Dr John Ingram
Position: Senior Research Scientist, Food Innovation, Plant & Food Research. Field: Endocrinology, nutrition.
Dr John Ingram grew up on a farm in the Waikato and discovered the world of science whilst attending high school in Hamilton.
Dr Ingram in the lab
Dr John Ingram at work in his laboratory at Plant & Food Research in Auckland.
Science was my favourite subject at school, particularly biology, in which I had some great teachers at high school.
He furthered that interest at the University of Waikato, completing a BSc and MSc in biology before taking a job at AgResearch in the Animal Behaviour and Welfare Research Centre.
While there, John enrolled for a PhD in biology from the University of Waikato, graduating in 2000. His research focused on the physiological and behavioural responses of farmed deer to stress and involved the development of new technology to monitor these responses in animals while at pasture.
A 2-year postdoctoral position at HortResearch (now Plant & Food Research) followed, where John continued the stress focus of his research, including assisting with the development of non-invasive stress-monitoring devices.
An opportunity arose to take up a postdoctoral fellowship at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, United Kingdom. Here, John spent 3 years studying neuroendocrine regulation of the stress response.
He returned to New Zealand in 2005 as a senior scientist with HortResearch (now Plant & Food Research) to assist with the development of biosensors to measure hormonal responses for use with biomarker-assisted training and recovery in athletes.
During this time, he developed an interest in the role of functional foods in training adaptation and appetite regulation.
Research goals and collaboration
Dr John Ingram is a senior research scientist with Plant & Food Research, Auckland. The key goals for the project are the development of foods and food ingredients with optimised levels of satiety components. Scientific work of this type involves collaboration, and John explains how this operates across several disciplines and outside organisations.
He now oversees part of the Foods for Appetite Control programme, which aims to develop plant-based functional foods and ingredients that can be used to control appetite.
His research interests include the regulation of appetite control and satiety, modulation of carbohydrate absorption and the adaptive response to exercise and psychological and physical stress.
He also has a key interest in the role of dynamic hormone secretion in modulating physiological processes in humans and modelling of neuroendocrine function.
Related content
Find out more about John's research in the area of satiety, focusing on how plant components interact with the chemosensory role of the gut.
In Hormonal control of digestion read how the gut is the body’s largest hormone-producing organ, releasing more than 20 different peptide hormones, some of which have a key role in controlling food intake and energy expenditure.
Useful link
Find out more about a new natural appetite-suppressing pill, calocurb, that John has been working in this Seven Sharp news story.
This article is based on information current in 2011 and updated in 2018.
