Faculty Member, Institute for Molecular Bioscience
Professorial Research Fellow, Group Leader
About
My research group focuses on the detection, isolation, characterisation, identification and evaluation of novel bioactive metabolites from Australian marine and terrestrial biodiversity. These metabolites span all known biosynthetic structure classes including many molecules new to science, and their study requires the use of sophisticated chromatographic, spectroscopic and chemical technologies. Natural products uncovered during our investigations represent valuable new leads in the search for drugs with application in the fields of human and animal health and crop protection, have potential as molecular probes to better interrogate and understand living systems, and could find application as biological control agents.
Research projects extend across:
Natural Products Chemistry: the isolation and purification, and spectroscopic and chemical analysis of, secondary metabolites from marine and terrestrial plants, animals and microbes, with a view to better exploring and understanding “natural” chemical space.
Synthetic Organic Chemistry: the synthesis of new bioactive natural products, to confirm, test and refine novel pharmacophores, to build knowledge of and prioritize new drug lead candidates, with a view to better exploring and understanding “synthetic” chemical space.
Microbial Metabolism: the acquisition and fermentation of microbial biodiversity, to express silent secondary metabolite gene clusters, to better explore and make use of the full spectrum of “natural” chemical space defined by the microbial genome.
Chemical Ecology: the detection, identification and evaluation of invasive pest (ie cane toads, insects) defensive secretions, toxins and pheromones, to improve our understanding of chemical ecology, to develop safe, effective and species selective control solutions.
