John Hunt

Confident and motivated PhD candidate specialising in the biomedical field. Organised and dependable professional with the ability to thrive in competitive or stressful environments. Able to manage multiple priorities while maintaining high-quality work. Strong analytical thinking with exceptional communication skills, evidenced through multiple presentation awards and successful international collaborations. Now seeking opportunities beyond the laboratory, particularly in fast-paced roles that require a balance of technical and people-focused engagement.

Awards:

2024 Freemasons Post Graduate Scholarship ($10,000)

2024 ISCT Global Conference, Vancouver 2024 – Oral Presentation

2023 Maurice Wilkins Center Flexible Research Programme (cat. 4 funding)

$10,000 International Research Grant.

2023 Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust PhD Research Travel Award ($2000)

2023 ISCT ANZ 2023 Perth Conference – Best Oral Abstract Presentation Award (AUD$1000)

2023 ISCT ANZ 2023 Perth Conference - Oral Presentation and Travel Stipend. (AUD$1200)

2022 UoA School of Graduate Studies Research Showcase - Top 10 Poster

2022 UoA Science Research Showcase - Top 25 Poster

2022 Queenstown Research Week (Conference) - First Place CRISPR Satellite Poster ($400).

2022 Queenstown Research Week (Conference) - Travel Grant. Awarded by QRW2022 ($200).

2021 UoA SBS Showcase Oral Presentation - First Place

2021 UoA Doctoral Scholarship (~$30,000 per annum for 3 years)

2020 UoA Biomedical Science - First Class Honours

2020 The University of Auckland Postgraduate Honours Scholarship ($14000)

2020 James Hodge M and P Paykel Trust Research Scholarship in Medical and

Health Sciences ($5000).

2020 Honourable mention in MEDSCI 708 Advanced Immunology

2017 UoA Residential Excellence Award (for GPA of 9.0 in first year university)

2017 Certificate of Outstanding Achievement in COMPSCI 101

2017 Certificate of Outstanding Achievement in COMPSCI 105

2017 Certificate of Distinction in STATS 101.

Talks/Conference Proceedings:

2024 ISCT Global Conference, Vancouver 2024 - Oral presentation. "CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing for inherited skin conditions."

2024 Guest Speaker at Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

2023 ISCT ANZ 2023 Perth Conference - Oral presentation. "CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing for inherited skin conditions."

2023 UoA School of Biological Sciences CMP Seminar Presentation. "CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing for inherited skin conditions."

2023 Gue School of Biological Sciences CMP Seminar Presentation. ng Workshop. "Nanopore Sequencing for the validation of genome editing."

2023 UoA School of Biological Sciences Departmental Seminar. "Gene-editing for the NZ clinic."

2021 UoA SBS Showcase Oral Presentation. "EB or not EB? Gene therapy for epidermolysis bullosa (EB) – fragile skin disorders."

Publications: 

Hunt, J. M. T.,  du Rand, A., Verdon, D., Clemance, L., Loef, E., Malhi, C., Buttle, B., Knapp, D. J. H. F., Michaels, Y. S., Garlick, J., Dunbar, P. R., Purvis, D., Feisst, V., & Sheppard, H. (2025). Enhanced HDR-mediated correction of heterozygous COL7A1 mutations for recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. Molecular Therapy Nucleic Acids.

Feisst, V., Zhou, L. Y. Y., Chen, C.-J. J., Williams, E., Dunn, E., Kelch, I., Meidinger, S., Hunt, J. M. T., du Rand, A., Robinson, H., Park, S. M., Loef, E. J., Lofts, J., Sheppard, H., Locke, M., & Dunbar, P. R. (2024). Human keratinocytes grown at a gas-permeable interface in vitro stratify correctly to generate engineered human epidermis. Cytotherapy.

du Rand, A., Hunt, J. M. T., Verdon, D., Buttle, B., Dunbar, P. R., Purvis, D., Feisst, V., & Sheppard, H. (2024). Efficient dual Cas9 nickase correction of a prevalent pathogenic LAMB3 variant for junctional epidermolysis bullosa. JID Innovations.

Samson, C., du Rand, A., Hunt, J. M. T.,Whitford, W., Jacobsen, J., & Sheppard, H. (2024). A bioinformatic analysis of gene editing off-target loci altered by common polymorphisms, using ‘PopOff.’ Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

du Rand, A., Hunt, J. M. T., Samson, C., Loef, E., Malhi, C., Meidinger, S., Chen, C. J., Nutsford, A., Taylor, J., Dunbar, R., Purvis, D., Feisst, V., & Sheppard, H. (2024) Highly efficient CRISPR/Cas9‐mediated exon skipping for recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. Bioengineering & Translational Medicine.

Hunt, J. M. T., Samson, C. A., Rand, A. du & Sheppard, H. M. (2023) Unintended CRISPR-Cas9 editing outcomes: a review of the detection and prevalence of structural variants generated by gene-editing in human cells. Human Genetics.

du Rand, A., Hunt, J. M. T., Feisst, V. & Sheppard, H. M. (2022) Epidermolysis Bullosa: A Review of the Tissue-Engineered Skin Substitutes Used to Treat Wounds. Molecular Diagnosis and Therapy.

Under Review:

Hunt, J. M. T. Therapeutic Genome-Editing for Severe Inherited Skin Disorders - Towards the Development of an Enhanced CRISPR-Based Therapeutic Pipeline for Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa. PhD Dissertation

Mohammadi K., Houang K. C., Wang S. E., Hunt J. M. T., Wang. C., Simoes-Barbosa. A. Unexpected intron plasticity and trans-splicing capability suggest spliceosome diversification in the evolutionarily divergent protozoan parasite Trichomonas vaginalis. International Journal for Parisitology