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Contact Details

Email
rachel.purcell@otago.ac.nz
Position
Senior Research Fellow
Department
Department of Surgery and Critical Care (Christchurch)
Qualifications
BSc(Hons)(Cork) MSc(Hons)(PIC) PhD(Otago)
Research summary
Bowel cancer

Research

Rachel is a Research Fellow with the Department of Surgery. She has a background in molecular biology and cancer genetics.

Her research is centred on the molecular mechanisms of pathogenic bacteria in colorectal carcinogenesis.

Rachel's current research projects include investigating the effect of the gut microbiome on radiotherapy response in rectal cancer, microbiome-based markers of diverticular disease and molecular classification of colorectal cancer.

Publications

Glyn, T., Williams, S., Whitehead, M., Eglinton, T., West, N., & Purcell, R. V. (2024). Digital spatial profiling identifies molecular changes involved in development of colitis-associated colorectal cancer. Frontiers in Oncology, 14, 1247106. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1247106

Ajithkumar, P., Gimenez, G., Stockwell, P. A., Almomani, S., Bowden, S. A., Leichter, A. L., … Pattison, S., … Frizelle, F. A., Eccles, M. R., Purcell, R. V., Rodger, E. J., & Chatterjee, A. (2024). DNA methylome and transcriptome maps of primary colorectal cancer and matched liver metastasis. Data, 9(1), 8. doi: 10.3390/data9010008

Sulit, A. K., Daigneault, M., Allen-Vercoe, E., Silander, O. K., Hock, B., McKenzie, J., Pearson, J., Frizelle, F. A., Schmeier, S., & Purcell, R. (2023). Bacterial lipopolysaccharide modulates immune response in the colorectal tumor microenvironment. npj Biofilms & Microbiomes, 9, 59. doi: 10.1038/s41522-023-00429-w

Kolisnik, T., Sulit, A. K., Schmeier, S., Frizelle, F., Purcell, R., Smith, A., & Silander, O. (2023). Identifying important microbial and genomic biomarkers for differentiating right- versus left-sided colorectal cancer using random forest models. BMC Cancer, 23, 647. doi: 10.1186/s12885-023-10848-9

Rodger, E. J., Gimenez, G., Ajithkumar, P., Stockwell, P. A., Almomani, S., Bowden, S. A., Leichter, A. L., Ahn, A., Pattison, S., McCall, J. L., … Frizelle, F. A., Eccles, M. R., Purcell, R. V., & Chatterjee, A. (2023). An epigenetic signature of advanced colorectal cancer metastasis. iScience, 26(6), 106986. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106986

Purcell, R. V. (2020). Bacteroides fragilis. In M. H. Floch (Ed.), Colorectal neoplasia and the colorectal microbiome: Dysplasia, probiotics, and fusobacteria. (pp. 57-77). London, UK: Academic Press. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-819672-4.00004-0

Chapter in Book - Research

Ajithkumar, P., Gimenez, G., Stockwell, P. A., Almomani, S., Bowden, S. A., Leichter, A. L., … Pattison, S., … Frizelle, F. A., Eccles, M. R., Purcell, R. V., Rodger, E. J., & Chatterjee, A. (2024). DNA methylome and transcriptome maps of primary colorectal cancer and matched liver metastasis. Data, 9(1), 8. doi: 10.3390/data9010008

Journal - Research Article

Glyn, T., Williams, S., Whitehead, M., Eglinton, T., West, N., & Purcell, R. V. (2024). Digital spatial profiling identifies molecular changes involved in development of colitis-associated colorectal cancer. Frontiers in Oncology, 14, 1247106. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1247106

Journal - Research Article

Kolisnik, T., Sulit, A. K., Schmeier, S., Frizelle, F., Purcell, R., Smith, A., & Silander, O. (2023). Identifying important microbial and genomic biomarkers for differentiating right- versus left-sided colorectal cancer using random forest models. BMC Cancer, 23, 647. doi: 10.1186/s12885-023-10848-9

Journal - Research Article

Lee, M. S., Purcell, R., McCombie, A., Frizelle, F., & Eglinton, T. (2023). Retrospective cohort study of the impact of faecoliths on the natural history of acute appendicitis. World Journal of Emergency Surgery, 18, 18. doi: 10.1186/s13017-023-00486-8

Journal - Research Article

Lee, M. S., Thomas, A., Pearson, J. F., Purcell, R., Frizelle, F., & Glyn, T. (2023). Risk of colorectal cancer in patients with appendicitis over the age of 40 years. Colorectal Disease, 25, 624-630. doi: 10.1111/codi.16429

Journal - Research Article

Rodger, E. J., Gimenez, G., Ajithkumar, P., Stockwell, P. A., Almomani, S., Bowden, S. A., Leichter, A. L., Ahn, A., Pattison, S., McCall, J. L., … Frizelle, F. A., Eccles, M. R., Purcell, R. V., & Chatterjee, A. (2023). An epigenetic signature of advanced colorectal cancer metastasis. iScience, 26(6), 106986. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106986

