Rate My Professor Christine Hawkins

Associate Professor Christine Hawkins serves in the Department of Biochemistry and Chemistry at La Trobe University, where she holds the position of Deputy Head of Department and leads the Cell Death Regulation in Cancer and Viral Infection research group at the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science. She completed a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Genetics at the University of Melbourne in 1991. Hawkins obtained her PhD at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and conducted postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology, both focusing on caspases and programmed cell death pathways such as apoptosis. Since 2006, she has been a laboratory head at La Trobe University, advancing to Associate Professor.

Hawkins' research specializes in the regulation of cell death mechanisms, including apoptosis and necroptosis, in cancer cells particularly osteosarcoma—a bone cancer affecting adolescents—and during viral infections. Her laboratory investigates strategies to overcome resistance to cell death in tumors, such as using IAP antagonists to sensitize osteosarcoma cells to TNFα killing and evaluating the DNA-damaging potential of necroptosis. Key publications include editing the book Programmed Cell Death: Methods and Protocols, "Recent and Ongoing Research into Metastatic Osteosarcoma Treatments" (2022, cited over 130 times), "IAP Antagonists Sensitize Murine Osteosarcoma Cells to Killing by TNFα", and "Plexin B2 is a Regulator of Monocyte Apoptotic Cell Disassembly". She has secured significant funding, including $382,713 from the Kids Cancer Project (2016-2020) for osteosarcoma treatments, grants from the Leukaemia Foundation, and support from Tour de Cure. Hawkins teaches undergraduate subjects including Molecular Genetics (GEN2MHG), Advanced Biochemistry and Medical Biology (MED3PRJ), and Cancer (MED3001), contributing to education in biochemistry and molecular biology. Her work impacts the field by identifying safer, more effective therapies for hard-to-treat cancers, offering hope for improved patient outcomes.