Multi award-winning computational chemist joins Monash, boosting expertise in AI-driven drug discovery

Professor Giuseppe Barca.

12 June 2025

Monash University will soon welcome Professor Giuseppe Barca to its research community, bringing with him expertise in high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum chemistry that will further accelerate the University’s drug discovery capabilities.

Professor Barca will join the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS), located in Parkville, and will sit within the Institute's Medicinal Chemistry team.

With a deep background in quantum chemistry and in harnessing digital technologies to accelerate drug discovery, Professor Barca joins MIPS at a particularly exciting time for AI-driven research at Monash, having recently announced MAVERIC, an advanced AI supercomputer set to propel Australia’s research capabilities, including drug discovery.

Professor Barca’s research combines HPC and AI with quantum chemistry to accelerate chemical R&D, delivering predictive accuracy that approaches experimental precision.

Professor Barca led Australia’s sole contribution to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Exascale Computing Project (ECP), directing Australia's involvement in the GAMESS-ECP initiative to develop next-generation computational chemistry software for the first exascale supercomputer Frontier. This work involved international collaboration with institutions such as Georgia Tech, Argonne, Oak Ridge, and Ames National Laboratories, alongside industry partners including NVIDIA, Intel, AMD, and Cray. He also led one of the Pawsey Centre for Extreme-scale Readiness (PaCER) projects, advancing Australia’s HPC capabilities in molecular science.

Between 2020 and 2022, his team achieved four world records in large-scale quantum chemical simulations, running on over 27,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) on Summit and 37,000 GPUs on Frontier. In 2023, his research led to the founding of QDX Technologies, a deep-tech company combining quantum chemistry, HPC, and AI to advance drug discovery. As co-founder and Head of Research & Development, he oversees QDX's operations in Singapore, Melbourne, and Canberra.

Professor Barca was named one of Australia’s Top 250 Researchers for 2024 by The Australian, in recognition of his research impact and citation record. In the same year, his team was awarded the ACM Gordon Bell Prize, the highest global accolade in the field of HPC, for pioneering quantum-accurate biomolecular simulations and achieving the first exaflop-scale double-precision calculations. In 2025, he received the Dirac Medal from the World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists (WATOC), the highest international award in the field for scientists under 40, recognizing his pioneering contributions to high-performance quantum chemistry.

Director of MIPS, Professor Chris Porter, said the appointment aligns with MIPS’ focus on harnessing rapid developments in HPC, quantum computing and AI to support the acceleration of drug discovery and, ultimately, drive new medicines a step closer to patients.

“Employing new and emerging technologies is central to our research strategy at MIPS, so we’re delighted to welcome Giuseppe and his team to our Parkville community to further strengthen and speed our drug discovery programs. We are also excited about the prospects for building on our existing collaborations with QDX,” Professor Porter said.

Professor Barca will sit within the Medicinal Chemistry Theme, led by Professor Martin Scanlon. The Medicinal Chemistry Theme has strengths in synthetic medicinal chemistry, structure-based drug design, fragment screening and is also home to the Australian Translational Medicinal Chemistry Facility and, in collaboration with WEHI and The University of Sydney, MedChem Australia.

Professor Barca said: “I am delighted to bring my team to MIPS, where I see a powerful opportunity to embed advanced computational and quantum science within a world-class, lab-based drug discovery environment. This convergence enables a two-way acceleration: our methods will help fast-track discovery efforts at MIPS, while the high-quality experimental data generated will directly refine and elevate our computational models. I look forward to close collaboration with the outstanding research groups here, as we integrate our strengths to push the boundaries of drug discovery together.”

Professor Scanlon said: “Giuseppe is going to be a fantastic addition to the Medicinal Chemistry team. We look forward to welcoming him to MIPS where we know he will be a great asset to our research ecosystem.”

Professor Barca will commence his position at MIPS in July 2025.

ENDS