Professor Christine Winterbourn
MSc (Auckland), PhD (Massey) CNZM, FRSNZ
Principal Investigator, Centre for Free Radical Research
Email christine.winterbourn@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 364 0564
Professor Christine Winterbourn, winner of New Zealand’s top science and technology award – the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Rutherford Medal.
Professor Winterbourn is the first woman to receive the award in its 20 year history.
Education
Professor Christine Winterbourn is an Auckland University chemistry graduate who received her PhD in biochemistry from Massey University.
She did postdoctoral work at the University of British Columbia, Canada before returning to the Pathology Department, University of Otago, Christchurch, where she now has a personal chair.
Research Interests
Professor Winterbourn has published more than 250 scientific papers. Her field of research is the biological chemistry of free radicals and other reactive oxidants and their involvement in health and disease.
Professor Winterbourn's focus is on understanding mechanisms of reactive oxidant production, the biochemistry of biological damage and the consequences for disease pathology.
Her interests include:
- the biochemistry of superoxide and the role of superoxide dismutase in antioxidant defence
- the production of reactive oxidants by neutrophils and the enzymology of myeloperoxidase
- molecular and cellular targets for hypochlorous acid and chloramines and their role in inflammation
- thiol proteins, redox regulation and the role of peroxiredoxins development and application of specific biomarkers of oxidative stress
- free radical reactions of haemoglobin and oxidative stress in the red blood cell
- oxidative stress and inflammation in chronic lung injury in premature infants
Other Positions
- Past member of the Health Research Council
- Past member of the Marsden Fund Council
- Editor of the Biochemical Journal
- Editorial Board of Free Radical Biology and Medicine
Awards
- Royal Society of New Zealand’s Rutherford Medal
- NZ Association of Scientists’ Marsden Medal
- Massey University 75th Anniversary Medal
- Society for Free Radical Research (Australasia) Distinguished Service Award
- University of Otago Distinguished Research Medal and Society for Free Radical Research (International) Trevor Slater Award
Publications
