Rate My Professor Ben Peters

Dr Ben Peters serves as a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Otago, within the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Health Sciences Division. He earned his PhD from the University of Otago in December 2018, graduating alongside a record number of Biochemistry PhD candidates that year. His doctoral thesis, titled "Investigation into the transcriptional regulation of DUO1: determining the fate of the male germline in flowering plants," examined cis-regulatory modules and transcriptional control in plant reproductive development, particularly the male germline. Supervised by Associate Professor Lynette Brownfield, his PhD research advanced understanding of gene regulation in flowering plants. As a PhD student, he received the Michael McManus Award for Best Student Paper in 2017 from the New Zealand Society of Plant Biologists, recognizing his contributions to plant biology.

Peters has authored several publications in molecular and developmental biology, including "Discovery of a cis-regulatory element SaeM involved in dynamic regulation of synergid-specific MYB98" (2023), "The meiotic regulator JASON utilizes alternative translation initiation sites to produce differentially localized forms" (2017), "A cis-regulatory module in the transcription factor DUO1 promoter" (2016), and the chapter "Identification of Cis-Regulatory Modules that Function in the Male Germline of Flowering Plants" (2017). These works have accumulated 27 citations. In his current teaching role, he co-convenes BIOC351 Advanced Protein Biochemistry with Professor Catherine Day and BIOC352 Advanced Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics with Associate Professor Anita Dunbier. He contributes significantly to undergraduate practical teaching, including BIOC192 Foundations of Biochemistry laboratories alongside Dr Nicole Power. Peters excels in science outreach and engagement, leading hands-on biochemistry experiments for high school students during Hands On At Otago (2023 and 2025), Pacific Island school groups (2021), rangatahi at Molecular Magic workshops during Science Wānanga (2023), and demonstrations like pansy infiltrations and DNA sequencing at the New Zealand International Science Festival (2025). As the Department of Biochemistry's Pacific Island Liaison in the Division of Sciences, he promotes access for Pacific students. His teaching excellence earned him the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences Distinguished Professional Practice Fellow/Teaching Fellow award in 2025. Additionally, he won a Lifeology science communication challenge for developing educational content.