Rate My Professor Fenella Rich

Fenella Rich serves as a Laboratory Scientist in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at the University of Otago, Wellington campus, within the Division of Health Sciences. She earned her BSc (Hons) and DPH (Distinction) from the University of Otago. In this role, she is a core member of the Genomic and Epigenomic Research Lab, directed by Dr. Aaron Stevens. The lab focuses on precision medicine and molecular pathology to advance health outcomes for New Zealanders, providing diagnostic tools and services. Key projects include characterizing colorectal cancer progression and metastatic drivers, exploring interactions between immune cell activation, inflammation, and epigenetic changes in disease development, investigating perinatal depression, diet, and the microbiome, understanding epigenetic and genetic drivers in uterine leiomyoma development, and developing nanopore DNA sequencing solutions for cancer diagnostics and prognostics. Rich supports these efforts through laboratory expertise alongside researchers such as Dr. Katharina Robichon and Dr. Annika Seddon, and postgraduate students including Alex Bloomberg, Olivia Damiano, Thalia Heiwari, Rosa Latton, Megan Moore, Lucy Picard, Georgia Rhodes, and Alice Richards.

Rich has co-authored 18 publications, accumulating 451 citations, spanning virology, immunology, and molecular biology. Notable works include 'Chromosomal instability and its effect on cell lines' (Cancer Reports, 2023, with Z. He, A. Wilson, D. Kenwright et al.), where she contributed to analyzing cancer cell line variability; 'Jurkat T-cell lines exhibit marked genomic instability' (Scientific Reports, 2025, acknowledged for spectral flow cytometry input); 'Langerin+ CD8α+ Dendritic Cells Drive Early CD8+ T Cell Response' (Frontiers in Immunology, 2018); 'Oral Vaccination with Lipid-Formulated BCG Induces a Long-lived, Multifunctional CD4+ T Cell Memory Immune Response' (2012); 'Human Bocavirus in Infants, New Zealand' (Emerging Infectious Diseases, 2007, with N. Redshaw, C. Wood, K. Grimwood, J.R. Kirman); 'Distinct Patterns of Evolution Between Respiratory Syncytial Virus Subgroups A and B From New Zealand Isolates Collected Over Thirty-Seven Years' (2006); and studies on rotavirus strains, BCG vaccination, regulatory T cells in mycobacterial infection, and dendritic cells in tumor immunotherapy. Previously associated with the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research as a Senior Research Officer, her technical support is frequently acknowledged in University of Otago postgraduate theses for training in laboratory techniques such as tissue embedding, H&E staining, metagenomic sequencing, and more.