Role at Cawthron
Tim is a toxin chemist with research interests in natural toxin accumulation in food gathered from the land and the sea. He co-leads the MBIE funded Seafood Safety research platform and is the Deputy Director of the New Zealand Food Safety Science and Research Centre.
His specialist areas of expertise include natural product isolation and structural elucidation, analytical method development and validation. Tim completed his post-graduate degrees at University of Canterbury and University of Otago, before undertaking a postdoc at Sydney’s ANZAC Research Institute. Since returning to New Zealand and joining Cawthron in 2010, his research interest has been on marine toxins that accumulate in seafood. His recent focus has been on the analysis of saxitoxin-group toxins and the toxins implicated in ciguatera fish poisoning.
Technical skills, experience and interests:
Analytical method development and validation
Toxin isolation and purification
Natural product structural elucidation
Food safety
Tetrodotoxin
Androgen/estrogen analysis
Professional affiliations:
Editorial advisory board member – Harmful Algae journal
Advisory panel – Emerging Organic Contaminants MBIE project
Team member – Global Ciguatera Strategy for Intergovernmental Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms
Member – FoodHQ NZ’s food innovation gateway
Qualifications
PhD. Otago University, 2008
MSc (Hons). University of Canterbury, 2002
BSc. University of Canterbuy, 1999
