Rate My Professor Margreet Vissers

Professor Margreet Vissers is a Research Professor in the Department of Pathology and Biomedical Science at the University of Otago, Christchurch, within the Faculty of Medicine. She earned her BSc with Honours from the University of Canterbury, followed by MSc and PhD degrees from the University of Otago. Following her PhD, she joined the University of Otago staff and advanced to full professor in 2019. As Principal Investigator at Mātai Hāora – Centre for Redox Biology and Medicine, she directs research exploring the biological functions of vitamin C (ascorbate).

Vissers specializes in ascorbate's roles as an antioxidant and co-factor for 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases, particularly in cancer—where it influences stress responses, tumor hypoxia, and epigenetic regulation—and in immunity, affecting white blood cell function during acute inflammatory conditions such as pneumonia and sepsis. Additional research examines vitamin C bioavailability from dietary sources like kiwifruit and its links to skin health, mood, and energy levels. She presented her Inaugural Professorial Lecture, "Unravelling life's secrets: Immunity, cancer and Vitamin C," in 2014. Key publications include "Improved human skin vitamin C levels and skin function following dietary intake of kiwifruit: A high vitamin C food" (Pullar et al., 2025, Journal of Investigative Dermatology), "The Roles of Vitamin C in Skin Health" (Pullar et al., 2017, Nutrients), "Exploring the ascorbate requirement of the 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases" (Smith-Díaz et al., 2025, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry), and "Blood vitamin C levels of patients receiving immunotherapy and relationship to monocyte subtype and epigenetic modification" (Topham et al., 2024, Epigenomes). Her accolades encompass the New Zealand Society for Oncology Translational Research Award (2015), University of Otago Gold Medal for Research (2010), Life Technologies New Zealand Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Award (2012), Marie Curie Fellowship Award from the European Cell Death Organisation (2007), and Canterbury Medical Research Foundation Best Presentation (2005). With 175 publications and over 8,000 citations, Vissers' research supports clinical trials and dietary recommendations.