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Professor Elizabeth Krenske leads a computational chemistry laboratory that specialises in understanding molecular behaviour. Her laboratory has a particular focus on the study of chemical reaction mechanisms, including the computational prediction of reaction outcomes. Prof. Krenske obtained her PhD in synthetic main-group chemistry at The Australian National University's Research School of Chemistry, where she worked with Professor Bruce Wild. After two years of postdoctoral research at the ANU she was awarded a Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholarship and spent two years at the University of California, Los Angeles, working in the field of theoretical and computational chemistry with Professor Kendall Houk. She returned to Australia in 2009 as an ARC Australian Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Melbourne, and moved to The University of Queensland in 2012 as an ARC Future Fellow. She is currently a Professor in the UQ School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences.

Prof. Krenske is a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and former Associate Editor of the RSC journal Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry.

Biography

Jeffrey Mak (PhD) is an organic chemist at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience. His publications cover a range of disciplines such as biological and medicinal chemistry, total synthesis, and physical organic chemistry. Dr Mak was selected as a Rising Star of Chemistry by the Australian Journal of Chemistry (2022).

Jeffrey Mak was awarded the Harriett Marks Bursary and a UQ University Medal before undertaking doctorate studies in natural product total synthesis with Prof. Craig Williams. This culminated in the first total synthesis of two caged diterpenes, (−)-neovibsanin G and (−)-14-epi-neovibsanin G. Next, he joined Prof. David Fairlie's group at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience. He is currently active in the fields of chemical biology and drug development. He is recognised for his development of ligands that modulate mucosal associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, which are a newly characterised subset of immune cells important in antibacterial defence (Accounts of Chemical Research, 2021). In 2014, he was part of an Australian team that discovered the identity of the ligands that activate MAIT cells, as published in Nature, playing a key role in the chemical synthesis and characterisation of the unstable and structurally unprecedented ligands (Nature Communications, 2017). He was selected as a CAS SciFinder Future Leader by the Chemical Abstract Service (a division of the American Chemical Society, 2017). In 2018, Dr Mak was chief investigator on a UQ Early Career Researcher Grant for developing new drug leads that target MAIT cells. Other recent awards include RSC Twitter Poster Conference (Chemical Biology) 1st Prize (2018), and a CASS Travel Award (2018).

Dr Mak has lectured in the undergraduate course Advanced Organic Chemistry (CHEM3001, 2017-2023). He has also served as a member of the UQ Cultural Inclusion Council, and as an ACS Wikipedia Fellow to systematically improve the chemistry and scientific content on Wikipedia (2018).

Student projects

Projects in medicinal chemistry, synthesis, and chemical biology are available (depending on lab space) for enthusiastic organic chemistry students at all levels (PhD, Masters, Honours, Undergraduate). These include the design and synthesis of:

1. Stable analogues of immunostimulating bacterial ligands towards vaccines and anti-cancer immunotherapies
2. Chemical biology tools for exploring MAIT cell activation
3. Highly selective histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors as new drug leads

Previous student publications:

1. Mak JYW* et al. (2024) Potent Immunomodulators Developed from an Unstable Bacterial Metabolite of Vitamin B2 Biosynthesis. Angewandte Chemie, e202400632.
2. Mak JYW et al. (2021) HDAC7 inhibition by phenacetyl and phenylbenzoyl hydroxamates. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 64 (4), 2186-2204.
3. Awad W, Ler GJM et al. (2020) The molecular basis underpinning the potency and specificity of MAIT cell antigens. Nature Immunology, 21 (4), 400-411.
4. Ler GJM, Xu W, Mak JYW, Liu L et al. (2019) Computer modelling and synthesis of deoxy and monohydroxy analogues of a ribitylaminouracil bacterial metabolite that potently activates human T cells. Chemistry – A European Journal, 25 (68), 15594-15608.

Professor Mobli is a structural biologist and a group leader at the University of Queensland's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN). He is well known internationally for his contributions to the basic theory of multidimensional nuclear magnetic resonance and its applications to resolving the molecular structure of peptides and proteins, as well as studying their physiochemical properties and function. Mehdi's contributions to the field has been recognised by being appointed an Executive Editor of the AMPERE society's journal "Magnetic Resonance", and to the advisory board of the international Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank (BMRB) as well as serving on the board of directors of the Australia and New Zealand Society for Magnetic Resonance (ANZMAG). He is a former ARC Future Fellow and recipient of the ASBMB MERCK medal, the Australia Peptide Society's Tregear Award, the ANZMAG Sir Paul Callaghan medal and the Lorne Proteins Young Investigator Award (now Robin Anders Award).

Prof. Mobli's research group focuses on characterising the structure and function of receptors involved in neuronal signalling, with a particular focus on developing new approaches for the discovery and characterisation of modulators of these receptors through innovations in bioinformatics, biochemistry and and biophysics. This work has led to publication of more than 100 research articles attracting over 6,000 citations.

Educated at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and the Australian National University, Canberra. Career at the Université de Lausanne, Switzerland, and the Universität Marburg, Germany. Professor and Chair of Organic Chemistry and Head of the Organic Chemistry Section, The University of Queensland from 1985. Emeritus professor from 2008. Chair of the National Committee for Chemistry of the Australian Academy of Science 2009-2014. Editor-in-Chief, Australian Journal of Chemistry 2008-15. Editor, Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis (Elsevier, IF 3.65) 2016-. Visiting Professor Université de Pau, France, 2011-19; Visiting Professor University of Kuwait 2014-18; Visiting Professor / Special Appointed Professor Hiroshima University 2014-18. Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. Centenary Medal of the Australian Commonwealth 2003 for research in organic and physical chemistry. David Craig Medal of the Academy of Science 2014 for research in chemistry. JSPS Fellowship (Japan) 2014. Honorary doctorate, University of Pau, France, 2014. A.J. Birch Medal of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) for ecellence in research in organic chemistry, 2014. Leighton Medal of the RACI 2018.

Research on Unusual Molecules and Reactive Intermediates: Synthesis and Reaction Mechanism. Heterocyclic chemistry. Pyrolysis reactions. Photochemistry

Research in the Wentrup group is concerned with the discovery of novel types of molecules with new and unusual bonding patterns. Such molecules are mostly highly reactive, and special methods are required both for their generation and for their detection. The group has developed these methods over many years and acquired world-class equipment for these purposes, including flash vacuum thermolysis apparatus, cryostats for matrix isolation of reaction products at cryogenic temperatures (down to 7 K), matrix and solution photochemistry equipment, infrared, UV and mass spectrometers, as well as modern computational facilities.

This research has resulted in the synthesis and characterization of many novel compounds, including extended cumulenes of the types RN=C=C=C=X, which themselves are used in the synthesis of many novel types of molecules, some of them of potential pharmaceutical interest (quinolone antibiotics; diazepines).

The research group has a world reputation in the field of carbene and nitrene chemistry, involving reactive intermediates with sextet carbon or nitrogen. These species are also very useful in synthesis, for example in the preparation of diazepines and diazepinones, a family of pharmaceutically interesting compounds. Numerous mechanistic studies and synthetic applications of ketenes have been carried out in our group.

Active collaborations are ongoing with scientists in Australia (UQ and CSIRO), China (Suzhou), France (Pau), Germany (Oldenburg), Japan (Hiroshima), Spain (Donostia - San Sebastian), and Portugal (Coimbra).