Rate My Professor Alan Aitchison

Dr Alan Aitchison serves as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Otago Christchurch, part of the Faculty of Medicine within the Health Sciences Division. His expertise encompasses molecular biology and cell biology. Before relocating to New Zealand, Aitchison worked at Cambridge University. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Otago in 2020, with a doctoral thesis titled 'E-cadherin and APC in early-onset colorectal cancer'. Throughout his doctoral studies and postdoctoral research, Aitchison has contributed to investigations into the molecular underpinnings of colorectal cancer and the influence of gut microbiota on intestinal health.

Aitchison's key publications include 'CDH1 gene mutation in early-onset, colorectal signet-ring cell carcinoma' (2020), 'APC Mutations Are Not Confined to Hotspot Regions in Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer' (2020, Cancers), 'Detection of Fusobacterium nucleatum DNA in primary care patient faecal samples' (2022, PLOS ONE), 'Bovine colostrum demonstrates anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activity in in vitro models of intestinal inflammation and infection' (2017), 'PCR Detection of the Bacteroides fragilis Enterotoxin Gene Relies on Robust Primer Design' (2015), 'Colonization with enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis is associated with early-onset colorectal cancer' (2017), 'Mean telomere length is not associated with current health status in a 50-year-old population sample' (2021), 'Copy number variants implicate cardiac function and development genes in congenital heart defects' (2018, Scientific Reports), 'Detection of Chitinase 3-Like 1 in Symptomatic Primary Care Patient Faecal Samples' (2023), and 'The emerging roles of intestinal organoid models in inflammatory bowel disease' (2026, Expert Review of Gastroenterology & Hepatology). These works reflect his focus on genetic mutations in early-onset colorectal cancers, bacterial pathogens in the gut, and in vitro models of intestinal disease.