Journal - Research Article

Sulit, A. K., Daigneault, M., Allen-Vercoe, E., Silander, O. K., Hock, B., McKenzie, J., Pearson, J., Frizelle, F. A., Schmeier, S., & Purcell, R. (2023). Bacterial lipopolysaccharide modulates immune response in the colorectal tumor microenvironment. npj Biofilms & Microbiomes, 9, 59. doi: 10.1038/s41522-023-00429-w

Journal - Research Article

Sulit, A. K., Wilson, K., Pearson, J., Silander, O. K., Sampurno, S., Michael, M., … Frizelle, F., & Purcell, R. V. (2023). Human gene and microbial analyses in rectal cancer complete responses to radiotherapy. BJS Open, 7(3), zrad035. doi: 10.1093/bjsopen/zrad035

Journal - Research Article

Thompson, N., Gatenby, G., Waddell, O., Purcell, R., Keenan, J., Pearson, J. F., Frizelle, F., & Glyn, T. (2023). Early onset colorectal cancer in Canterbury, New Zealand. ANZ Journal of Surgery, 93, 2148-2154. doi: 10.1111/ans.18357

Journal - Research Article

Aitchison, A., Pearson, J. F., Purcell, R. V., Frizelle, F. A., & Keenan, J. I. (2022). Detection of Fusobacterium nucleatum DNA in primary care patient stool samples does not predict progression of colorectal neoplasia. PLoS ONE, 17(6), e0269541. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269541

Journal - Research Article

Curio, S., Edwards, S. C., Suzuki, T., McGovern, J., Triulzi, C., Yoshida, N., … Purcell, R. V., … Guerra, N. (2022). NKG2D signaling regulates IL-17A-producing γδT cells in mice to promote cancer progression. Discovery Immunology, 1, kyac002. doi: 10.1093/discim/kyac002

Journal - Research Article

O'Grady, M. J., Turner, G. A., Sulit, A., Frizelle, F. A., & Purcell, R. (2022). Distinct changes in the colonic microbiome associated with acute diverticulitis. Colorectal Disease, 24, 1591-1601. doi: 10.1111/codi.16271

Journal - Research Article

Purcell, R. V., Permain, J., & Keenan, J. I. (2022). Enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis activates IL-8 expression through Stat3 in colorectal cancer cells. Gut Pathogens, 14, 16. doi: 10.1186/s13099-022-00489-x

Journal - Research Article

Turner, G., O'Grady, M., Hudson, D., Morgan, X., Frizelle, F., & Purcell, R. (2022). Rectal swabs are a reliable method of assessing the colonic microbiome. International Journal of Medical Microbiology, 312(2), 151549. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmm.2022.151549

Journal - Research Article

Lau, Y. C., Schmeier, S., Frizelle, F., & Purcell, R. (2021). Consensus molecular subtypes of primary colon tumors and their hepatic metastases. Future Science OA, 7(7), FSO722. doi: 10.2144/fsoa-2021-0021

Journal - Research Article

Turner, G. A., O'Grady, M. J., Senadeera, S. C., Wakeman, C. J., McCombie, A., Purcell, R. V., & Frizelle, F. A. (2021). The prevalence of right-sided colonic diverticulosis in a New Zealand population. ANZ Journal of Surgery, 91, 2110-2114. doi: 10.1111/ans.16995

Journal - Research Article

O'Grady, M., Clarke, L., Turner, G., Doogue, M., Purcell, R., Pearson, J., & Frizelle, F. (2020). Statin use and risk of acute diverticulitis: A population-based case-control study. Medicine, 99(20), e20264. doi: 10.1097/md.0000000000020264

Journal - Research Article

O'Grady, M., Turner, G., Currie, W., Yi, M., Frizelle, F., & Purcell, R. (2020). Acute diverticulitis: An ongoing economic burden on the health system. ANZ Journal of Surgery, 90, 2046-2049. doi: 10.1111/ans.16234

Journal - Research Article

Taylor, W. S., Pearson, J., Miller, A., Schmeier, S., Frizelle, F. A., & Purcell, R. V. (2020). MinION sequencing of colorectal cancer tumour microbiomes: A comparison with amplicon-based and RNA-sequencing. PLoS ONE, 15(5), e0233170. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0233170

Journal - Research Article

Purcell, R. V., Schmeier, S., Lau, Y. C., Pearson, J. F., & Frizelle, F. A. (2019). Molecular subtyping improves prognostication of Stage 2 colorectal cancer. BMC Cancer, 19(1), 1155. doi: 10.1186/s12885-019-6327-4

Journal - Research Article

Stevens, A. J., Purcell, R. V., Darling, K. A., Eggleston, M. J. F., Kennedy, M. A., & Rucklidge, J. J. (2019). Human gut microbiome changes during a 10 week randomised control trial for micronutrient supplementation in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Scientific Reports, 9, 10128. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-46146-3

