Professor Margaret Brimble - MSc (Hons), PhD
Margaret Brimble graduated with a MSc (Hons) in Chemistry in 1982 and was awarded a UK Commonwealth Scholarship to study for a PhD in organic chemistry at the University of Southampton which she completed in 1986. She then returned to a lectureship at Massey University, Palmerston North where she spent several years building an independent research group working on the synthesis of bioactive natural products. She was then invited as a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley in 1992 before moving to the University of Sydney in 1994. She took up the Chair of Organic Chemistry at The University of Auckland in 1999 and was instrumental in establishing the first new interdisciplinary degree in medicinal chemistry to be offered in New Zealand.
Margaret has been awarded a research grant from the Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund for her research project directed towards the synthesis of bioactive shellfish toxins. These agents are complex molecules produced by the algal blooms that frequently occur in New Zealand coastal waters, resulting in closure of shellfish farms. These shellfish toxins provide useful lead compounds for the development of new therapeutic agents to treat cardiovascular disorders such as hypertension. Her research group is also working on the synthesis of new generation antibiotics that exhibit potent activity against the peptic ulcer-producing micro-organism Helicobacter Pylori and anticancer compounds that inhibit the enzyme telomerase.
Margaret was awarded the 2003-2004 Novartis Chemistry Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to natural products synthesis and the development of new synthetic methodology. She will gave lectures on her research at five Novartis research sites in USA, UK, Japan, Switzerland and Austria in May 2004. She is also one of the first recipients of the Rosalind Franklin Lectureship sponsored by the Royal Society UK to expose young scientists in the UK to a greater number of internationally recognized and successful women scientists. She will give several lectures throughout the UK in April 2004. She was recently elected as President of the International Society of Heterocyclic Chemistry and was awarded the prestigious James Cook Research Fellowship from the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Margaret has also acted as a consultant for the biotechnology company NeuronZ Ltd. working on the synthesis of neuroprotective agents with therapeutic potential for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease.
Originally from Auckland, Margaret lives with her husband Mark and daughter Rebecca.
