Biological Chemistry
Biological chemistry at Monash Chemistry draws on our expertise in a number of fields, including: inorganic and organic synthesis (catalysis), analytical chemistry, polymer chemistry, antimicrobials, colloids, biological probes for detection and imaging, food valorisation and extraction of bioactive compounds.
This research feeds into a broad range of applications, including drug design and development, radiopharmaceuticals, and plant, soil and crop chemistry.
Advances in these areas are driven by a variety of needs. Some examples include:
- New compounds and materials to challenge the threat of antimicrobial resistance
- New lead compounds for the design of better drugs to treat disease states and pain (analgesics)
- Synthetic polymers that mimic the properties of natural polymers
- Polymers that cross the blood brain barrier
- New sensors and diagnostics
- New coordination chemistry for radionuclides and bio-conjugation techniques
- A fundamental understanding of the structure, mechanistic details and function of bioactive compounds
This research capability is underpinned by excellent collaboration with a range of Universities, government research agencies, and industry: Monash (Engineering - Materials, Chemical, MIME), Microbiology, Biochemistry, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash Biomedical Imaging); Universities of Melbourne, Cambridge, Tasmania, Durham, Warwick, Dresden, Chemnitz, Leipzig, Macau, Hong Kong, Humboldt - Berlin, Kings College London; CSIRO, Hudson Institute for Medical Research, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf.
We enjoy state-of-art facilities in-house as well as access to the Monash Centre for Biospectroscopy, Monash Biomedical Imaging Platform and the Australian Synchrotron.