Centre for Drug Discovery Innovation

📢 Exciting News from MedChem Australia! 📢 MedChem Australia is delighted to announce our Round 2 Call for Project Applications is open. Researchers with innovative small molecule projects are invited to apply to access our expert medicinal chemistry and DMPK support. 🔬 Key details: 📅 Application Period: Now open 👩🔬 Eligibility: Researchers from Australian universities, MRIs, and small companies 🗓️ Deadline: 5 pm, Monday, 24th February 2025 Prof. Brendon Monahan, MedChem Australia Director, said, “We look forward to our continued collaboration with the Australian biomedical research community to collectively develop much-needed safe and effective medicines.” Explore the Round 2 application process, project requirements, and further information on our website: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gCX-bydT 🧪 About MedChem Australia 🧪 MedChem Australia is a partnership between Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Monash University, the University of Sydney and WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research), with funding from Therapeutic Innovation Australia and the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care Medical Research Future Fund. MedChem Australia is dedicated to breaking down barriers in medicinal chemistry and DMPK capabilities, fostering partnerships that drive ground-breaking drug discovery. Through a collaborative cost-subsidised model, MedChem Australia provides resources and expertise to transform research into impactful medicines. Brendon Monahan, Michael Kassiou, Jeff Mitchell, Paul Stupple, Susan Charman, Guillaume Lessene. #DrugDiscovery #ResearchInnovation #MedChemAustralia

A follow-up study on the thiopeptide antibiotic persiathiacin focused on its mode of action and mechanism of resistance. Antibiotic producing microbes have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to protect themselves against their own antibiotics. For the persiathiacin producer, self-resistance is achieved through differences in key amino acids within the thiopeptide-binding region of its target, ribosomal protein L11, which prevent persiathiacin from binding to it.

Congratulations to Dr Kenya Fernandes on joining the cohort of #SuperstarsOFSTEM 🤩 awarded by Science & Technology Australia

I saved my first LinkedIn post for my first first-author paper, which is out now in JACS! We used mirror-image reprogrammed mRNA display to discover a nanomolar cyclic D-sulfopeptide inhibitor of CCL22. We synthesised mirror-image D-CCL22 and used it in RaPID mRNA display with a reprogrammed L-cyclic sulfopeptide library. After sequencing, we simply made the hits with D-amino acid building blocks - Dpep24 in particular bound with high affinity and selectivity to CCL22, and was able to inhibit CCR4 signaling at nanomolar concentrations! Watch this space for the development of more D-cyclic peptides as ligands, drugs, and other tool molecules with enhanced pharmacokinetic properties… Read more here: https://lnkd.in/g4cE8y_Q Thank you to my supervisor Richard Payne and co-first author Katriona Harrison, in addition to team mirror-image Jessica Zhong, Sameer Kulkarni, Ph.D., Liam Calvey, Dr Daniel Ford, and our collaborators at Monash Uni and the Medical College of Wisconsin for making this happen!

📣 We are exceptionally excited to welcome our newest DDI ECR Committee members! Sian Genoud Sasha (Alexandra) Maximova, PhD Helen Zhao Alexander Dupuy Katriona Harrison We can't wait to work alongside them in supporting our HDR and ECR members through Researcher Development programs, events and more. They will be joining our wonderful, continuing committee members, Jonathan Du, Aster E. Pijning, Anneliese Ashhurst, Eugene Lee, Nick Lynch and Bijay Dhungel.

The results of DDI Research Image Contest 🗳️🔬 People's Choice Award are in! 🏆 Congratulations to Dr Liam Adair on his submission "Lysosomal oxidative stress probe", capturing A549 cells stained with a nuclear marker (yellow), mitochondrial marker (magenta), and a lysosomally-targeted oxidative stress probe (cyan).

🛫 The biannually awarded DDI Travel Awards champion our HDR students' and ECRs' global adventures in research by funding conference attendances and lab visits. 💫 Congratulations to the awardees of the DDI ECR Travel Awards 2024 - Round 2! We can't wait to hear about your experiences and insights when you get back. Anna Emilia Hoffmann Srija Sur Roger Wang Lara Westwood

🔔 Voting for the DDI Research Image Contest 2024 - People's Choice award is closing in two days! Don't forget to have your say 📲 https://lnkd.in/gDU5PTia This year fantastic snapshots from DDI members' labs have revealed the breadth and beauty of research being conducted by HDR students and early career researchers around the University of Sydney. Congratulations to our nominees ✨ Liam Adair, Kenya Fernandes, Simone Zanoni, Ethan Noble-Green, Yue C., Oliver Tan, Waiting Tai

A fantastic few days over in Adelaide representing the Kassiou group with Andre Mckenzie at #ASSCR2024. A huge thank you to the Australasian Society for Stem Cell Research (ASSCR) for the opportunity to share our work and thank you to the organisers and all the speakers for an amazing event. We had the pleasure of hearing about the rise of new technologies and the incredible research done in the stem cell field across various disciplines. Feeling inspired and excited to see what the future holds!

🔬 Created in partnership between Centre for Drug Discovery Innovation and Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute, the Sydney Anti-Bacterial Accelerator (SABA) is advancing critical research in antibiotic discovery, bacterial cell physiology, and molecular pathogenesis. We're very excited to announce the outcome of the 2024 Anti-Bacterial Discovery Funding, designed to initiate five synergistic research pipelines within SABA. ✨Congratulations to the awarded leaders and their teams✨👏 Dr Constance Bailey (School of Chemistry) Prof Kate Jolliffe (School of Chemistry) Dr Yousef Dashti (School of Medical Sciences) Dr Jonathan Du (School of Pharmacy) Dr Ashleigh Paparella (School of Medical Sciences) #leadershipforgood