Postgraduate students in the Department of Pathology and Biomedical Science, Our people, University of Otago, Christchurch | University of Otago

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Current students

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Grace Borichevsky	Understand and predict disease activity in inflammatory bowel disease	Tony Kettle, Richard Gearry
Eleanor Burgess	The role of ascorbate in glioma	Gabi Dachs, Elisabeth Phillips, Margreet Vissers, Bridget Robinson
Tess Featherston	Exploiting oxidative stress in the treatment of metastatic melanoma	Martina Paumann-Page, Mark Hampton
Oscar Graham	Nanopore sequencing of GBA	Martin Kennedy,, John Pearson, Tim Anderson
Sarah Heath	Molecular analysis of p16 amyloid formation	Christoph Goebl, Mark Hampton
HyunWoo Jun	Developing low risk potting mix products to protect gardeners from Legionnaires' disease.	Sandy Slow, Steve Chambers
Jaslyn Kee	The application of pharmacogenetics to understanding adverse drug reactions	Martin Kennedy, Simran Maggo
Ayush Kumar	Hydrogen sulfide and substance P in acute pancreatitis	Madhav Bhatia, Steve Chambers
Xihua Lian	Invasive aspergillosis	Madhav Bhatia, Aamir Raja, Steve Chambers, John Lewis
Sumeet Manandhar	The role of H2S and substance P in NF-B level expression in polmicrobial sepsis	Madhav Bhatia, Steve Chambers
Hadley Northcott	Allele-specific expression analysis of BRCA1/2 variants in breast cancer patients.	Logan Walker, Vanessa Lattimore
Citra Praditi	Vitamin C and metastasis	Margreet Vissers, Gabi Dachs
Heather Shearer	Sensitising pathogenic bacteria to neutrophil oxidants	Mark Hampton, Heather Parker, Paul Pace
Carlos Smith Diaz	Effect of nutrition and oxidative stress on epigenetic regulation during cellular differentiation and development	Margreet Vissers, Andrew Das, Mark Hampton, Tim Hore
Cassie Stylianou	Copy variants and endometrial cancer risk	Logan Walker, John Pearson
Eveline van Leeuwen	Oxidative stress and redox regulation of the cytoskeleton	Mark Hampton, Margreet Vissers
Jessika Wise	3D breast tumour models for drug discovery	Elisabeth Phillips, Tim Woodfield, Associate Professor Khoon Lim, Margaret Currie
Zhixing Zhu	The role of exosome miRNA in acute lung injury	Madhav Bhatia, Steve Chambers, Xiangdong Wang, Yiming Zeng

BBiomedSc(Hons)

Student	Thesis title	Supervisor(s)
Eira Beverley-Stone	The role of iron in brain cancer	Gabi Dachs
Alex Botha	Investigating the amyloid state of p16	Christoph Goebl, Kenny Chitcholtan, Mark Hampton, Vanessa Morris
Mackenzie Flannery	Observing heterogeneity in neutrophil phagosomes	Tony Kettle, Louisa Ashby
Shaya Helem	Identifying the mechanism of action of a marine-derived anticancer compound	Mark Hampton, Paul Pace, Stephanie Bozonet
Tiffany Ilott	Functional analysis of copy number variants associated with endometrial cancer	Logan Walker, George Wiggins, Arthur Morley-Bunker
Ashleigh Monson	Potential transcriptional adaptation associated with BRCA1 pathogenic variants	George Wiggins, Logan Walker
Jackson O'Neill	Allelic diversity of the pharmacogene CYP2C19 in Pasifika people	Martin Kennedy, John Pearson
Anh Thu Phan	The microbiome in IBD-related colorectal cancer	Rachel Purcell, Arthur Morley-Bunker, Logan Walker
Briana Smith	Investigating the redox state of p16	Christoph Goebl, Mark Hampton, Nick Magon, Vanessa Morris
Georgia Turner	Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in breast tumour samples	Arthur Morley-Bunker, Margaret Currie, Logan Walker

2021

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Linda Buss	The immune system: A common link mediating exercise effects on the tumour microenvironment and skeletal muscle mitochondria?	Gabi Dachs, Margaret Currie, Barry Hock, Abel Ang, Bridget Robinson
Annika Seddon	Neutrophils and cancer: regulation of cell death and epigenetic pathways	Mark Hampton, Aaron Stevens, Margaret Currie, Tony Kettle
George Wiggins	Gene expression variability in breast tumour development	Logan Walker, John Pearson, Mik Black

BBiomedSc(Hons)

