Research projects
Below we list current research topics in the Research School of Chemistry with links to relevant researchers and groups. We have a wide range of potential chemistry research projects, ranging from short-term summer research projects to year-long honours and graduate projects to three-year PhD projects. Please contact the listed project supervisor for further discussion and ideas.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 17 project(s).
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.
Theme
- Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development
- Organic chemistry
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master students
domain Division
Group
This project uses robotics and high-throughput platforms to accelerate chemoselective reaction development in small molecules and peptides, focusing on photochemical and electrochemical methods to create bioactive libraries for drug discovery.
Theme
- Catalysis
- Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development
- Organic chemistry
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master students
domain Division
Group
This project will involve collaboration with industry partners (Beta Therapeutics) and partners within the Centre of Excellence in Peptide and Protein Science.
Theme
- Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development
- Physical and Biophysical Chemistry
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master students
domain Division
Group
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.
Theme
- Analytical Chemistry and Sensors
- Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development
- Organic chemistry
This project is centered on developing an artificial living biomineralisation platform for self-reinforcing materials.
Theme
- Functional Materials and Interfaces
- Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development
- Physical and Biophysical Chemistry
- Soft Matter
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master, PhD students
domain Division
Group
This project will capitalise on these achievements and explore biocompatible synthetic routes to various kinds of bicycles and their applications in drug discovery.
Theme
- Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development
- Organic chemistry
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master students
domain Division
Group
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.
Theme
- Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development
- Organic chemistry
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master students
domain Division
Group
This project targets broad-spectrum antiviral drug development by designing and testing molecules that inhibit viral proteases—key enzymes in RNA virus replication—using covalent “warheads” like alpha-ketoamides to identify new therapeutic leads.
Theme
- Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master students
domain Division
Group
This project will explore additional opportunities for the efficient electrochemical modification of peptides, including through the use of novel “electrochemically-active” amino acids.
Theme
- Catalysis
- Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development
- Organic chemistry
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master students
domain Division
Group
This project will involve collaboration with the ANU Our Health in Our Hands Grand Challenge teams in the College of Engineering & Computer Science and the Research School of Physics.
Theme
- Analytical Chemistry and Sensors
- Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development
- Physical and Biophysical Chemistry
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master students
domain Division
Group
This project is centered on developing a new methodology that would allow the prediction of the behaviours of genetically engineered microbes in engineered living materials (ELMs).
Theme
- Functional Materials and Interfaces
- Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development
- Physical and Biophysical Chemistry
- Soft Matter
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master, PhD students
domain Division
Group
This project will explore phage display (Nobel prize 2018) as the most robust approach and establish this technique at the Research School of Chemistry.
Theme
- Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master students
domain Division
Group
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.
Theme
- Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development
This project will involve collaboration with partners within the Centre of Excellence in Peptide and Protein Science.
Theme
- Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development
- Physical and Biophysical Chemistry
Student intake
Open for Bachelor, Honours, Master students
domain Division
Group
This project is expected to protect important agriculture crops with a novel class of chemical fungicides, contributing to global food security and delivering substantial environmental benefits
Theme
- Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development
- Physical and Biophysical Chemistry
Student intake
Open for Honours, Master, PhD, Summer scholar students