Our team
The Cellular and Molecular Cardiology lab is a dynamic team of trainees and staff focused on discoveries that may lead to improved quality of life for people living with diabetes. We supervise students in Honours, MSc and PhD programmes and occasionally host students from the Bioengineering Institute. We welcome applications for supervision and have many exciting projects available for students to lead.
Associate Professor Kim Mellor
Lab Head
Kim Mellor leads the Cellular & Molecular Cardiology lab and holds an Associate Professor appointment in the Department of Physiology, UoA. She completed her PhD on cardiac dysfunction in diabetes from the University of Melbourne in 2011 and repatriated to NZ with a Rutherford Fellowship in 2013.
Email: k.mellor@auckland.ac.nz
Dr Randall D'Souza
Senior Research Fellow
Randall completed his PhD in 2018 in the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland. He joined the CMC lab in 2023 and is investigating novel in vivo interventions to rescue diastolic dysfunction in the diabetic heart.
Email: r.dsouza@auckland.ac.nz
Xun (Cookie) Li
Research Technician
Xun (Cookie) Li completed her MSc in Biomedical Science at the University of Auckland in 2011 and joined the lab as a research technician in 2014.
Email: xun.li@auckland.ac.nz
Dr Marco Annandale
Research Fellow
Marco completed his PhD in the CMC lab in 2023 investigating fructose-induced cardiomyocyte toxicity in diabetes. He now contributes to ongoing work in the CMC lab while studying medicine at UoA.
Email: m.annandale@auckland.ac.nz
Cole Driscoll
MSc Student
Cole is an MSc student supervised by Dr Kenneth Tran at the Bioengineering Institute, and co-supervised by A/Prof Kim Mellor. His project is investigating the impact of glycogen accumulation and ectopic localisation on cardiomyocyte metabolite diffusion and cross-bridge cycling in diabetes, using a combination of experimental imaging data and computational modelling.
Email: cdri129@aucklanduni.ac.nz
Samuel James
PhD Student
Sam completed his MSc in Biomedical Science at the University of Auckland in 2021, worked as a research technician for the CMC lab in 2022 and started his PhD in 2023 investigating the molecular mechanisms of glycogen mishandling in the diabetic heart.
Email: samuel.james@auckland.ac.nz
Borson Wong
MBiomedSci Student
Borson is an MBiomedSci student supervised by A/Prof Kim Mellor, Dr Randall D’Souza and Dr Kate Weeks. His project is investigating the role of fructokinase in mediating cardiac dysfunction in diabetes.
Email: borson.wong@auckland.ac.nz
Lauren Watson
PhD Student
Lauren completed her MSc in the Department of Nutrition, UoA and joined the CMC lab as a PhD student in 2021. Her studies investigate the effect of interleukin-6 gene variants on exercise-responsive cardiovascular outcomes in metabolic disease.
Email: lauren.watson@auckland.ac.nz
Past Research Students and Staff
- Sarah Fong, Research Assistant 2022-2023
- Parisa Koutsifeli, Research Fellow 2021, PhD student, 2016 – 2021
- Hiroki Ambalawanar, MSc Student, 2021 – 2022
- Joshua Neale, Research Fellow, 2021 – 2022
- Calum Macindoe, MSc Student, 2019 – 2020
- Lorna Daniels, Research Fellow, 2017 – 2019
- Yohanes Nursalim, Research Technician, 2017 – 2018
- Vicky Benson, Research Fellow, 2015 – 2017
- Jessica Liu, BSc(Hons) Biomedical Science 2016
- Dhanya Herath, Biomedical Engineering 4th year project, 2015
- Ellie Stevens, BSc(Hons) Biomedical Science, 2014
Collaborators
- Prof Lea MD Delbridge, University of Melbourne, Australia
- Dr Jim Bell, La Trobe University, Australia
- Dr Kate Weeks, University of Melbourne, Australia
- A/Prof Denis Loiselle, University of Auckland, New Zealand
- Dr June-Chiew Han, Auckland Bioengineering Institute, New Zealand
- Dr Kenneth Tran, Auckland Bioengineering Institute, New Zealand
- Dist. Prof Margaret A Brimble, University of Auckland, New Zealand
- A/Prof Rebecca H Ritchie, Monash University Institute of Pharmacological Sciences, Melbourne, Australia
- Prof Roberta A Gottlieb, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, USA
- Prof Jennifer Van Eyk, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, USA
- Prof Rui-Ping Xiao, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Peking University, Beijing, China
- Dr Regis Lamberts, University of Otago, New Zealand
- Dr Rajesh Katare, University of Otago, New Zealand
- Dr Troy Merry, University of Auckland, New Zealand
- Dr Nikki Moreland, University of Auckland, New Zealand
- Dr Sean Coffey, University of Otago, New Zealand