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Principal Investigator

Dr Megan LeaskMegan Leask image

Email megan.leask@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 556 5243
Department of Physiology website

Research interests

I lead the Equity iN Health And Non-Coding Elements (ENHANCE) lab. The ENHANCE lab research projects aim to assign function to genetic variants that are associated with health and disease using bioinformatics, zebrafish and cell assays. We work with Māori and Pacific genetic data to identify clinically-relevant genetic variants that are unique to Māori and Pacific people and we focus on conditions that affect women and are underrepresented in the research space. The long-term outcomes of our work has the potential to reduce health disparities and improve genetic equity in these underrepresented groups.

Current and proposed projects

  • The non-coding regulatory landscape of gout and metabolic disease
  • Circadian mechanisms underpinning metabolic disease
  • Māori and Pacific peoples unique genetics
  • Gene regulatory mechanisms in the brain and ovary for PCOS

Clinical conditions

  • Gout
  • PCOS
  • Other polygenic cardiometabolic conditions

ENHANCE Laboratory staff and students

Caleb Calhoun, PhD studentCaleb Calhoun image
Email calca454@student.otago.ac.nz

Dr Hannah Darroch, Postdoctoral FellowHannah Darroch image
Email hannah.darroch@otago.ac.nz

Dr Oluwatobi Eboda, Postdoctoral FellowOluwatobi Eboda image
Email oluwatobi.eboda@otago.ac.nz

Daniel Lyth profile imageDaniel Lyth, PhD student
Email lytda411@student.otago.ac.nz

Milly Morice, PhD studentMilly Morice image
Email mormi526@student.otago.ac.nz

Ben Rangihuna profile imageBen Rangihuna, Assistant Research Fellow
Email ben.rangihuna@otago.ac.nz

Selina Williams.Selina Williams, PhD student
Email wilse899@student.otago.ac.nz

Dr Calvin Young, Postdoctoral FellowCalvin Young image
Email calvin.young@otago.ac.nz

Eilish Dalley, MSc student

Bree Holloway, MSc student

Temoe Neuffer, BBioMedSci student

Research funders

Publications

Young, C. K., Darroch, H., & Leask, M. P. (2026, February). Probing the function of neural jazf1 with whole-brain imaging and RNA-seq in the larval zebrafish. Poster session presented at the Genetics Otago (GO) Annual Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Poster Presentation (not in published proceedings)

Calhoun, C., Darroch, H., Hussain, R., Morice, M., Lalonde, R., Mosimann, C., Horsfield, J., & Leask, M. (2026, February). Functional characterisation of Polynesian-enriched non-coding variants utilizing a novel method of zebrafish transgenesis. Verbal presentation at the Genetics Otago (GO) Annual Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Toomata, Z. L., Leask, M. P., Dalbeth, N., Stamp, L. K., de Zoysa, J., Merriman, T. R., Wilcox, P., Dewes, O., & Murphy, R. (2025). Misclassified latent autoimmune diabetes in adults within Māori and Pacific adults with type 2 diabetes in Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand Medical Journal/Te ara tika o te hauora hapori, 138(1626), 49-61. doi: 10.26635/6965.6989 Journal - Research Article

Lyth, D., & Leask, M. (2025). Gouty inflammation: Genetic mechanisms towards flare therapy. Current Opinion in Rheumatology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1097/bor.0000000000001119 Journal - Research Other

Shepherd, P., Wilcox, P., Leask, M., Dissanayake, W., Murphy, R., & Watson, H. (2025, February). Metabolic Health: Overview of how integrated Metabolic Health Flagship programme works and overall progress to date. Verbal presentation at the Maurice Wilkins Centre (MWC) Research Symposium, Auckland, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

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