Rate My Professor Gerard Kaiko

Associate Professor Gerard Kaiko holds a PhD in Immunology and Microbiology from the University of Newcastle. His doctoral research examined the role of the innate immune system in regulating the interaction between viral infections and asthma. Following his PhD, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute of Medical Research (MRC) in Mill Hill, London, United Kingdom, from January to December 2012. He then joined Washington University in St. Louis, USA, as an NHMRC CJ Martin Overseas Fellow from October 2013 to January 2015, and continued as a Research Associate in Pathology and Immunology from February 2015 to January 2018. Kaiko has held NHMRC CJ Martin and Career Development Fellowships. He is currently Associate Professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy at the University of Newcastle's College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing.

A/Prof Kaiko's research interests encompass adult stem cells, asthma, colorectal cancer, cystic fibrosis, inflammatory bowel disease, mucosal immunology, regenerative medicine, and tissue repair. His fields of research are respiratory diseases (35%), gastroenterology and hepatology (35%), and regenerative medicine including stem cells (30%). During his time in the USA, he contributed to high-impact publications, including 'The Colonic Crypt Protects Stem Cells from Microbiota-Derived Metabolites' in Cell (2016), 'The microbial metabolite desaminotyrosine protects from influenza through type I interferon' in Science (2017), 'PAI-1 augments mucosal damage in colitis' in Science Translational Medicine (2019), and 'Interaction between smoking and ATG16L1T300A triggers Paneth cell defects in Crohn's disease' in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (2018). His research group focuses on developing mucosal organoids from the lung and gastrointestinal tract for drug discovery in inflammatory bowel diseases, cystic fibrosis, asthma, and lung cancer; the role of mucosal stem cells in tissue regeneration and their interactions with stromal and immune cells; mining the gut microbiome for novel drug targets; organoid screening assays for translational and precision medicine, including a national clinical trial for cystic fibrosis; and humanised organoid assays for environmental toxicological analysis. He lectures in courses such as HUBS2206 Human Biochemistry and Cell Biology, MED2101 Medicine - Genetics, and HUBS3602 Clinical Immunology and Infection.