Rate My Professor Christine Winterbourn

Professor Christine Winterbourn is a Professor in the Department of Pathology and Biomedical Science at the University of Otago, Christchurch, and a principal investigator at Mātai Hāora - Centre for Redox Biology and Medicine, originally established by her as the Free Radical Research Group in 1990. She earned an MSc from the University of Auckland and a PhD in biochemistry from Massey University, followed by postdoctoral training at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Winterbourn began her career in 1971 in the Clinical Biochemistry Department at Christchurch Hospital with Robin Carrell, transferring to the Christchurch Clinical School in 1973 and setting up her independent laboratory in 1979/80. The group evolved into the Centre for Free Radical Research in 2012, with several of her former PhD students as principal investigators. She has published over 250 scientific papers and served as Editor of the Biochemical Journal, on the editorial board of Free Radical Biology and Medicine, and on the Health Research Council and Marsden Fund Council.

Her research centers on the biological chemistry of free radicals and reactive oxidants, including mechanisms of oxidant production by neutrophils and neutrophil extracellular traps, thiol proteins in antioxidant defence and redox signaling, mammalian peroxiredoxins, oxidative protein crosslinking, and oxidant-antioxidant interactions in red blood cells. Key publications include 'Reconciling the chemistry and biology of reactive oxygen species' (Nature Chemical Biology, 2008), 'Mechanism of glutathionylation of the active site thiols of peroxiredoxin 2' (Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2025), and 'Peroxiredoxins: Antioxidant Activity, Redox Relays, and Redox Signaling' (Biochemistry, 2015). Winterbourn's pioneering work has shaped redox biology, earning her the Society for Redox Biology and Medicine Lifetime Achievement Award (2024), Royal Society of New Zealand Rutherford Medal (2011, first woman recipient), Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM, 2012), Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM, 1997), University of Otago Distinguished Research Medal (2004), New Zealand Association of Scientists Marsden Medal (1996), and Fellowship of the Royal Society of New Zealand (1988).