Rate My Professor Christoph Goebl

Dr Christoph Goebl serves as Senior Research Fellow and Principal Investigator in the Department of Pathology and Biomedical Science within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch. He holds a PhD and MSc from the University of Graz, Austria. As Group Leader at Mātai Hāora – Centre for Redox Biology and Medicine (formerly Centre for Free Radical Research), his research group investigates the molecular details of oxidation events affecting protein structures and interactions. Key focuses include the reversible amyloid formation and depolymerization of the tumour suppressor protein p16INK4a regulated by a thiol-dependent redox mechanism involving a single disulfide bond, as detailed in Heath et al. (Nature Communications, 2024). The team also studies the ligand-activated transcription factor Aryl hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR) and its oxidation-impacted small molecule binding in cancer cells (Kubli et al., PNAS, 2019). Employing biophysical techniques such as NMR spectroscopy, fluorescence assays, and cellular models including zebrafish and human tumours, they collaborate with international partners including Dr Nico Tjandra (NIH, USA), Professor Borries Demeler (Canada), Professor Bernd Reif (Germany), and Professor Margaret Sunde (Australia).

Goebl's career trajectory encompasses postdoctoral research at the Technical University of Munich's biomolecular NMR group (2012-2016) and the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network in Toronto (2016-2019), prior to joining Otago in 2019. His impactful work has garnered major awards, including the inaugural James Smedley Fellowship (2024) to translate oxidative stress-cancer links into diagnostics and establish drug screening and metabolite analysis facilities; the Health Research Council Explorer Grant ($150,000, 2022) for developing antibodies to detect pathological amyloids in tumours; and the Sir Charles Hercus Health Research Fellowship (2019). With over 45 publications cited more than 1,500 times, additional key contributions cover oxidation of caspase-8 enabling TNF-mediated necroptosis (2023) and bacterial toxin inhibition of protein translation. Funded by HRC and Marsden grants, Goebl's research advances cancer diagnostics, prognosis, and therapies, including exploration of bioactive compounds from native New Zealand plants.