Journal - Research Article

Purcell, R. V., Kaakoush, N. O., Mitchell, H. M., Pearson, J. F., & Keenan, J. I. (2018). Gastrointestinal pathobionts in pediatric Crohn's disease patients. International Journal of Microbiology, 2018, 9203908. doi: 10.1155/2018/9203908

Journal - Research Article

Purcell, R. V., Pearson, J., Aitchison, A., Dixon, L., Frizelle, F. A., & Keenan, J. I. (2017). Colonization with enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis is associated with early-stage colorectal neoplasia. PLoS ONE, 12(2), e0171602. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171602

Journal - Research Article

Purcell, R. V., Visnovska, M., Biggs, P. J., Schmeier, S., & Frizelle, F. A. (2017). Distinct gut microbiome patterns associate with consensus molecular subtypes of colorectal cancer. Scientific Reports, 7, 11590. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-11237-6

Journal - Research Article

Keenan, J. I., Aitchison, A., Purcell, R. V., Greenlees, R., Pearson, J. F., & Frizelle, F. A. (2016). Screening for enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis in stool samples. Anaerobe, 40, 50-53. doi: 10.1016/j.anaerobe.2016.05.004

Journal - Research Article

Purcell, R. V., Pearson, J., Frizelle, F. A., & Keenan, J. I. (2016). Comparison of standard, quantitative and digital PCR in the detection of enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis. Scientific Reports, 6, 34554. doi: 10.1038/srep34554

Journal - Research Article

Chatterjee, A., Leichter, A. L., Fan, V., Tsai, P., Purcell, R. V., Sullivan, M. J., & Eccles, M. R. (2015). A cross comparison of technologies for the detection of microRNAs in clinical FFPE samples of hepatoblastoma patients. Scientific Reports, 5, 10438. doi: 10.1038/srep10438

Journal - Research Article

Leichter, A. L., Purcell, R. V., Sullivan, M. J., Eccles, M. R., & Chatterjee, A. (2015). Multi-platform microRNA profiling of hepatoblastoma patients using formalin fixed paraffin embedded archival samples. GigaScience, 4, 54. doi: 10.1186/s13742-015-0099-9

Journal - Research Article

Purcell, R., Childs, M., Maibach, R., Miles, C., Turner, C., Zimmermann, A., … Sullivan, M. (2012). Potential biomarkers for hepatoblastoma: Results from the SIOPEL-3 study. European Journal of Cancer, 48(12), 1853-1859. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2011.10.019

Journal - Research Article

Purcell, R., Childs, M., Maibach, R., Miles, C., Turner, C., Zimmermann, A., & Sullivan, M. (2011). HGF/c-Met related activation of β-catenin in hepatoblastoma. Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research, 30, 96. doi: 10.1186/1756-9966-30-96

Journal - Research Article

Glyn, T., & Purcell, R. (2022). Circulating bacterial DNA: A new paradigm for cancer diagnostics [Mini review]. Frontiers in Medicine, 9, 831096. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.831096

Journal - Research Other

Noble, A. J., Purcell, R. V., Adams, A. T., Lam, Y. K., Ring, P. M., Anderson, J. R., & Osborne, A. J. (2022). A final frontier in environment-genome interactions? Integrated, multi-omic approaches to predictions of non-communicable disease risk. Frontiers in Genetics, 13, 831866. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.831866

Journal - Research Other

Shelling, A. N., Bicknell, L. S., Bohlander, S. S., Cox, M. P., Filoche, S. K., Fraser, H. G., … Te Aika, B., Purcell, R. V., & Tiller, J. M. (2022). Genomic discrimination in New Zealand health and life insurance: AGenDA: Against Genomic Discrimination in Aotearoa. New Zealand Medical Journal, 135(1551), 7-12. Retrieved from https://www.nzma.org.nz/journal

Journal - Research Other

Turner, G. A., O'Grady, M. J., Purcell, R. V., & Frizelle, F. A. (2022). Acute diverticulitis in young patients: A review of the changing epidemiology and etiology. Digestive Diseases & Sciences, 67, 1156-1162. doi: 10.1007/s10620-021-06956-w

Journal - Research Other

Turner, G. A., O'Grady, M. J., Purcell, R. V., & Frizelle, F. A. (2021). The epidemiology and etiology of right-sided colonic diverticulosis: A review. Annals of Coloproctology, 37(4), 196-203. doi: 10.3393/ac.2021.00192.0027

Journal - Research Other

Purcell, R. V., Hock, B. D., Gardner, J., Goddard, L., MacPherson, S. A., & McKenzie, J. L. (2019). Analysis of human papillomavirus infection and leukaemic infiltrate in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma from patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. British Journal of Haematology, 186(4), e67-e71. doi: 10.1111/bjh.15907

Journal - Research Other

Visnovska, T., Biggs, P. J., Schmeier, S., Frizelle, F. A., & Purcell, R. V. (2019). Metagenomics and transcriptomics data from human colorectal cancer [Data descriptor]. Scientific Data, 6(1), 116. doi: 10.1038/s41597-019-0117-3

Journal - Research Other

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