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School of Medicine

Dr John Curtin PhD

Lecturer in Functional Genomics

Postal address
CIGMR
2nd Floor, Stopford Building
The University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester, M13 9PT
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Academic affiliation (Not a postal address)
The University of Manchester
Manchester Academic Health Science Centre
NIHR Translational Research Facility in Respiratory Medicine
University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust
Manchester, UK

 

Research

Research Interests: I am a Lecturer in Functional Genomics in the Respiratory Research Group at the University of Manchester. My research interest is to investigate the molecular mechanisms (both epigenetic and genetic) underlying the heritability of asthma. I am a co-investigator on the unselected population based birth cohort: MAAS (The Manchester Asthma and Allergy Study). MAAS has the optimum study design to investigate complex chronic disorders which start in early life (population-based, with careful longitudinal phenotyping and contemporaneous measurement of environmental exposures). My group includes a PhD student and Postdoctoral Researcher who are investigating the functional role of SNPs in candidate genes that are associated with the development of asthma. Our poor understanding of the heritability of asthma necessitates the use of Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS). I am analysing GWAS data from the MAAS cohort to uncover genes associated with the development of asthma. In addition I am a Principle Investigator on an ongoing research project funded by the British Lung Foundation. This project is designed to investigate the role of epigenetics in the development of asthma using Illumina infinium arrays.

Prior research interests: John Curtin’s prior academic work focused on the genomics of Melanoma. His work demonstrated that melanoma consists of genetically distinct subgroups depending on sun exposure and anatomic site of the tumour. His subsequent discovery of frequent activation of a novel melanoma oncogene in some of these melanoma subtypes has potentially provided a new therapeutic avenue for some patients with melanoma. This oncogene (c-kit) is also a rational therapeutic target since a compound (Imatinib) that targets it is already approved for treatment in other cancers.

 

Methodological Knowledge

Case-control studies
epigenetics
Positional Cloning
Comparative Genomic Hybridization

Key words

  • Allergy
  • Asthma
  • Gene-environment interactions
  • Melanoma
  • Cancer
  • epigenetics
 

Teaching

Postgraduate teaching

  • Master of Research Translational Medicine - Deputy Director.
  • Module: Practical Skills - Module coordinator & teaching role.
  • Module: Genomics (Track A) - reaching role.

Postgraduate Supervision

  • I supervise a PhD student who is investigating the functional genomics of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism's (SNPs) that are associated with the development of asthma and allergies.
  • I advise a PhD student who is investigating the genetic susceptibility to aspergillosis.
    •  
 

Biography

  • University of Manchester, Lecturer in functional genomics, October 2006 to present
  • UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center , San Francisco. Postdoctoral Researcher, February 2003 to August 2006.
  • Imperial College / GlaxoSmithKline. PhD in Genetics, October 1999 - September 2002.
  • University of Aberdeen. MSc in Medical Molecular Genetics, October 1998 - July 1999.
  • University of Limerick. BSc in Industrial Biochemistry. October 1994 - May 1998.
 

Collaborators and affiliated staff

Angela Simpson (University of Manchester) - co-investigator MAAS
Adnan Custovic (University of Manchester) - co-investigator MAAS
Paul Bowyer (University of Manchester) - co-supervisor of PhD Student
David Denning (University of Manchester) - co-supervisor of PhD Student
Jiakai Wu (University of Manchester) - Postdoctoral Researcher
Jenny Hankinson (University of Manchester) - PhD Student
Nicola Smith (University of Manchester) - PhD Student
 

 

Publications

2011

  • Paternoster, et al (2011). Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies three new risk loci for atopic dermatitis. Nat Genet, eScholarID:145306 | PMID:22197932 | DOI:10.1038/ng.1017

