Chemical Biology

Chemical biology is a multidisciplinary research area at the interface between chemistry and biology.

On

Our research employs chemical techniques and synthetic, biologically active small molecules, peptides, nucleic acids and polymers to understand and affect biological processes.

Major research themes include:

Synthetic and medicinal Chemistry: Development of novel methodology and catalysts for the synthesis of biologically active molecules. Rational drug design of small molecules for treatment of antimicrobial resistance, cancer treatment and Alzheimer’s disease.
Nucleic acid chemistry: Synthesis of modified DNA structures containing DNA damage, hybrid nanoparticles comprised of nucleic acid aptamer-molecularly-imprinted-polymers (MIPs) for molecular recognition.
Peptide chemistry: Development of methods for synthesis of biologically active b-amino acid containing peptides and peptidomimetics.
Diagnostics and therapeutics: Development of luminescent coordination complexes for diagnostics and therapeutics and molecularly - imprinted polymers (MIPs) as biosensors.
Bioinspired chemistry that seeks to develop biomimetic catalysts and mimic transmembrane signalling mechanisms.
Understanding protein-protein interactions: self-assembly using protein engineering and the use of dendrimers to block protein-protein interactions.
Mechanistic biology: Understanding the function of proteins involved in DNA replication, RNA transcription and repair, and porphyrin biosynthesis.