Presently, I specialise in molecular cancer research, with expertise in cancer genetics, human molecular genetics, and developmental genetics. My research background involves gene and chromosome mapping, epigenetic studies of gene regulation, and impacts on cell behaviour of gene expression. I head the Developmental Genetics and Pathology Laboratory in the Pathology Department, Dunedin School of Medicine, and am currently very interested in genetic, environmental, and epigenetic mechanisms of cancer in relation to developmental biology and cancer / overgrowth diseases.
My research for some years has been focused on PAX genes in development and cancer / overgrowth diseases, and I have also have a continuing focus on epigenetics / genomic imprinting research in childhood cancer. More recently I have been turning my attention to melanoma. I am a founding member of both MelNet, a network of melanoma professionals in NZ, and of NZORD, the NZ Organisation for Rare Diseases.
Current research interests are to:
- Identify genomic and epigenomic features characterising metastatic versus primary melanomas
- Investigate transcriptomic and signalling pathways cooperating with PAX genes in promoting tumourigenesis