2009

  • Gartside, M, Chen, H, Ibrahimi, O, Byron, S, Curtis, A, Wellens, C, Bengston, A, Yudt, L, Eliseenkova, A, Ma, J, Curtin, JA., Hyder, P, Harper, U, Riedesel, E, Mann, G, Trent, J, Bastian, B, Meltzer, P, Mohammadi, M, Pollock, P. (2009). Loss-of-function fibroblast growth factor receptor-2 mutations in melanoma. Mol Cancer Res, 7(1), 14. eScholarID:1d20682 | DOI:10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-08-0021

2008

  • Curtin JA, Pinkel D, Bastian B. (2008). Absence of PDGFRA mutations in primary melanoma. J Invest Dermatol, 128(2), 2. eScholarID:1d32575 | DOI:10.1038/sj.jid.5701036
  • Kim RD, Curtin JA, Bastian BC. (2008). Lack of somatic alterations of MC1R in primary melanoma. Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research, 21, 579-582. eScholarID:84960 | DOI:10.1111/j.1755-148X.2008.00497.x
  • Muchemwa F, Ma D, Inoue Y, Curtin JA, Bastian B, Ihn H, Kageshita T. (2008). Constitutive activation of the phosphatidyl inositol 3 kinase signalling pathway in acral lentiginous melanoma. Br J Dermatol, 158(2), 3. eScholarID:1d31814 | DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2133.2007.08292.x

2007

  • Bauer J, Curtin JA, Pinkel D, Bastian B. (2007). Congenital melanocytic nevi frequently harbor NRAS mutations but no BRAF mutations. J Invest Dermatol, 127(1), 3. eScholarID:1d30556

2006

  • Curtin JA, Busam K, Pinkel D, Bastian B. (2006). Somatic activation of KIT in distinct subtypes of melanoma. J Clin Oncol, 24(26), 7. eScholarID:1d30868
  • Curtin JA, Stark M, Pinkel D, Hayward N, Bastian B. (2006). PI3-kinase subunits are infrequent somatic targets in melanoma. J Invest Dermatol, 126(7), 4. eScholarID:1d30485
  • Dumaz N, Hayward R, Martin J, Ogilvie L, Hedley D, Curtin JA, Bastian B, Springer C, Marais R. (2006). In Melanoma, RAS Mutations Are Accompanied by Switching Signaling from BRAF to CRAF and Disrupted Cyclic AMP Signaling. Cancer Res, 66(18), 9. eScholarID:1d31551

2005

  • Curtin, JA., Fridlyand, J, Kageshita, T, Patel, H, Busam, K, Kutzner, H, Cho, K, Aiba, S, Bröcker, E, LeBoit, P, Pinkel, D, Bastian, B. (2005). Distinct sets of genetic alterations in melanoma. N Engl J Med, 353(20), 13. eScholarID:1d30509

2004

  • Tsipouri, V., Curtin, J., Nolan, P., Vizor, L., Parsons, C., Clapham, C., Latham, I., Rooke, L., Martin, J., Peters, J., Hunter, A., Rogers, D., Rastan, S., Brown, S., Fisher, E., Spurr, N. & Gray, I (2004). Three novel pigmentation mutants generated by genome-wide random ENU mutagenesis in the mouse. Comp Funct Genomics, 5(2), 123-7. eScholarID:107320 | PMID:18629060 | DOI:10.1002/cfg.382

2003

  • Curtin, JA., Quint, E, Tsipouri, V, Arkell, R, Cattanach, B, Copp, A, Henderson, D, Spurr, N, Stanier, P, Fisher, E, Nolan, P, Steel, K, Brown, S, Gray, I, Murdoch, J. (2003). Mutation of Celsr1 disrupts planar polarity of inner ear hair cells and causes severe neural tube defects in the mouse. Curr Biol, 13( 13), 1129-33. eScholarID:1d30805

2001

  • Maude S, Curtin JA, Breen G, Collier D, Russell G, Shaw D, St Clair D. (2001). The-141C Ins/Del polymorphism of the dopamine D2 receptor gene is not associated with either migraine or Parkinson's disease. Psychiatric Genetics, 11, 1, eScholarID:1d22586

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