Lynn Ferguson

Lynn is the Director of  Nutrigenomics New Zealand  as well as the Director of Mutagen Testing, Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre (ACSRC) and the Head of the Discipline of Nutrition in the University of Auckland.
Background
Professor Lynnette R. Ferguson is the program leader of the newly-formed New Zealand National Centre for Research Excellence in Nutrigenomics (Nutrigenomics New Zealand or NuNZ). She is also Head of the discipline of Nutrition in the University of Auckland, while retaining a role as Director of Mutagen Testing, in association with the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre (ACSRC). 
After completing an MSc (hons.) from the University of Auckland, she obtained her D.Phil. from Oxford University in the UK.  On her return to New Zealand, she became a Medical Research Council post-Doctoral fellow, at the University of Auckland School of Medicine.  After 3 years, she took initially a research fellowship, then became a Research career fellow with the Auckland Cancer Society.  In more recent years, she has held a dual appointment with the Auckland Cancer Society and the University of Auckland.
Lynn is Editor of Special Issues of Mutation Research and the Australasian Editor of Mutation Research:  Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms.  She is also on the Editorial Board and/or does regular reviewing for several other journals in the field of nutritional carcinogenesis.  She is the author or co-author of more than 200 original refereed publications, plus numerous book chapters and conference proceedings. She is frequently invited overseas to give invited lectures at international conferences, especially in the area of diet and cancer.
Research Interests
Lynn's doctoral thesis was on the subject of DNA damage and DNA repair in yeast.
In more recent years, she has extended that work to studies of the nature and causes of mutation and carcinogenesis, with particular focus on the New Zealand situation.  A close collaboration with the anticancer drug developers in the Cancer Research laboratory led to a number of fundamental studies on the nature of DNA interactions and DNA damage by novel anticancer drugs, and the mechanisms of mutagenesis by these drugs.  These studies led into questions on the likelihood of carcinogenesis by the drugs, and the relationships between mutation and cancer.

Given that some of the major cancers that are highly represented in New Zealand are those associated with dietary causes, much of her basic research in recent years has focused on understanding the role of diet in cancer.   She has particular interests in ways of protecting against cancer, including a series of publications on dietary fibre and plant polyphenols as cancer protective agents.  With her recent expansion into the area of nutritional genomics, she will also be studying nutrient-gene interactions in the area of inflammatory bowel disease.  This is itself a significant risk factor for cancer.
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