Contact Details
- Phone
- +64 3 479 3040
- john.ashton@otago.ac.nz
- Position
- Associate Professor
- Department
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
- Qualifications
- BSc(Hons)(Well) PhD(Massey)
- Research summary
- Non-small cell lung cancer, focus on ALK+ lung cancer
- Teaching
- Pharmacology teaching to Science, Medical, Dental and Physiotherapy students
- Memberships
- ASCEPT
- Lung Foundation NZ
Research
Lung Cancer
Non-small cell lung cancer is difficult to treat and causes more cancer-related mortality than any other cancer in the developed world. Although lung cancer has been associated with smoking, the majority people with lung cancer are now non-smokers. Treatment has been revolutionised in recent years by the introduction of targeted therapies - such that life expectancy has been doubled for a sub-population of patients. My research is focused on lung cancer driven by mutations to the ALK protein, the mechanisms of action of drugs that target ALK, and mechanisms of cancer drug resistance.