Marie Curie Lecture Series – 2011

The Year of Chemistry 2011 site is providing information on local activities.

Marie Curie:Credit The Science Channel

The Marie Curie Lecture Series is worth looking forward to. These will run throughout 2011 and will be located around New Zealand. Female chemists will be reflecting on how chemistry affects and improves our lives and our society.

The series will be launched in Wellington with a talk by Professor Margaret Brimble, 2007 L’Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science Laureate:

Title: Exploring Nature’s Medicine Chest

When: Thursday 24 February 2011 at 6pm

Where: The Marae, Te Papa Museum, Wellington

The Year of Chemistry 2011 site describes the talk:

The intricate chemistry of nature has evolved over millions of years and we are in the exciting position to be able to recreate and craft the compounds that already exist in the world, in the laboratory. Professor Margaret Brimble’s research explores such possibilities and how we can best use these discoveries to create new medicines. Her lecture will showcase how natural products derived from microorganisms that live in extreme environments, and natural products produced by algal blooms, can be harnessed to develop novel anticancer, antibacterial and antiviral drugs and drugs to treat neurodegenerative diseases.

“Exploring Nature’s Medicine Chest” is also the opening of the Marie Curie Lecture Series, a year- long national tour of talks by female New Zealand chemists in honour of Curie’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her ground-breaking studies in radium and polonium.

Thanks to:  Marie Curie Lecture Series | International Year of Chemistry.