Who are we?
We are a translational research centre based in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at the University of Otago, Wellington. Our research is dedicated to understanding and improving health and disease outcomes for New Zealanders.
Co-Directors
- Dr Michelle Thunders
- Dr Aaron Stevens
Staff
- Dr Yee Syuen Lee
- Fenella Rich
- Dr Annika Seddon
PhD students
- Andrew Wilson
- Lucy Picard
Key research areas
Molecular Pathology
- Focus on understanding the molecular basis of cancer development and metastasis
- Using cell lines to model cancer pathogenesis and understand how environmental factors such as inflammation can act to drive cancer development
- Looking at influence of lifestyle, wellness and comorbidities on disease progression, specifically cancer, neurological disorders (ADHD and perinatal depression) and microbiome dysfunction
- Exploring impact of environmental stressors (toxins, immune derived oxidants, diet and stress) on gene expression and function
Precision Medicine
Harnessing NGS technology to characterise and understand cancer subtypes to aid in prognosis and treatment choice in kidney cancer and in B cell malignancies. This project is designed to better meet the needs of the end users, this includes the clinical specialists who will input into the panel design so the panel is informed by, and of relevance to, their daily practice in NZ. This is also vital to the diagnostic laboratories who are currently overwhelmed and do not have sufficient resources or capacity to carry out necessary research to employ new diagnostic solutions
Current projects
- Characterisation of clear cell renal cell carcinoma subtypes, progression and metastasis drivers
- Understanding the inflammatory drivers of disease development
- Perinatal depression and the microbiome
- Development of lab ready NGS panels for routine cancer prognostics and treatment choice
- Next generation sequencing diagnostic/prognostic-based solutions for cancer in New Zealand
Our work is currently funded by
- Health Research Council
- Research for Life (Wellington)
- Cancer Society (Wellington division)
- LifeBlood Chari