Natural Product Chemistry Award 2010 Winner

For her outstanding contributions to the synthesis of biologically active natural products, their derivatives and analogues.

About the Winner

Margaret Brimble graduated MSc from The University of Auckland and was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to undertake PhD studies at Southampton University.

In 1986 she was appointed as a lecturer at Massey University, NZ. After a visiting Professorship at the University of California, Berkeley, she moved to the University of Sydney in 1995 and was promoted to Reader in Organic Chemistry.

In 1999 she took up the Chair of Organic and Medicinal Chemistry at The University of Auckland.  Her research focuses on the synthesis of bioactive natural products (especially molecules derived from extreme environments and shellfish toxins) as novel anticancer, antibacterial and antiviral agents, the synthesis of alkaloids and peptidomimetics for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, and the synthesis of peptide components for melanoma vaccines. She developed the drug candidate NNZ2566 for Neuren Pharmaceuticals that is in phase 2b clinical trials for traumatic brain injury in partnership with the US Army. 

She is Chair of the Rutherford Foundation, a member of the Marsden Fund Council (Convenor of the Physical Sciences Panel), Past-President of the International Society of Heterocyclic Chemistry, a principal investigator in the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery and a member of the Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry Editorial Board. She has published 250+ papers and 11 patents.

Previous awards include the 2007 L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Laureate for Asia-Pacific in Materials Science, the 2008 World Class New Zealand Award (Research, Science, Technology and Academia), Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (Queen's Honour), Federation of Asian Chemical Societies Distinguished Chemist Award and the NZIC Easterfield Medal.