Student	Thesis title	Supervisor(s)
Leonie Hitchman	Allelic diversity of the pharmacogene CYP2D6 in Māori and Pasifika	Simran Maggo, Martin Kennedy, John Pearson
Samantha Meredith	Characterising the role of peroxidasin in breast cancer	Martina Paumann-Page
Jenny Naughton	Identification of key peptide regions in the amyloid state of the tumour suppressor p16	Christoph Goebl, Nick Magon, Mark Hampton
Ruth Phang	Nutritional immunity: Butyrate and colon carcinogenesis	Jacqui Kennan, Andrew Day, Mark Hampton
Ben Topham	Investigating the relationship between ascorbate and the differentiation of monocytes in an in-vitro melanoma model	Margaret Currie

2020

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Bee Bathish	Characterising the activity of peroxidasin in the extracellular matrix	Christine Winterbourn, Tony Kettle
Rebekah Crake	Local and systemic effects of adipocyte-secreted factors in breast cancer	Margaret Currie, Elisabeth Phillips, Bridget Robinson, Matthew Strother
Yusmiati (Cen) Liau	Application of second and third generation sequencing in pharmacogenetics	Martin Kennedy, Simran Maggo, Simone Cree, John Pearson
Ali Mohammadi	Development of detection methods for Legionella longbeachae in clinical and environmental samples	Steve Chambers, David Murdoch, Amy Scott-Thomas
Arthur Morley-Bunker	Scoping for RNA biomarkers of colorectal cancer	Logan Walker, Margaret Currie, John Pearson, Mr Tim Eglinton

BBiomedSc(Hons)

Student	Thesis title	Supervisor(s)
Madison Hill	The interaction of neutrophils and amyloid-ß in Alzheimer's disease	Leon Smyth, Mark Hampton
Jess Permain	Bacterial lipopolysaccharide and immune activation in colorectal cancer	Rachel Purcell, Logan Walker
Carlos Smith Diaz	Vitamin C as an epigenetic therapeutic for acute myeloid leukaemia	Andrew Das, Margreet Vissers, Mark Hampton

2019

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Priyanka Sinha	Transcriptional effects of mood stabiliser drugs in a serotonergic cell line	Martin Kennedy, Simone Cree, John Pearson
Masuma Zawari	Bioavailability and biological effects of isothiocyanates from broccoli sprout powder	Mark Hampton, Anitra Carr, Andree Pearson, Dion Thompson

BBiomedSc(Hons)

Student	Thesis title	Supervisor(s)
Krista Dawson	Characterising the relationship between Legionella longbeachae and their amoebal hosts: Implications for Legionnaires' disease prevention	Sandy Slow, Steve Chambers, Trevor Anderson, David Murdoch
Tess Featherston	Peroxiredoxins as biomarkers of oxidative stress in metastatic melanoma cells	Mark Hampton, Martina Paumann-Page, Christine Winterbourn
Lorna Forrester	Mycobacterial resistance to neutrophil oxidants	Mark Hampton, Heather Parker
Jaya Montecillo	Gene modification of breast cancer cells for cancer imaging	Gabi Dachs

2018

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Teagan Hoskin	Oxidative post-translational modifications of calprotectin during inflammation	Tony Kettle, Nina Dickerhof, Richard Gearry, Andrew Day
Kate Vick	Peroxiredoxin expression and redox state in human cancers	Mark Hampton, Christine Winterbourn
Christina Wohlrab	The role of ascorbate in controlling hypoxia factors in renal cell carcinoma	Gabi Dachs, Elisabeth Phillips, Margreet Vissers, Bridget Robinson

BBiomedSc(Hons)

Student	Thesis title	Supervisor(s)
Eleanor Burgess	Can vitamin C reduce metastases in a mouse model of breast cancer?	Gabi Dachs
Isabelle Chai	Copy number variants and familial breast and ovarian cancer risk	Logan Walker, Vanessa Lattimore
Jessie Chang	Targeted enrichment and Nanopore sequencing of RNA transcripts from breast cancer risk genes	Martin Kennedy, Logan Walker, Simone Cree, John Pearson
Sarah Heath	Intracellular redox changes during TNFα-mediated necroptosis	Mark Hampton
James Swan	Aspirin's role in preventing E-cadherin cleavage by the carcinogenic Bacteroides fragilis toxin	Jacqui Kennan, Mark Hampton

