Michael Lee

BSc(Hons), Ph.D (Otago), DipGrad

Michael’s current research focuses on the economic evaluation of new technologies in medicine. Health expenditure in OECD member countries has been increasing over time and currently is about 7-15% of GDP. Much of this increase can be attributed to new technologies. The evaluations of new therapies for cost-effectiveness are based on an assumption that one therapy will fit an entire population. It is likely that there will be a trend toward supplying medicine on a personalised basis and this trend will be driven by technologies such as pharmacogenomics. Given this, a change in the way we evaluate new therapies may be needed. The topic of Michael’s thesis will, in part, address this question. Additionally, he is interested in integrating concepts from Genomics, Genetics and Bioinformatics into Economics.

Michael has worked previously at the Biomedical Centre at the University of Uppsala in Sweden; University of Durham, UK; Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago, in a joint appointment between Svalof –Weibull AB, Scanbi AB and BASF-Plant Sciences, Sweden; AgResearch Ltd, New Zealand and lastly Heron ED, Letchworth Garden City, UK.

Contact details

Tel 64 3 479 8725
Email michael.lee@otago.ac.nz

Selected publications:

"Cellular Sterol Ester Synthesis in Plants Is Performed by an Enzyme (Phospholipid:Sterol Acyltransferase) Different from the Yeast and Mammalian Acyl-Coa:Sterol Acyltransferases." J Biol Chem, 2005, 280(41), pp. 34626-34 (with Banas, A.; Carlsson, A. S.; Huang, B.; Lenman, M.; Banas, W.; Noiriel, A.; Benveniste, P.; Schaller, H.; Bouvier-Nave, P., et al.)

"Phospholipid:Diacylglycerol Acyltransferase: An Enzyme That Catalyzes the Acyl-Coa-Independent Formation of Triacylglycerol in Yeast and Plants." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2000, 97(12), pp. 6487-92 (with Dahlqvist, A.; Stahl, U.; Lenman, M.; Banas, A.; Sandager, L.; Ronne, H. and Stymne, S.)

"Characterisation of Rainbow Trout Cdnas Encoding a Secreted and Membrane-Bound Ig Heavy Chain and the Genomic Intron Upstream of the First Constant Exon." Mol Immunol, 1993, 30(7), pp. 641-8 (with Bengten, E.; Daggfeldt, A.; Rytting, A. S. and Pilstrom, L.)

"Establishment of a Pipeline to Analyse Non-Synonymous Snps in Bos Taurus." BMC Genomics, 2006, 7, pp. 298 (with Keane, O. M.; Glass, B. C.; Manley, T. R.; Cullen, N. G.; Dodds, K. G.; McCulloch, A. F.; Morris, C. A.; Schreiber, M.; Warren, J., et al.)

"Analysis of Two Mitochondrially-Associated Linear Plasmids from the Red Alga Porphyra Spp. (Bangiales, Rhodophyceae)." Plant Science, 1995, 106, pp. 99-105 (with Russell, D. W.)

"Identification of Non-Heme Diiron Proteins That Catalyze Triple Bond and Epoxy Group Formation." Science, 1998, 280(5365), pp. 915-8 (with Lenman, M.; Banas, A.; Bafor, M.; Singh, S.; Schweizer, M.; Nilsson, R.; Liljenberg, C.; Dahlqvist, A.; Gummeson, P. O., et al.)

"Fatty Acid Synthase Effects on Bovine Adipose Fat and Milk Fat." Mamm Genome, 2007, 18(1), pp. 64-74 (with Morris, C. A.; Cullen, N. G.; Glass, B. C.; Hyndman, D. L.; Manley, T. R.; Hickey, S. M.; McEwan, J. C.; Pitchford, W. S. and Bottema, C. D.)

"Transgenic Expression of a Delta 12-Epoxygenase Gene in Arabidopsis Seeds Inhibits Accumulation of Linoleic Acid." Planta, 2001, 212(5-6), pp. 872-9 (with Singh, S.; Thomaeus, S.; Stymne, S. and Green, A.)

"A Bifunctional Delta-Fatty Acyl Acetylenase/Desaturase from the Moss Ceratodon Purpureus. A New Member of the Cytochrome B5 Superfamily." Eur J Biochem, 2000, 267(12), pp. 3801-11 (with Sperling, P.; Girke, T.; Zahringer, U.; Stymne, S. and Heinz, E.)

"Reduction of Potato Mop-Top Virus Accumulation and Incidence in Tubers of Potato Transformed with a Modified Triple Gene Block Gene of Pmtv." Molecular Breeding, 2001, V8(3), pp. 197-206 (with Margareta, Melander and Maria, Sandgren.)

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