Rate My Professor Mark Hampton

Professor Mark Hampton is a Professor in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch campus, and serves as Director of Mātai Hāora – Centre for Redox Biology and Medicine. He completed his MSc(Hons) at the University of Canterbury and PhD at the University of Otago. After postdoctoral positions at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and Harvard University in the USA, he joined the University of Otago in 1999 as a Research Professor and was promoted to full Professor in 2013. His research centers on redox biology, investigating how cells sense and respond to oxidants—also known as reactive oxygen species or free radicals—and the roles of antioxidant systems in preventing damage while enabling beneficial signaling functions. Oxidants are produced continuously in the body and by the immune system to combat microbes. Hampton's projects examine how disruptions in redox homeostasis can enhance the killing of cancer cells and pathogenic microbes, as well as the connections between oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and the biological processes of human ageing.

Hampton has secured major funding awards, including the 2024 Otago Innovation Ltd Proof of Concept award of $100,000 for research improving cancer drug efficacy, specifically enhancing BRAF inhibitors for melanoma treatment at the Mātai Hāora Centre; and a 2021 Marsden Fund grant of $960,000 to unlock mechanisms of ageing. He received the New Zealand Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Award for Research Excellence. Key publications include 'Biomarkers of oxidative and mitochondrial stress are associated with accelerated pace of aging at midlife in a birth cohort' (King-Hudson et al., 2025, Journals of Gerontology Series A); 'Portimine A maintains bioactivity following exposure to liver microsomes and cell lysates: No evidence for significant metabolic inactivation' (Brook et al., 2025, Medical Oncology); 'Redox proteomic analysis of H2O2-treated Jurkat cells and effects of bicarbonate and knockout of peroxiredoxins 1 and 2' (Pace et al., 2025, Free Radical Biology & Medicine); and 'Comparison of fecal calprotectin and myeloperoxidase in predicting outcomes in inflammatory bowel disease' (Swaminathan et al., 2025, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases). With approximately 18,900 citations on Google Scholar, his contributions have substantial impact in redox biology, ageing, mitochondria, cancer, and neutrophils. He is an Editorial Board Member for the Journal of Biological Chemistry.