Rate My Professor Lynley Lewis

Dr. Lynley Lewis is a Senior Research Fellow in the Translational Biodiscovery Laboratory at the Christchurch Heart Institute, Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, within the Faculty of Medicine. Her research centers on developing and validating novel biomarker assays essential for diagnosing and prognosticating cardiovascular conditions in both clinical and preclinical contexts. The laboratory's expertise encompasses assays for key hormones such as atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), N-terminal proBNP (NT-proBNP), C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP), adrenomedullin, angiotensin II, angiotensin converting enzyme activity, plasma renin activity, arginine vasopressin, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), cortisol, aldosterone, endothelin, cyclic GMP (cGMP), cyclic AMP (cAMP), catecholamines, ghrelin peptides, and signal peptide fragments. Utilizing technologies including radioimmunoassay (RIA), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Luminex, Roche Cobas, and Brahms Kryptor, the team conducts in vitro and ex vivo testing, cell culture, and isolated heart studies under FDA-level audits and ISO15189 accreditation. The laboratory also performs commercial studies for pharmaceutical companies such as Roche, Abbott, Sphingotec, and ThermoFisher.

Lewis has advanced the understanding of heart failure mechanisms, notably demonstrating that obesity impairs proBNP processing through increased glycosylation at threonine 71, resulting in lower NT-proBNP levels and diminished cardioprotection in affected patients. Key publications include 'Endogenous Ouabain Is Not Ouabain' (Hypertension, 2014), 'Adrenomedullin in Heart Failure' (Hypertension Research, 2003), 'ProBNP That Is Not Glycosylated at Threonine 71 Is Decreased with Obesity in Patients with HF' (Clinical Chemistry, 2019), 'Assays Specific for BNP1-32 and NT-proBNP Exhibit a Similar Diagnostic Performance in Screening for Heart Failure' (Clinical Chemistry, 2022), 'Circulating Erythroferrone Has Diagnostic Utility for Acute Myocardial Infarction' (Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, 2024), and 'Lower NT-proBNP Plasma Concentrations in Pacific Peoples with Heart Failure' (ESC Heart Failure, 2025). In 2024, she secured a $198,187 project grant to investigate determinants of plasma NT-proBNP concentrations across ethnic groups. Lewis supervises PhD students and serves as an affiliate investigator at the Maurice Wilkins Centre, contributing to cardioendocrinology advancements.