Radical Award For Professor

Christchurch biochemist Professor Christine Winterbourn has become the first woman to receive New Zealand’s top science award in its 20-year history, the Rutherford Medal. Winterbourn, Otago University pathology department’s director of the Free Radical Research Group, received the Royal Society of New Zealand medal and $100,000 from the government for research into free radical biology. Royal Society president Dr Garth Carnaby said Winterbourn’s work has opened the path for groundbreaking research. During the past 40 years, Winterbourn has made several seminal discoveries which have had important implications for medical research, Carnaby said. Winterbourn was one of the first scientists to show our cells produce free radicals as part of their normal function. “She is recognised internationally as one of the founders of free radical research in biological systems and a leading world authority in this field,” he said.