Cristina Keightley

“Zbtb11 regulates the tumour suppressor TP53 and is required for haemopoiesis”

Dr Keightley’s research focuses on transcription and splicing factors in myeloid cell biology and disease using zebrafish and more recently, mice as models. Her interest in transcription factor function began with her PhD studies on the glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptors, members of the nuclear receptor superfamily of transcription factors, and later the progesterone receptor during her postdoc in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Since her return to Melbourne, Cristina has worked on a series of zebrafish mutants with myeloid defects due to lesions in genes including splicing factors and transcription factors, in Prof Graham Lieschke’s laboratory. These studies are uncovering novel functions for known as well as unstudied genes in haemopoiesis.