A University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka chemistry researcher leads one of only six small teams in the world to receive a prestigious international science grant.
Dr Nicholas Green
Dr Nicholas Green, of the Department of Chemistry, has been awarded a $2m research grant from the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP), an international funding initiative that supports bold, interdisciplinary life science research.
He is the only New Zealand-based researcher to receive the funding this cycle.
The three-year grant will allow Dr Green and his team, which includes Dr Satoshi Ansai (Okayama University, Japan) and Dr April Lukowski (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, USA) to investigate the genomics, biosynthesis, physiology and chemical synthesis of a little-known family of ichthyotoxins.
"Ichthyotoxins are toxic molecules produced by fish," Dr Green says.
"Given that most of us eat fish, it's important that we know about these toxins. But it also turns out that fish toxins include some of the most interesting, confusing chemical structures known to science.
"Figuring out how and why certain fish make them is so challenging that it forces us to come up with innovative new hypotheses and techniques."
Dr Green's proposal was among just six grants awarded to early career teams from 164 submissions from the more than 70 participating countries, after a rigorous, multi-stage review by leading scientists. Only 34 grants were awarded from more than 1,100 submissions, making the programme one of the most competitive in the world.
In its assessment, the review committee described the project as "bold, technically demanding, and conceptually adventurous".
"It is a great privilege to receive support for this kind of fundamental, knowledge-driven research," Dr Green says.
"Our team is highly qualified and interdisciplinary – we have complementary technical backgrounds and different ways of defining and approaching problems in research. I'm really looking forward to working with April and Satoshi."
Dr Green will lead the project alongside Dr Ansai and Dr Lukowski, bringing together expertise across chemistry, marine biology, and molecular science.
By combining expertise in these areas, the team aims to uncover how the natural products are made, what roles they play in ecosystems, and whether similar compounds exist more broadly in nature.
"If we are successful in our aims of deciphering this unknown biology and chemistry, we will not only have catalogued something not previously understood about our world but may also have opportunities to translate that knowledge into advances in chemistry, biotechnology and medicine," he says.
"It's a very exciting project, and we are grateful to HFSP for this support."
HFSP grants are specifically designed to enable international teams to pursue frontier research that crosses disciplinary boundaries and tackles major unanswered questions in science.
