Rate My Professor Lyn Wise

Associate Professor Lyn Wise serves in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Otago, within the Health Sciences Division. Holding a BSc(Hons) and PhD, she trained as a molecular virologist and contributed significantly to the functional characterisation of viral vascular endothelial growth factors and anti-inflammatory factors encoded by parapoxviruses. Her scholarly impact is reflected in highly cited publications, including "Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-like protein from orf virus NZ2 binds to VEGFR2 and neuropilin-1" (Wise et al., 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 369 citations) and "Isolated lymphatic endothelial cells transduce growth, survival and migratory signals via the VEGF-C/D receptor VEGFR-3" (Mäkinen et al., 2001, The EMBO Journal, 1195 citations).

Wise's research focuses on microbial manipulation of the inflammatory, vascular, and wound healing responses in the skin, leveraging this knowledge to develop bio-therapeutics for skin wounds, infections, and inflammatory disorders. She investigates natural agonists from skin cells, microbes, New Zealand native flora, fauna, and agricultural byproducts to accelerate healing of chronic ulcers and burns, reduce scarring after trauma or surgery, and treat conditions in other tissues such as the brain post-stroke, fibrotic lungs, irritated bowels, and tumours, applicable to both human and veterinary medicine. Key recent publications include "Advancements in the Delivery of Growth Factors and Cytokines for Chronic Wound Healing" (Berry-Kilgour et al., 2021, Advances in Wound Care), "The cutaneous inflammatory response to thermal burn injury in a murine model" (Lateef et al., 2019, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 119 citations), and "Nanocellulose source and morphology impact on properties of composite gelatin hydrogel scaffolds" (Reid et al., 2025, Tissue Engineering Part A). She supervises postdoctoral fellows, such as Dr Zabeen Lateef on viral proteins for skin wounds, and postgraduate students including PhD candidates Amreen Naqash on Parapoxvirus interleukin-10 homologues and Aarthi Rajesh on Langerhans cells and skin repair. Recognized as a media expert in wound complications, inflammatory and fibrotic diseases, skin infections, biological therapies, and regenerative medicine, her work has amassed over 2,370 citations.