Rate My Professor Cushla McKinney

Dr. Cushla McKinney is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at the Dunedin School of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Otago. With more than twenty years of experience in research and teaching in molecular biology and genetics, her early career focused on the genetics of complex diseases, particularly rheumatoid arthritis and gout. She contributed to key studies such as the multiplicative interaction of functional inflammasome genetic variants in determining gout risk (2015, Arthritis Research & Therapy), the relationship between ferritin and urate levels and gout risk (2018, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases), meta-analysis confirming a role for FCGR3B deletion in anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis (2012, Human Molecular Genetics), and associations of SLC22A11 and SLC22A12 urate transporter loci with gout (2013). Currently, in the Neumann/Pattison Lab group, McKinney investigates the immunoproteasome's role in gastric cancer using CRISPR/Cas9 and Nanopore technologies. She co-convenes the CRISPR Hub under Genetics Otago and has presented on the H179 p53 mutation driving aggressive tumors at Queenstown Research Week (2024).

McKinney holds a PhD in Biochemistry, Master of Bioethics and Health Law (MBHL), and Master of Genetic Counselling from the University of Otago. Previously, she taught and tutored in biochemistry, genetics, ethics, and pathology for Health Sciences First Year and Biomedical Science programs. Her publications include articles in Cancers on the critical role of cold shock protein YB-1 in cytokinesis (2020), intronic TP53 polymorphisms associated with increased Δ133TP53 transcript, immune infiltration, and cancer risk (2020), and dephosphorylation of YB-1 required for nuclear localisation during G2 phase (2020). She authored a chapter on mental capacity in anorexia nervosa in Tipping the Scales: Ethical and Legal Dilemmas in Managing Severe Eating Disorders (2021). An affiliate researcher at the Morris-Wilkins Centre, McKinney belongs to NZAS, AWIS, HGSA, serves on the Council of Friends of the Otago Museum, and reviews books for Otago Daily Times and Landfall online. Her work supports understanding genetic information in research and clinical contexts.