2017

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Andrew Das	The reactions of superoxide with tyrosyl radicals on proteins	Tony Kettle, Christine Winterbourn
Ravinder Reddy Gaddam	The role of hydrogen sulfide, substance P and Kupffer cells on inflammation and liver sinusoidal endothelial cells in sepsis	Madhav Bhatia, Steve Chambers
Hannah Kennedy	Application of emerging sequencing and genomic technologies to diagnostic molecular genetics	Peter George, Kit Doudney
Vanessa Lattimore	Genetic variation and mRNA splicing in familial breast cancer genes	Logan Walker, Margaret Currie, Bridget Robinson, John Pearson
Emma Spencer	Exploring the anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties of isothiocyanates	Mark Hampton, Tony Kettle

BBiomedSc(Hons)

Student	Thesis title	Supervisor
Leah Butt	Measuring markers of immune response in patients treated with Nivolumab (Opdivo) or Pembrolizumab (Keytruda)	Margaret Currie

2016

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Abel Ang	Role of endogenous hydrogen sulfide synthesised by cystathionine-gamma-lyase in the inflammatory response in acute pancreatitis	Madhav Bhatia, Greg Giles
Sarah Appleby	Telomere length as a putative biomarker of health and disease	Martin Kennedy, Mark Hampton, John Pearson
Alireza Badiei	Effect of cystathionine-gamma-lyase gene silencing with siRNA on inflammation in acute pancreatitis	Madhav Bhatia, Steve Chambers
Janice Chew-Harris	Biomarkers of kidney function; Validity of estimates in clinical practice	Chris Florkowski, Peter George
Aaron Stevens	The interaction of G-Quadruplex DNA structure and cytosine methylation	Martin Kennedy, Simone Cree

BBiomedSc(Hons)

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Rosie Burn	A validation study to detect markers of proliferation adequacy in the endometrium	Martin Kennedy, Gloria Evans, John Evans
Linda Buss	The influence of exercise and hyperlipidaemia on breast cancer	Gabi Dachs, Margreet Vissers
Lucy de Jong	Diagnostic applications of a Nanopore sequencing device	Martin Kennedy
Tara Swadi	A novel strategy to prevent bacterial biofilm formation using methylthioadenosine-nucleosidase inhibitors	Steve Chambers

2015

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Diana Balasubramanain	Gene expression changes induced by mood stabilizer drugs in a serotonergic cell line	Martin Kennedy, Peter Joyce, Mark Hampton
Simone Bayer	Redox State Of Erythrocyte Peroxiredoxin 2 During Oxidative Stress And Its Effect On Membrane Binding	Christine Winterbourn, Mark Hampton
Lizzie Campbell	Regulation of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-Mediated Tumour Growth by Ascorbate	Gabi Dachs, Bridget Robinson, Margreet Vissers
Eng Wee Chua	Understanding Adverse Drug Reactions Using Genomic Sequencing	Martin Kennedy, Ruth Savage
Tony Rahman	Venous thromboembolism in patients with cancer undertaking chemotherapy	Bridget Robinson, Margaret Currie, Mark Smith
Usha Rani Talla (Pujary)	The Effect of Hypoxia on Neutrophil Survival and Function	Margreet Vissers, Mark Hampton, Heather Parker

BBiomedSc(Hons)

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Mark Brinsden	Measuring Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Humans	Andree Pearson, Mark Hampton
Rebekah Crake	Exploring Molecular Links between Obesity and Breast Cancer	Logan Walker, Margaret Currie, Elisabeth Phillips
Sarah Drake	Investigating the pro-apoptotic properties of portimine	Mark Hampton
Melanie Hamzah	Inactivation of a Thiol-Dependent Enzyme by Urate Hydroperoxide	Tony Kettle, Mark Hampton
Morgan Jones	Does fat provide energy for breast tumour cell invasion and metastasis?	Margaret Currie, Elisabeth Phillips, Mark Hampton
Anishah Mandani	Development of a metabolic syndrome mouse model of breast cancer	Gabi Dachs, Margaret Currie, Elisabeth Phillips
Millie Taylor	Impact of G-quadruplex structures and DNA methylation on allelic drop-out during in vitro amplification of imprinted genes	Martin Kennedy, Simone Cree

2014

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
James Falvey	Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor and Inflammatory Bowel Disease	Richard Gearry, Mark Hampton, Rebecca Roberts
Rebecca Poynton	Peroxiredoxin 3 and oxidative stress in mitochondria	Mark Hampton, Christine Winterbourn, Andrea Betz

BBiomedSc(Hons)

Student	Thesis Title	Supervisor
Bee Bathish	The effect of cell metabolism on epigenetic processes in cancer cells	Margreet Vissers
Masuma Zawari	Involvement of mitochondria and peroxiredoxin in TNF-mediated necroptosis	Mark Hampton

