17 April 1996 Top Lincoln medal to pioneering biomedical scientist

A Lincoln professor recognised internationally as New Zealand's greatest biomedical scientist has been awarded the University's top prize for distinguished achievement, the Bledisloe Medal.

Emeritus Professor Cliff Irvine's pioneering work in the 1960-70s on thyroid gland function and its relation to stress responses and reproductive activity in horses led the world at the time and contributed significantly to medical understanding of similar endocrinological activity in humans.

Initially working with sheep, Professor Irvine conducted the most detailed studies then possible on the metabolism of thyroid hormones and carried out the first measurements of such hormones in domestic animals. For many years these were quoted as foundation studies in veterinary and animal sciences textbooks.

Turning his attention to horses, Professor Irvine's work on hormonal responses to stress paved the way for a test which measured free Thyroxin (a thyroid derived hormone) in equine blood and this was subsequently applied to the human situation.

Professor Irvine came to Lincoln in 1966 as a Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Science, subsequently becoming Reader and then being appointed to a Personal Chair. He has been an Emeritus Professor since his retirement from the fulltime staff in 1987.

Professor Irvine's early work at Lincoln on the pituitary gland and reproductive hormones led to a scientific paper delivered at Cambridge, England, in 1974 which described changes in hormone levels in mares and this was widely acclaimed as a landmark paper in reproductive physiology.

Work on the pituitary gland opened up a new era of research which won Professor Irvine further acclaim as a scientist of international renown.

His research breakthrough was to locate and use a sinus pathway to the pituitary gland in horses so that different substances released during stress and other physiological responses could be measured in fully conscious animals.

Under local anaesthetic the horses had cannulae (small tubes) inserted through the sides of their faces and manipulated up to their pituitary glands. With no discomfort to the animals, these could be left in place for up to a week with blood samples being drawn off regularly for the analysis of chemicals present.

The information gained by this procedure covered a wide range of bodily responses such as seasonal breeding and reproduction cycles in mares, seasonal arousal in stallions and causes of infertility in both sexes.

Major grants from the United States National Institute of Health supported much of this work and indicated the international significance of the research. For many years Professor Irvine was the sole New Zealander funded by the National Institute of Health in the United States and a 1987 grant to him was the largest ever awarded by that body to a New Zealand researcher.

Outside of the laboratory Professor Irvine has had a lifelong interest in race horses and has been a successful breeder, trainer and driver. He is also an official veterinarian and consultant to the NZ Racing and Trotting Conference for the control of drugs in racing and is the veterinary member of the world body for this subject.

Born in Dunedin, Cliff Irvine graduated in veterinary science from Sydney University and worked as a veterinarian in Southland and South Otago in his early years. In 1974 he had the distinction of being only the second Lincoln staff member to have his work recognised with the award of the highest degree of a New Zealand university – D.Sc. (Otago). That has subsequently been matched by two other doctorates – D.Sc.(Massey) in 1989 and D.V.Sc. (Sydney) in 1990.

The Bledisloe Medal, instituted by Governor-General Lord Bledisloe in 1930, recognizes distinguished achievement by Lincoln alumni or staff and it will be presented to Professor Irvine at Lincoln University's Graduation Ceremony on Friday 19 April.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.