Research Research Areas Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development toc About Medicinal chemistry is focused on the development of drugs, which could be either small molecules or peptides and proteins, for treatment of disease. Modern medicinal chemistry and drug development is highly interdisciplinary and encompasses synthetic organic chemistry, enzymology, biophysical techniques (including protein NMR, protein crystallography and the study of protein-ligand interactions), computational chemistry, protein engineering and pharmacology. Groups Jackson Group Our research interests lie at the interface between biology, chemistry and physics where fundamental chemistry underlies biological function. View the group Malins Group The Malins group develops synthetic tools for small molecule, peptide and protein synthesis, including for applications in chemical biology and drug discovery. View the group McLeod Group The McLeod group employs a wide range of techniques to study drug metabolism. View the group Nitsche Group We develop chemical tools to target, manipulate and study peptides and proteins related to infectious diseases. View the group Sherburn Group Our research program involves the design of sequences of cycloaddition reactions, free radical reactions and transition metal-mediated reactions View the group Facilities Separation and Reaction Facility (SRF) Providing synthetic and separative solutions to the RSC View the facility Projects A Trojan horse to combat malaria Our goal is to develop an anti-malarial Trojan horse that will deliver a chemical payload to the malaria parasite that it cannot avoid, thus limiting the potential for resistance. Read more Student intake Open for Honours, Master, PhD, Summer scholar students Read more Accessing Designer Peptides Using Electro-Organic Synthesis This project will explore additional opportunities for the efficient electrochemical modification of peptides, including through the use of novel “electrochemically-active” amino acids. Read more Student intake Open for Honours, Master, PhD, Summer scholar students Read more Allosteric inhibitors of an important drug target This project will involve collaboration with industry partners (Beta Therapeutics) and partners within the Centre of Excellence in Peptide and Protein Science. Read more Student intake Open for Honours, Master, PhD, Summer scholar students Read more Anti-doping chemistry and designer steroids This project will combine analytical and synthetic chemistry to study the metabolic fate and biological activity arising from designer steroids use, with the goal of developing assays to detect the abuse of these agents in sport. Read more Student intake Open for Honours, Master, PhD, Summer scholar students Read more Biocompatible synthesis of bicyclic peptides This project will capitalise on these achievements and explore biocompatible synthetic routes to various kinds of bicycles and their applications in drug discovery. Read more Student intake Open for Honours, Master, PhD, Summer scholar students Read more Boronic acids as potential therapeutics for dengue fever This project will screen numerous boronic acid derivatives available at the Research School of Chemistry (optional: computational screening of data banks). Screening hits will be modified to generate drug-like inhibitors with anti-dengue activity. Read more Student intake Open for Honours, Master, PhD, Summer scholar students Read more Load more Members Academic staff Prof. Colin Jackson Professor Prof. Lara Malins ProfessorWestpac Research Fellow Prof. Malcolm McLeod Associate Professor A/Prof. Christoph Nitsche Associate ProfessorARC Future Fellow Prof. Michael Sherburn Associate Director (Education)Professor Emeritus and Honorary A/ Prof. Megan O'Mara Honorary Professor Articles 'Fighting antibiotic resistance takes guts' Fighting antibiotic resistance takes guts. Dr Lara Malins discusses her research into antibiotic resistance. Read the article toc
