Rate My Professor Tina Summerfield

Associate Professor Tina Summerfield serves in the Department of Botany at the University of Otago, within the Division of Sciences. Her research interests encompass cyanobacterial diversity, genetics, and ecophysiology, including the potential of cyanobacteria as a renewable energy source and their symbioses. Current research focuses on the molecular mechanisms underpinning photosynthetic function, genome stability, and ecological interactions in cyanobacteria. She investigates how cyanobacteria adapt to changing environmental conditions, with applications in biotechnology and environmental management. Specific areas include Photosystem II, genome stability and repair mechanisms, cyanobacterial blooms and their microbiomes, lichen symbioses, and nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria.

As Director of the Genetics Mātai Ira Teaching Programme, Associate Professor Summerfield plays a key role in genetics education, contributing to courses such as BIOL 123 Plants: How They Shape the World, BTNY 203 Marine and Freshwater Botany, BTNY 365 Research Skills, ECOL 212 Ecology in the Real World, GENE 223 Developmental and Applied Genetics, and PLBI 401 Frontiers in Plant Biotechnology. She has supervised postgraduate students and was named the 2019 OUSA Supervisor of the Year for the Division of Sciences. Key publications include 'Phe265 of the D1 protein is required to stabilize plastoquinone binding in the QB-binding site of photosystem II in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803' (Brown, Vass, Summerfield, & Eaton-Rye, 2024, Biochemical & Biophysical Research Communications), 'Mutagenesis of Ile184 in the cd-loop of the photosystem II D1 protein modifies acceptor-side function via spontaneous mutation of D1-His252 in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803' (Sheridan, Eaton-Rye, & Summerfield, 2024, Biochemical & Biophysical Research Communications), 'University teachers’ perspectives on student attendance: a challenge to the identity of university teachers before, during and after Covid-19' (Detoni et al., 2025, Educational Research for Policy & Practice), and 'An insight into potential phosphate bioremediation and renewable energy from agricultural waste via integrated wastewater treatment systems in Indonesia' (Asih et al., 2024, Environmental Research Communications). Her contributions enhance knowledge of cyanobacterial biology with implications for sustainability.