TEAM
Professor Rod Dunbar
Team Leader
Dr Akshata Anchan
Research Fellow
Dr Alicia Didsbury
Research Fellow
Dr Daniel Verdon
Research Fellow
Dr Evert Jan Loef
Research Fellow
Dr Inken Kelch
Research Fellow
Dr Inken Kelch is a research fellow in the Dunbar laboratory and currently serves as the New Zealand councillor for the Australian and New Zealand Society for immunology (ASI). Inken is a SBS Sustainability group member and an Affiliate Investigator of the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery. Her research focuses on lymph node biology, 3D imaging & image processing, and cancer immunology. After graduating from the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, she completed her PhD in Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland and contributed to multiple projects involving human dendritic cells, novel cancer vaccines, and engineered skin during her postdoctoral training. Her current research employs novel 3D imaging technology and computational modelling to investigate how lymph node structure supports its function.
Dr Jennifer Eom
Research Fellow
Dr Jennifer Eom completed a PhD at University of Auckland, and has been working as a research fellow for Professsor Rod Dunbar’s group since 2019.Her primary research interest lies in dissecting the phenotypic and functional diversity of fibroblasts in human tissues using multi-parametric immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, and transcriptomic technologies. Fibroblasts play a key role in maintaining tissue architecture in healthy tissues, but become subverted in various disease conditions, such as cancer. Jennifer is particularly interested in investigating the relationship between fibroblasts and immune cells. Over the years, Jennifer has worked with human adipose derived mesenchymal stromal cells, skin and lymph node fibroblasts and cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs). Outside of work,she enjoys swimming and drawing.
Dr John Steemson
Research Fellow
Dr John Steemson is a Research Fellow working in the Dunbar lab. His research background is in genetics, protein science and biochemistry.John’s primary role is the supervision of the Dunbar Lab Clinical Operations team whereby they leverage their expertise in immune cell biology into commercial collaborations by providing international clients with sample processing and analytical services for clinical research projects.John is also part of a long term project in translational medicine in the cancer space, where they are establishing a GMP-grade cleanroom for the manufacture of autologous anti-cancer cell therapy products with an initial focus on melanoma.
Dr Lisa Zhou
Research Fellow
Dr Lisa Zhou is a research fellow in the Dunbar laboratory at the University of Auckland, and completed a PhD at the University of Otago in neuroscience. She is investigating how to engineer new 3D models of skin for in vivo testing of compounds and finding new technologies to translate these models into patients. Lisa’s technical expertise is in histology, flow cytometry, 3D cell culture and live cell imaging. When Lisa is not in the laboratory , she enjoys yoga and learning how to fly fish down at the river.
Dr Luis Munoz-Erazo
Research Fellow
Dr Luis Munoz – Erazo completed his PhD investigating viral immunopathology at the University of Sydney before undertaking postdoctoral roles at the University of Otago and the Malaghan Institute exploring colorectal (CRC) immune responses and the Th2 allergic immune response, respectively. Luis joined the Dunbar lab this year (2023) and continues to work on the CRC project, investigating tertiary lymphoid structures which have been shown to have positive prognostic associations in various cancers. By using histocytometric techniques he can segment and analyse individual cells from multiparametric microscopic images to identify cell populations of interest within these structures. In his spare time, he enjoys photography as well as hiking.
Dr Manuela Romano
Research Fellow
After studying Medical Biotechnology and Cancer Biology at the University of Naples and the University of Montpellier respectively, Dr Manuela Romano graduated with a PhD in Haematology investigating metabolic patterns in the erythroid differentiation of human haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs).Moving to New Zealand has contributed to a career shift towards her interest in life science R&D. First, as an Assistant Manager in a QC testing laboratory, and then joining a translational research project within the “Team T-cell” of Professor Dunbar’s group, for the development of cell therapy drug products for cancer treatment. Manuela is also a member of the ISCT (International Society of Cell and Gene Therapy) Early Stage Professionals Committee, actively contributing to the initiatives and goals of the society.Enthusiastic scientist since her first “homemade” chromatography experiment in middle school, Manuela has always been fascinated about how we can find a scientific answer to all questions of our everyday life. Avid traveller, curious about discovering different cultures, and fluently speaking 4 languages (Italian, Spanish, French, and English), she is also passionate about cake design.
Dr Saem Park
Research Fellow
Dr Saem Park is a postdoctoral research fellow at the School of Biological Sciences, the University of Auckland. Saem’s current research focuses on exploring the tumour microenvironment in human cancers using high-dimensional flow cytometry, tissue imaging, and spatial transcriptomics techniques. She is especially interested in investigating how various types of immune and stromal cells interact with tumour cells in different microenvironments using cutting-edge spatial biology tools.
Dr Shelly Lin
Research Fellow
Dr Shelly Lin is a research fellow with a primary focus in data analytics and pipeline development. Shelly specialises in automation of biological data processing, data management and data visualisations. She has worked in Professor Rod Dunbar’s group since the beginning of 2019, and has applied machine learning and data science techniques to assist discovery of interesting patterns in biological dataset, including high-dimensional flow cytometry and multiplex imaging. Shelly is currently involved in developing a pipeline for analysing spatial transcriptomics (Visium). She enjoys travelling and would like to go on a campervan trip around the country with her dog!
Dr Vaughan Feisst
Research Fellow
Dr Vaughan Feisst has worked in both commercial and academic research since completing his PhD in 2010. Vaughan’s research has focussed on skin engineering, growing skin in the laboratory to treat burn wounds, and understanding skin diseases with the goal of developing new treatments that will provide benefit to patients. He enjoys watching sunsets at the beach.
