Rate My Professor Alexander Peskin

Dr. Alexander Peskin is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch, within the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Division. He graduated from Moscow State University and earned his PhD and Doctor of Science (Habilitation) degrees from the Russian Academy of Sciences. His early career spanned from 1974 to 1998 at the Institute of Developmental Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences. Following this, he served as an Eleanor Roosevelt International Cancer Fellow at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research in the Cerutti laboratory and as a Visiting Scientist at the University of Lodz in the Bartosz laboratory. In 1998, Peskin joined the Centre for Free Radical Research at the University of Otago, Christchurch, contributing extensively to research in redox biology over more than two decades.

Peskin's research specializations encompass antioxidants, thiol biochemistry, superoxide dismutase and its implications for cancer, biochemistry of chloramines, peroxiredoxins, and broader expertise in biochemistry and enzymology. He has produced a substantial body of influential work, with over 5,300 citations across 95 publications. Among his most cited contributions are the development of 'A microtiter plate assay for superoxide dismutase using a water-soluble tetrazolium salt (WST-1)' published in Clinica Chimica Acta in 2000 (665 citations), 'The high reactivity of peroxiredoxin 2 with H2O2 is not reflected in its reaction with other oxidants and thiol reagents' in the Journal of Biological Chemistry in 2007 (476 citations), 'Kinetics of the reactions of hypochlorous acid and amino acid chloramines with thiols, methionine, and ascorbate' in Free Radical Biology and Medicine in 2001 (428 citations), and 'Peroxiredoxin 2 functions as a noncatalytic scavenger of low-level hydrogen peroxide in the erythrocyte' in Blood in 2007 (349 citations). Recent publications include 'High-dose vitamin C blocks HOCl production by myeloperoxidase: A potential therapeutic strategy' in Biochemical & Biophysical Research Communications in 2025, 'Mechanism of glutathionylation of the active site thiols of peroxiredoxin 2' in the Journal of Biological Chemistry in 2025, and 'Could CO2 be a player in a redox relay team?' in Redox Biochemistry & Chemistry in 2023. His research has advanced understanding of oxidative stress mechanisms, enzyme kinetics, and potential therapeutic interventions in redox-related pathologies.