2013

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Caroline Kuiper*	The role of ascorbate in the regulation of HIF-1 in cancer cells	Margreet Vissers, Gabi Dachs, Margaret Currie
Nick Magon	Oxidative Modification of Calprotectin During Inflammation: Development as a Biomarker	Mark Hampton, Tony Kettle, Richard Gearry
Anja Werno	Development of improved diagnostic testing methods for invasive pneumococcal disease	David Murdoch, Peter George

*Divisional Exceptional Thesis

BBiomedSc(Hons)

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Teresa Flett	Gene transfer to restore vitamin C synthesis in human cell line	Gabi Dachs, Margreet Vissers
Zac Gerring	Evaluating molecular markers of breast tumour progression	Logan Walker, Gavin Harris
Annika Seddon	Immune suppression and squamous cell carcinoma tumour biology	Margaret Currie
Kate Vick	Functional consequences of lowering mitochondrial peroxiredoxin 3 expression	Mark Hampton

2012

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Shrawan Bhandari	Investigation of the biosynthesis of 2-Pentylfuran from 'Aspergillus fumigatus in vitro' and 'in vivo'	Steve Chambers, Amy Scott-Thomas, Chris Charles, Richard Weld

2011

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Melanie Coker*	The role of reactive chlorine species in bacterial killing by neutrophils	Prof Tony Kettle, Christine Winterbourn
Sarah Deng	Gene regulation by antidepressant drugs	Martin Kennedy, Peter Joyce
Alice Johnstone	Implications for drug addiction development from expressional analyses of rattus norvegicus striatal tissue following methamphetamine and benzylpiperazine exposure	Martin Kennedy
Vikas Kumar	Oxidative changes in cardiac proteome during ischemia/reperfusion	Christine Winterbourn, Mark Hampton
Amy (Marshall) Osborne*	Assessment of genetic variation in the threatened New Zealand sea lion, Phocarctos hookeri, and its association with fitness	Neil Gemmell, Martin Kennedy
Katya Volkova	Tumour angiogenesis : the role of metabolic syndrome and insulin resistence	Margaret Currie, Gabi Dachs, Bridget Robinson

* Divisional Exceptional Thesis

BBiomedSc(Hons)

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Lizzie Campbell	Hydrogen Sulfide: Investigation into the Effects of Different H2S Donors on the Upregulation of Inflammatory Cytokines	Madhav Bhatia
Teagan Hoskin	Neutrophil Activation in Inflammatory Bowel Disease	Richard Gearry, Prof Tony Kettle
Sarah Jodczyk (Appleby)	Establishment and validation of a telomere length assay	Martin Kennedy
Emma Spencer	Inhibiting the pro-inflammatory cytokine MIF	Mark Hampton

2010

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Ryan Davis*	The molecular basis of fibrinogen disease: Structure, function and pathology	Stephen Brennan, Peter George
Michelle Hunt	Vessel-directed enzyme-prodrug therapy for cancer	Gabi Dachs, Margaret Currie, Bridget Robinson
Kasia Mackenzie	Why are skin cancers more aggressive in renal transplant recipients?	Margaret Currie, Barry Hock, Bridget Robinson, Gabi Dachs, Andrew Miller, Justin Roake, Mr Jeremy Simcock
Karina O'Connor	The effect of oxidative stress on DNA methylation	Mark Hampton, Christine Winterbourn, Anthony Reeve
Melissa Stacey	Cell antioxidant pathways for disposal of MPO-derived oxidants	Christine Winterbourn, Margreet Vissers

* Divisional Exceptional Thesis

BBiomedSc(Hons)

Student	Thesis title	Supervisor
Andrew Gibb	Does promoter variation in the USP46 gene influence antidepressant response?	Martin Kennedy
Min-Hi Han	Assessing a blood biomarker of lung infection	Christine Winterbourn
Aaron Hayes	Detecting 2-aminoacetophenone and pyocyanin from clinical strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa	Amy Scott-Thomas
Hannah Kennedy	Development of an assay for interferon beta bioavailability in relapsing-remitting MS patients	Stephen Brennan
Tamas Major	Evaluation of The Four-and-a-half LIM 2 (FHL2) Single Polypeptide As A Potential Biomarker of Cardio-Renal Syndrome (CRS)	Chris Pemberton
Anna van Pomeren	Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells, Tumour Angiogenesis, and Cancer Progression	Margaret Currie

