It All Comes Back to the People

Educated in Switzerland, Professor Kistler joined the University of Auckland in 1984 and was appointed to a Personal Chair in Cellular and Molecular Biology in 1999.   His research in molecular ophthalmology has led to close to 100 published articles and was recognised by his election as Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1997.   Professor Kistler was appointed as Director of the School of Biological Sciences in 2001.   He has developed world-class equipment facilities around structural biology, genomics and proteomics, and established the Bioinformatics Institute in 2004.   The School also hosts the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery which focuses on novel human therapeutics and is one of seven Centres for Research Excellence funded by the New Zealand Government.   Professor Kistler also is Director of the Institute for Innovation in Biotechnology (IIB) which operates a bio-incubator providing biotech companies with space and access to hi-tech equipment facilities and expertise to accelerate the time from discovery to market.   Currently there are 5 companies co-located in the IIB.   Further growth of this academic-industry partnership is made possible through the construction of a new building which will become available towards the end of 2010.