Ash Sargent
Research Assistant
Ash Sargent has been with the Dunbar group for just shy of five years now having completed a summer studentship with an adjoining lab group (Russel Snell’s lab) that led on to a master’s thesis with Professor Dunbar. Ash’s master’s thesis was focused on the interactions between TGFβ and T lymphocytes which was immediately followed by a years stint as a research assistant in Professsor Dunbar’s lab working within the context of clinical research performing PBMC preparations, ELI spot and intracellular flow cytometry, alongside general lab upkeep. Ash is currently working towards a PhD within the Dunbar group focused primarily on antigen presenting cells (APCs) and how they can be best utilised for development of an adoptive cell therapy product. His main scientific interests are around the optimisation of T cell stimulation for generation of a therapeutic product with a particular focus on the involvement of various co-stimulatory and suppressive molecules such as CD28, CD137, ICOS, PD-1, TIGIT, TIM-3, LAG-3 etc. Outside of the lab, Ash’s personal interests include slow smoked BBQ, woodworking, going to the gym and trying his best to get a full 8 hours of sleep at least once a week.
Jayden Gibson
Research Assistant
Jayden Gibson completed his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science at the University of Auckland, which is where he became interested in microbiology and immunology. Since completing a PGDIP , Jayden has realized he is more interested in the biology of immune cells, particularly DCs and T cells.Currently, Jayden is currently a masters student supervised by Dr. Evert J. Loef and Professor Rod Dunbar. His thesis project is investigating the role of plasminogen in antigen processing and presentation within the context of tumour immunology.In his spare time , he enjoys tramping, playing video games and (if he can get everyone to the table) playing board games with his mates.
Marcus Ooi
Research Assistant
Marcus Ooi is an honours student working under Professor Rod Dunbar and Dr. Saem Park as his supervisors. Marcus was born and raised in Auckland and started working in the lab late 2022 as an undergraduate student through the Science Scholars programme and he is currently finalising his work on his honours thesis. Marcus’ research area is digital pathology in the context of cancer immunology.His thesis project combines the traditional methods of studying protein expression through multiplex immunohistology with the latest developments of digital phenotyping and image analysis to investigate the spatial interactions between dendritic cells and T cells in normal and tumour-infiltrated lymphoid tissues. This project is a great example of his academic interests in studying the immune system in the context of the tumour microenvironment.
Rebecca Girvan
Research Assistant
Rebecca Girvan graduated with a B Sc (Tech) from Waikato University, then spent 20 years working in various NZ biotech enterprises – her skills include high throughput DNA sequencing, molecular biology, drug development, tissue culture, flow cytometry, clinical trial development & support, training, problem solving and admin. Rebecca’s current Lab Coordinator role draws on her previous experience while she actively supports our research and clinical processing in the Dunbar lab. Outside of work she utilises a lot of the same skills in parenting, organising social events, cooking & baking, volunteering, and trying out new activities.
Angel Guan
Research Assistant
Bhawana Prakash
Research Assistant
Bhawana Prakash anticipates graduating with her PhD shortly from Auckland University of Technology. Bhawana has submitted her dissertation and is waiting for her PhD defence to be scheduled. During her PhD,she focused on investigating the dynamics of uptake and retention of a novel lipid-based probe in an in vitro setting. Bhawana’s role in the Dunbar lab is as a research assistant working on clinical trial projects, 3D tumour models, and cancer immunology.
Heidi Robinson
Research Assistant
Heidi Robinson is a Research Assistant and a past honours student supervised by Professor Rod Dunbar and Dr Saem Park. Her honours dissertation was focused on optimising digital pathology techniques utilising immunohistochemistry on melanoma tissues to investigate spatial relationships and markers of activation and inhibition on CD8+ T cells. This work is ongoing in her role as a Research Assistant, but she is also involved in our clinical trial team and general lab management. Heidi is also very interestes in passing on her acquired knowledge, as evidenced by her work demonstrating lab-based courses at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level. Heidi’s academic interests are primarily T cell activation and regulation in tumour and autoimmunity contexts and the immunology of the tumour microenvironment. When she is not in the lab , you can probably find her cuddling with her dog and watching crime shows or working on her many ongoing craft projects!
Sophie Cook
Research Assistant
Sophie Cook grew up in rural Southland before attending the University of Waikato for her undergraduate degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology, where she also completed a Callaghan internship at a local biotech startup. Heidi moved to Auckland in order to complete an Honours in Biomedical Science at the Liggins Institute in 2022, where she worked on developing antibody inhibitors for growth hormone-dependent cancers as a member of the Perry lab.Sophie’s current role in the Dunbar lab is as a Research Assistant, working on ongoing clinical trial projects in collaboration with external commercial entities. In the future, she intends to do a PhD centred on the interactions of various immune cell subsets with tumour microenvironments.In her free time, she loves to explore the outdoors and, Auckland weather being what it is, she also brings nature into her home through houseplants and aquascapes. Heidi lives in the western suburbs with a growing collection of pets (and her partner!).
Victoria Pearson
Research Assistant
Victoria Pearson graduated with a BSc in Cellular and Molecular Biology, and an MSc in Medical Science, from the Uiversity of Auckland , then spent 20 years working in various biotech enterprises in NZ and the U.K. Her skills include molecular biology, drug development, plant and mammalian tissue culture, medical writing (in English) in France, enzyme, antibody and cell-based assays, flow cytometry, clinical trial development & support, training, problem solving and admin. Victoria’s current role draws on her previous experience, while she actively supports clinical processing and QA/QC, and our research, in the Dunbar lab.
TBC
Rachael Goldstone
Senior Research Programme Coordinator
As the primary Research Support person I provide budgetary and financial management support across the portfolio of projects in the Dunbar research group.
Tanisha Khan
Group Services Coordinator (Research)