Professor Cristin Print

BHB, MBChB, PhD

Professor

In: Molecular Medicine and Pathology » Medical Science » Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences

Biography

I graduated in Medicine from the University of Auckland in 1989 and began research while working as a house surgeon in Dunedin, New Zealand. A PhD in the University of Auckland led to a four-year postdoctoral fellowship in the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia using genetic modification techniques to study development and cell death. I then spent six years in Cambridge University, United Kingdom, where I was a Fellow of St Edmunds College and developed a deep interest in genomics and bioinformatics. While there, I was co-founder of a bioinformatics biotechnology company that worked in the United Kingdom, Japan and China and became listed on the Tokyo stock exchange in 2007.

In late 2005 I returned to the University of Auckland. Since then I have enjoyed leading a cross-disciplinary research team of clinicians, biologists, data scientists and statisticians who use genomics, systems biology and bioinformatics to better understand human disease, especially cancer. I have published 120 peer-reviewed papers, which have been cited ~5,000 times.

I currently lead the Genomics Into Medicine Strategic Research Initiative in Auckland and Chair the Auckland Regional Tissue Bank Scientific Advisory Board. I am a Director of the New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) and is Vice President of the Auckland Museum Institute (the Auckland branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Te Apārangi), a Principle Investigator in the Maurice Wilkins Centre and a member of the Science Leadership Team of the 'Healthier Lives' National Science Challenge. Previously, I have been President of the NZ Society for Oncology and Director of the Bioinformatics Institute at the University of Auckland.

Research | Current

Research group

Bioinformatics of Disease

Research interests

Clinical Genomics
Bioinformatics
Systems Biology
Cancer

Teaching | Current

MBCHB 221: MBChB Part II: Principles of Medicine module (Coordinator)

PHARMACY 211: Applied Science for Pharmacy

MEDSCI 203: Mechanisms of Disease

BIOINF 301: Introduction to Bioinformatics

MEDSCI 101G: Environmental Threats to Human Health

MEDSCI 731: Advanced Reproductive Biology

Postgraduate supervision

Currently primary supervisor for 4 PhD students and one MD student, in the fields of bioinformatics, cancer genomics and genomic cancer pathology

Distinctions/Honours

1993 New Zealand Society for Oncology Eli Lily prize in Oncology

1994 Auckland Medical Research Society Graduate Research Award

1995 Australian and New Zealand Microcirculation Society Colin Courtice

Young Investigators Award

1999 Wellcome Trust Population Studies Fellowship, UK

2000-2005 Fellow of St Edmund’s College in Cambridge, UK

2007 Visiting Professorial Fellowship, School of Paediatrics and Reproductive
Health, Adelaide University, Australia

2013-2015 President of The New Zealand Society for Oncology

2015 Rotary, Paul Harris Award (recognising generation of a program of
translational oncology fellowships)

Responsibilities

2011- present Member of the editorial board ofFrontiers in Cancer Genetics

2011- present Member of the editorial board ofFrontiers in Pharmacogenetics

2015- present Chair of the Auckland Regional Tissue Bank Scientific Board

2015- present Principle Investigator, Maurice Wilkins Centre

2015- present Member of the Science Leadership Team, 'Healthier Lives' National
Science Challenge

2017-present Vice President of the Auckland Museum Institute Council and Auckland
Branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand

2017- present Member of Board of Directors of the Crown Research Institute ESR

2017- present Lead of University of Auckland Genomics Into Medicine Program

Areas of expertise

Genomics, Bioinformatics and Cancer Research

Committees/Professional groups/Services

2015- present New Zealand eScience Infrastructure Research Reference Group

2015- present University of Auckland eResearch Advisory Board

2017- present Science Leadership Team, Genomics Aotearoa

Selected publications and creative works (Research Outputs)

McKeown, C., Connors, S., Stapleton, R., Morgan, T., Hayes, I., Neas, K., ... Tsai, P. (2018). A pilot study of exome sequencing in a diverse New Zealand cohort with undiagnosed disorders and cancer. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 48 (4), 262-279. 10.1080/03036758.2018.1464033
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Ben Lawrence, Peter Tsai, Cherie Blenkiron, Sandra Fitzgerald
Campbell, H., Fleming, N., Roth, I., Mehta, S., Wiles, A., Williams, G., ... Pajic, M. (2018). ∆133p53 isoform promotes tumour invasion and metastasis via interleukin-6 activation of JAK-STAT and RhoA-ROCK signalling. Nature communications, 9 (1)10.1038/s41467-017-02408-0
Thomas, A., Routh, E. D., Pullikuth, A., Jin, G., Su, J., Chou, J. W., ... Black, M. A. (2018). Tumor mutational burden is a determinant of immune-mediated survival in breast cancer. Oncoimmunology, 7 (10)10.1080/2162402X.2018.1490854
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Nicholas Knowlton
Lawrence, B., Blenkiron, C., Parker, K., Tsai, P., Fitzgerald, S., Shields, P., ... James, S. (2018). Recurrent loss of heterozygosity correlates with clinical outcome in pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer. NPJ genomic medicine, 310.1038/s41525-018-0058-3
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Kimiora Henare, Ben Lawrence, Cherie Blenkiron, Vicky Fan, Marianne Elston, Papaarangi Reid, John Windsor, Adam Bartlett, Nicholas Knowlton, Tamsin Robb, Braden Woodhouse, Nooriyan Poonawala-Lohani, Michael Findlay, Andrew MacCormick, Peter Tsai, Sandra Fitzgerald
Harris, G., O'Toole S, George, P., Browett, P., & Print, C. (2017). Massive parallel sequencing of solid tumours - Challenges and opportunities for pathologists. Histopathology, 70 (1), 123-133. 10.1111/his.13067
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/44507
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Peter Browett
Mehta, S., Tsai, P., Lasham, A., Campbell, H., Reddel, R., Braithwaite, A., & Print, C. (2016). A study of TP53 RNA splicing illustrates pitfalls of RNA-seq methodology. Cancer Research, 76 (24), 7151-7159. 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-16-1624
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/44506
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Annette Lasham, Peter Tsai
Mann, M. B., Black, M. A., Jones, D. J., Ward, J. M., Yew, C. C. K., Newberg, J. Y., ... Mcmahon, M. (2015). Transposon mutagenesis identifies genetic drivers of Braf V600E melanoma. Nature Genetics, 47 (5), 486-495. 10.1038/ng.3275
Hurley, D. G., Cursons, J., Wang, Y. K., Budden, D. M., Print, C. G., & Crampin, E. J. (2015). NAIL, a software toolset for inferring, analyzing and visualizing regulatory networks. Bioinformatics (Oxford, England), 31 (2), 277-278. 10.1093/bioinformatics/btu612