Researchers to meet at Hanmer

Press, 12 April 1984, Page 15

Researchers to meet at Hanmer

Some of the world’s top researchers on blood proteins will meet at Hanmer Springs this week-end.

The occasion is the first combined conference of the Australian and New Zealand Biochemical Societies.

One of the organisers, Professor Robin Carrell, of Christchurch, said more than one-third of the 60 participants came from outside Australasia. They included researchers from Europe, Japan, and North America.

Biochemical reactions to stress is the topic of the four-day conference, which will start on Saturday. Professor Carrell said the body’s emergency system

could answer questions about its normal workings. A shock or injury were two types of stress that caused the change, one he likened to a roadster turning into a rally car. “The most interesting thing is that by looking at the changes (in the blood stream) during this stress period you can pick out what proteins are important for function,” he said.

Having a small number of experts to an informal “retreat-style” gathering was common overseas, but Professor Carrell said this was the first medical conference to try the format in New Zealand.