Medicine Chemistry

Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development

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

Molecule

Our research interests lie at the interface between biology, chemistry and physics where fundamental chemistry underlies biological function.

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Malins group

The Malins group develops synthetic tools for small molecule, peptide and protein synthesis, including for applications in chemical biology and drug discovery.

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Drug chemistry

The McLeod group employs a wide range of techniques to study drug metabolism.

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Bone tissue

The Nisbet Lab is focused on developing advanced biomaterials along three themes: Neural Tissue and Bone Tissue Engineering and Drug & Viral Vector Delivery.

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We develop chemical tools to target, manipulate and study peptides and proteins related to infectious diseases.

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Organic molecule

Our research program involves the design of sequences of cycloaddition reactions, free radical reactions and transition metal-mediated reactions

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Facilities

Separation and Reaction Facility

Electrochemical reactors for preparative organic synthesis.

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Projects

A Trojan horse to combat malaria, Anti-doping chemistry, Enzyme engineering and Exploring the ‘sulfatome’.

Student intake

Open for Honours, PhD students

Allosteric inhibitors, Neobiochemistry and Engineering an insulin biosensor.

Student intake

Open for Honours, PhD students

Computer-aided drug design , Antimicrobial resistance and membrane biophysics.

Student intake

Open for Honours, PhD students

Domino Reactions, Step Economic Total Synthesis and Synthesising Designed Molecules.

Student intake

Open for Honours, PhD students

Infectious viruses such as dengue, Zika, West Nile, Chikungunya or SARS-CoV-2 have common Achilles heel: their protease. Proteases are key enzymes of viral replication and promising drug targets. The project explores constrained peptides targeting proteases available in our lab from flavi-, alpha- and coronaviruses

Student intake

Open for Honours, PhD students

Oxytocin receptor (OTR) targets and Push-pull chromophores 

Student intake

Open for Honours, PhD students

Members

Academic staff

Associate Professor
Westpac Research Fellow

Associate Professor

Associate Professor Christoph Nitsche

Associate Professor
ARC Future Fellow

Honorary Professor

Associate Director (Education)
Professor

Articles

Fighting antibiotic resistance takes guts. Dr Lara Malins discusses her research into antibiotic resistance.

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