Research Research groups Nitsche Group We develop chemical tools to target, manipulate and study peptides and proteins related to infectious diseases. label Research theme Research themes Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development Organic chemistry About We create and study selective interactions between proteins and small synthetic molecules. Our research projects are interdisciplinary. We apply chemical and physical tools to address questions of biological and medicinal relevance, involving a broad spectrum of techniques ranging from organic chemistry to structural biology. We aim to accelerate the drug discovery process by introducing new technology platforms, develop anti-infective agents and establish novel chemical ligation reactions that do not interfere with biological systems. Personal Group Web Page Projects 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 Theme Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development, Organic chemistry 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 Theme Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development, Organic chemistry Read more Genetically encoded bicyclic peptides This project will explore phage display (Nobel prize 2018) as the most robust approach and establish this technique at the Research School of Chemistry. Read more Student intake Open for Honours, Master, PhD, Summer scholar students Theme Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development Read more Inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease This project will design, synthesise and evaluate a series of small molecules as new lead compounds against SARS-CoV-2. You will explore “warheads” such as alpha-ketoamides and Michael acceptors to inactivate the SARS-CoV-2 main protease by covalent modification of its active site. Read more Student intake Open for Honours, Master, PhD, Summer scholar students Theme Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development Read more Modular fluorescent tags: clickable BODIPYs BODIPY dyes are widely used as fluorescent tags for key sites in biomolecules. An alternative approach is to develop amine-functionalised BODIPYs which could be appended to peptides or proteins via a cysteine residue. Read more Student intake Open for Honours, PhD students Theme Analytical Chemistry and Sensors Read more Members Leader A/Prof. Christoph Nitsche Associate ProfessorARC Future Fellow Student Lani Davies PhD Candidate Junming He PhD Candidate Henry Illingworth Honours Student Richard Morewood MPhil Candidate Nathan Paul Honours Student Sven Ullrich PhD Candidate Saan Voss PhD Candidate News Nitsche group cook up new recipe for Pretzel-shaped peptides Researchers at RSC have developed a new way to synthesise bicyclic peptides, with major implications for future research into drug treatments for a range of diseases including cancer, viruses and bacterial infections. Read the article toc
