Rate My Professor Barry Hock

Dr Barry Hock serves as Scientific Officer and Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Pathology and Biomedical Science at the University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. He earned his BSc (Hons) and PhD from the University of Otago in 1995. A longstanding member of the Haematology Research Group since 1989, he is employed by the Canterbury District Health Board while holding an honorary position at the university. The group, established in 1981 within Christchurch Hospital's Haematology Department, specializes in the immunobiology of cancer and leukaemia to advance diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for malignant diseases. Hock's expertise encompasses advanced cell biology techniques, including flow cytometry, magnetic bead technology, T cell proliferation and cytotoxicity assays, ELISAs, cell membrane biochemistry, solid tissue cell suspensions, dendritic cell purification, immunohistochemistry, and mammalian cell culture. The group's research has received support from organizations such as the Bone Marrow Cancer Trust, Lottery Health, Genesis Oncology Trust, Leukaemia and Blood Foundation of NZ, Canterbury Medical Research Foundation, NZ Cancer Society, and the Robert McClelland Trust.

Hock's research interests center on myeloid-derived suppressor cells in cancer patients, mechanisms of immunosuppression by leukaemic cells, the tumor microenvironment, cancer immunotherapy, exercise effects on tumor growth and perfusion, the microbiome in colorectal carcinogenesis, and anti-drug antibodies impacting therapeutic monoclonals. His contributions include investigations into rheumatoid factors' effects on PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors, innate priming of tumor-associated macrophages, and microbiome-molecular pathway links in colorectal cancer. Key publications feature 'Impact of rheumatoid factors on the function of therapeutic monoclonals specific for PD-1/PD-L1' (2025, Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy), 'The role of innate priming in modifying tumor-associated macrophage phenotype' (2024, Frontiers in Bioscience - Landmark), 'Functional links between the microbiome and the molecular pathways of colorectal carcinogenesis' (2024, Cancer & Metastasis Reviews), 'Evaluation of the homogenous mobility shift assay for infliximab and adalimumab anti-drug antibody detection' (2024, Therapeutic Drug Monitoring), and 'Effect of post-implant exercise on tumour growth rate, perfusion and hypoxia in mice' (2020). With approximately 2,300 citations from 86 publications, his work significantly influences immunology and oncology.