2009

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Michael Bland	Genetic and functional analysis of novel serotonergic candidate genes in psychiatric disorders	Martin Kennedy, Peter Joyce, Rebecca Roberts
Kristin Brown*	Cellular targets of isothiocyanates	Mark Hampton, Christine Winterbourn, Sarah Cuddihy
Andy Cox*	Peroxiredoxin 3 and the regulation of mitochondrial hydrogen peroxide	Mark Hampton, Christine Winterbourn, Sarah Cuddihy
Dylan Glubb	Pharmacogenomics of the antidepressant Paroxetine	Martin Kennedy, Peter Joyce
Jessie Green*	Oxidant production inside the phagosomes of neutrophils	Christine Winterbourn, Tony Kettle, Mark Hampton

* Divisional Exceptional Thesis

2008

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Sarah Gunningham	The role of vascular endothelial growth factors and their receptors in breast and colorectal tumour angiogenesis	Margaret Currie, Vicky Cameron, Bridget Robinson, Stephen Fox
Tim Harwood	Glutathione sulfonamide as a biomarker of oxidative stress during inflammation	Christine Winterbourn, Tony Kettle
Felicia Low	The antioxidant activity of erythrocyte peroxiredoxin 2 and its role in protecting haemoglobin	Christine Winterbourn, Mark Hampton
So-Young Moon	Identification of genetic aberrations in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia using array CGH	Margaret Currie, Peter Ganly, Christine Morris
Campbell Sheen	Molecular characterisation of coagulation disorders	Stephen Brennan, Christine Morris, Mark Smith
Selma Stuffrein-Roberts	Allelic expression patterns in psychiatric candidate genes	Martin Kennedy, Vicky Cameron, Michael Eccles
Rachel Wilkie	Oxidative stress and apoptosis in the phagocytic neutrophils	Mark Hampton, Margreet Vissers

2007

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Mathew Littlejohn	Pharmacogenetics of the B2 adrenergic receptor and related molecules	Martin Kennedy, Prof Tony Kettle,
Robyn Midwinter	The role of chloramines on the inflammatory process in endothelial cells	Christine Winterbourn, Margreet Vissers,
Logan Walker	Genetic aberrations in breast cancer	Bridget Robinson, Christine Morris

2006

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Amy Dear	Assembly and secretion of Fibrinogen: Evidence from human mutation	Stephen Brennan, Peter George
Patrick McHugh	A cellular model for investigating antidepressant pharmacogenomics	Martin Kennedy, Peter Joyce, Geraldine Rogers
Jennifer Scotter	The laboratory diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis	Stephen Chambers, Peter Ganly, David Murdoch
Malina Storer	Development of laboratory tests for assessing vitamin status	Stephen Chambers, Michael Lever

2005

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Vickie Hanrahan	The role of homeobox gene HLX1 in haematopoiesis and leukaemia	Martin Kennedy, Stephen Brennan, Geraldine Rogers

2004

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
James Baty	Hydrogen peroxide-sensitive thiol proteins: Potential targets in redox signalling	Christine Winterbourn, Mark Hampton,
Warwick Dellow	Glycine Betaine and Diabetes Mellitus	Stephen Chambers, Peter George, Dr Michael Lever
Ghassan Maghzal	The effects of genes and the environment on the structure and function of fibrinogen	Stephen Brennan, Peter George

2003

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Fook Choe Cheah	Lung inflammation and oxidative injury in hyaline membrane disease: The role of NF-kB activation in pulmonary leukocytes	Christine Winterbourn, Brian Darlow
Sheryl Gough	Molecular analysis of a novel chromosome translocation associated with acute lymphoid leukemia	Peter Ganly, Christine Morris
Harold Neal	CRESCENTIC GLOMERULONEPHRITIS: Associations of Eosinophils and Transforming Growth Factors	Robin Fraser

2002

PhD

Student	Thesis title	Supervisors
Suzanne Benjes	BCR-ABL1 Recombination Mechanisms in Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia: Clues from Complexity	Vicky Cameron, Christine Morris
Sangeeta Budhia	Isolation and Characterisation of Novel Human Dendritic Cell-Associated Molecule, DD1.1	Barry Hock, Martin Kennedy, Justin Roake
Anna Chapman	Aggregation and chlorination of proteins by hypochlorous acid: Insights into reactions within neutrophils	Tony Kettle, Porf Christine Winterbourn
Victoria Metcalf	The Molecular Evolution of Serum Albumin in Non-Mammalian Vertebrate Species	Stephen Brennan, Peter George

Related information

Current postgraduate opportunities in Pathology and Biomedical Science