Rate My Professor Megan Leask

Dr. Megan Leask (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe) is a Pūkeka Matua (Senior Lecturer) in the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, at the University of Otago. She serves as a Rutherford Discovery Fellow (awarded 2023), Pūkeka Lecturer, and Honorary Research Fellow at Otago, alongside roles as Variant Bio Standley Fellow and Instructor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Leask obtained her PhD in genetics from the University of Otago in 2014, focusing on phenotypic plasticity and epigenetics in the honeybee ovary. Her career trajectory includes postdoctoral positions funded by the HRC Māori Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship (2018), Lottery Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship (2016), and emerging researcher grants, followed by research fellowships in the Department of Biochemistry at Otago, leading to her current lecturing appointment. She directs the Leask Lab, renowned for advancing the genetics of complex diseases.

Leask's research program assigns function to non-coding genetic variants linked to metabolic traits, including gout, chronic kidney disease, serum urate control, type 2 diabetes, and polycystic ovary syndrome, with a focus on variants specific to Māori and Pacific peoples. Employing bioinformatics, zebrafish models, cell assays, and omics strategies, her work supports precision medicine to mitigate health disparities. The lab has attracted major funding, such as the 2022 Health Research Council Project Grant ($1.2 million), 2021 HRC Emerging Researcher First Grant ($300,000), 2019 HRC Māori Career Development Award ($285,000), and 2021 Marsden Fund ($685,000). In 2025, she was honored with the University of Otago Māori Early Career Award for Distinction in Research. Key publications include 'Gouty inflammation: genetic mechanisms towards flare therapy' (Lyth and Leask, 2025, Current Opinion in Rheumatology), 'Misclassified latent autoimmune diabetes in adults within Māori and Pacific adults with type 2 diabetes in Aotearoa New Zealand' (Toomata et al., 2025, New Zealand Medical Journal), 'A Polynesian-specific missense CETP variant alters the lipid profile of carriers' (Moors et al., 2023, Human Genetics & Genomic Advances), 'Genetic basis of serum urate control and gout' (Leask and Merriman, 2021, Best Practice & Research: Clinical Rheumatology), and 'Riboceine Rescues Auranofin-Induced Craniofacial Defects in Zebrafish' (Leask et al., 2021, Antioxidants). Integrating mātauranga Māori, she mentors emerging Māori and Pacific researchers and leads initiatives as director of the Otago Zebrafish Facility, co-deputy director of Genetics Otago, and member of the Maurice Wilkins Centre Te Amorangi leadership group, fostering genetic equity.