An amazing day for Distinguished Professor Dame Margaret Brimble...

An amazing day for Distinguished Professor Dame Margaret Brimble and her small team of three including Jian Guan working from Auckland University a number of years ago. Her goal was to take a compound with neuroprotective properties but with an unfortunate short half-life in the brain that made it unsuitable for clinical use and change it into a series of compounds that may have a longer half-life and hence be suitable as a neuroprotective pharmaceutical. Dame Margaret compiled a list of compounds to synthesise and they were each tested for their neuroprotective properties. Today, 20 years later with Neuren, we see the fruits of this body of work. A true humble researcher working with a small research budget and a very small team. A remarkable kiwi scientist.
Dame Margaret said "I think about the impact this will have on the lives of people like Rett sufferer Katelin Lancaster and her mother Melinda, in the US. Dame Margaret actually met Melinda and Katelin in 2019 when she went to San Diego to be inducted into the American Chemical Society Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame.
In Dame Margaret’s office in the School of Chemical Sciences, Auckland, a hand-painted plate and coffee mug Katelin made sit proudly on a shelf.“The handprints on the plate are green, which Katelin knew was the Kiwi colour. With help, she also drew a picture of the Trofinetide molecule.
A great day for further celebration of the advances of Science downunder.