Dr Jonathan William Astin

BSc (Hons), PhD

Senior Lecturer

In: Medical Science » Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences

Senior Research Fellow

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

Research | Current

My research focuses on understanding how vascular development is regulated. My research utilises the zebrafish model of vertebrate development which has transgenic tools that allow us to visulise the developing lymphatic and blood vessels. We couple high-resolution in vivo imaging with both forward and reverse genetics, to uncover how blood and lymphatic vessels form in the developing embryo.

Recent research highlights:

1) Producing the first "atlas" describing all the lymphatic vessels in the zebrafish larvae

2) Identifying a new mechanism of lymphatic vessel development involving a non-venous lymphatic progenitor.

Teaching | Current

BIOSCI 356 Developmental Biology and Cancer

MEDSCI 302 Cancer Biology

MEDSCI 704 Stem Cells and Development (Course Director)

MEDSCI 720 Biomedical Research Techniques

Postgraduate supervision

Denver Britto - PhD candidate

Grace Borichevsky - MBiomedSc candidate

Annie Yang - MBiomedSc candidate

Janet Reid - BBiomedSc(Hons) candidate

Areas of expertise

Developmental Biology

Vascular Biology

Cell Migration

Genetics

Zebrafish

Committees/Professional groups/Services

North American Vascular Biology Organisation (NAVBO)

Australia and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology (ANZSCDB)

Selected publications and creative works (Research Outputs)

Eng, T. C., Chen, W., Okuda, K. S., Misa, J. P., Padberg, Y., Crosier, K. E., ... Hogan, B. M. (2019). Zebrafish facial lymphatics develop through sequential addition of venous and non-venous progenitors. EMBO reports, 20 (5).10.15252/embr.201847079
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Wenxuan Chen, Christopher Hall
Britto, D. D., Wyroba, B., Chen, W., Lockwood, R. A., Tran, K. B., Shepherd, P. R., ... Astin, J. W. (2018). Macrophages enhance Vegfa-driven angiogenesis in an embryonic zebrafish tumour xenograft model. Disease models & mechanisms, 11 (12).10.1242/dmm.035998
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/46170
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Khanh Tran, Christopher Hall, Wenxuan Chen
Hall, C. J., Sanderson, L. E., Lawrence, L. M., Pool, B., van der Kroef, M., Ashimbayeva, E., ... Astin, J. W. (2018). Blocking fatty acid-fueled mROS production within macrophages alleviates acute gouty inflammation. The Journal of clinical investigation, 128 (5), 1752-1771. 10.1172/JCI94584
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/43037
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Nicola Dalbeth, Christopher Hall, Bregina Pool
Nicenboim, J., Malkinson, G., Lupo, T., Asaf, L., Sela, Y., Mayseless, O., ... Shin, M. (2015). Lymphatic vessels arise from specialized angioblasts within a venous niche. Nature, 522 (7554), 56-61. 10.1038/nature14425
Astin, J., Jamieson, S., Eng, T., Flores, M., Misa, J., Chien, A., ... Crosier, P. (2014). An in vivo antilymphatic screen in zebrafish identifies novel inhibitors of mammalian lymphangiogenesis and lymphatic-mediated metastasis. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, 13 (10), 2450-2462. 10.1158/1535-7163.mct-14-0469-t
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/34200
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Stephen Jamieson
Astin, J. W., Haggerty, M. J. L., Okuda, K. S., Le Guen, L., Misa, J. P., Tromp, A., ... Crosier, P. S. (2014). Vegfd can compensate for loss of Vegfc in zebrafish facial lymphatic sprouting. Development, 141 (13), 2680-2690. 10.1242/dev.106591
Coxam, B., Sabine, A., Bower, N. I., Smith, K. A., Pichol-Thievend, C., Skoczylas, R., ... Crosier, P. S. (2014). Pkd1 regulates lymphatic vascular morphogenesis during development. Cell Rep, 7 (3), 623-633. 10.1016/j.celrep.2014.03.063
Okuda, K. S., Astin, J. W., Misa, J. P., Flores, M. V., Crosier, K. E., & Crosier, P. S. (2012). lyve1 expression reveals novel lymphatic vessels and new mechanisms for lymphatic vessel development in zebrafish. Development, 139 (13), 2381-2391. 10.1242/dev.077701