniae genes associated with hypothiocyanous acid tolerance through genome-wide screening. Journal of Bacteriology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1128/jb.00208-23

Shearer, H. L., Loi, V. V., Weiland, P., Bange, G., Altegoer, F., Hampton, M. B., … Dickerhof, N. (2023). MerA functions as a hypothiocyanous acid reductase and defense mechanism in Staphylococcus aureus. Molecular Microbiology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/mmi.15035

Kettle, A. J., Ashby, L. V., Winterbourn, C. C., & Dickerhof, N. (2023). Superoxide: The enigmatic chemical chameleon in neutrophil biology [Invited review]. Immunological Reviews, 314, 181-196. doi: 10.1111/imr.13183

Hampton, M. B., & Dickerhof, N. (2023). Inside the phagosome: A bacterial perspective. Immunological Reviews. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1111/imr.13182

Shearer, H. L., Pace, P. E., Paton, J. C., Hampton, M. B., & Dickerhof, N. (2022). A newly identified flavoprotein disulfide reductase Har protects Streptococcus pneumoniae against hypothiocyanous acid. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 298(9), 102359. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2022.102359

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