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Dr Kylie Agnew-Francis

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
Faculty of Science
Availability:
Not available for supervision
Media expert

I am a medicinal chemist and postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Queensland, Australia, where I obtained my BSc (Hons) with a major in organic chemistry in 2011. Following this, I worked at the Institute for Future Environments and later the Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities at QUT, where I gained experience in analytical chemistry, as well as molecular biology and genetics. In 2015, I returned to UQ to begin my PhD in the design and synthesis of novel antifungals targeting invasive infection under the supervision of Prof. Craig Williams and Prof. Luke Guddat, which I completed in 2019. Since this time I have worked at the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow under the supervision of Prof. Craig Williams, Prof. Avril Robertson, and now Prof. James De Voss. Broadly, my research interests lie in the pursuit of drug design and development campaigns addressing difficult or under-researched clinical concerns, and in particular, the use of novel bioisosteric approaches to improve drugability and drug efficacy.

More recently, I have developed an interest in Australian mushroom species. Very little recorded knowledge on our endemic mushrooms species exists. My research in this space seeks to characterise the genetic and molecular features of Australian wood rot mushrooms, which are critical players in maintaining and restoring the health of our unique forests ecosystems. With this information we aim to better understand our fungal biodiversity and the ecological roles they play, and to explore their potential as a platform for the identification of new drug molecules.

Kylie Agnew-Francis
Kylie Agnew-Francis

Dr Natasha Hungerford

Affiliate Senior Research Fellow of School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
Faculty of Science
Senior Research Fellow
Centre for Animal Science
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation
Availability:
Available for supervision

Dr Natasha Hungerford is an organic chemist and has extensive experience in natural products chemistry. She is a Senior Research Fellow leading the Natural Toxin group within the Centre for Animal Science, Queensland Alliance for Agricultural and Food Innovation (QAAFI) and is based at the Health and Food Sciences Precinct (Cooper's Plains). She joined QAAFI in 2016 and specialises in natural plant toxins and their impacts on livestock and human health, including food safety and regulations. Collaborative projects with government/industry have spanned mitigation of toxin impacts on cattle, to evaluation of toxins in honey (and health impacts). Subsequent examinations of stingless bee honey serendipitously led to the ground-breaking discovery of the rare sugar trehalulose as a major component of these honeys. Dr Hungerford continues to lead and manage projects to address agricultural industry challenges, including reducing methane gas emissions for a carbon neutral beef industry and international stingless bee honey development.

Dr Hungerford achieved her PhD in 1998, through the UQ School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, and subsequently conducted postdoctoral research in natural products chemistry and in synthetic organic chemistry, at the University of Oxford, Australian National University, The University of Sydney, Griffith University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Natasha Hungerford
Natasha Hungerford

Dr Jeffrey Mak

Research Fellow
Institute for Molecular Bioscience
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert

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.
Jeffrey Mak
Jeffrey Mak

Dr Viviene Santiago

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Centre for Animal Science
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation
Availability:
Available for supervision

Dr Viviene Santiago is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Natural Toxins group within the Centre for Animal Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) and is based at the Health and Food Sciences Precinct (Coopers Plains). With a robust foundation in organic and analytical chemistry, her research primarily focuses on natural products chemistry from terrestrial, marine, and microbial sources.

Dr Santiago joined QAAFI as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in 2023. Her current research involves developing a delivery system for bioactive compounds aimed at reducing enteric methane emissions in cattle and exploring atypical sugars in novel foods such as stingless bee honey. Over the years, she has cultivated a keen interest in utilising liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and molecular networking techniques to investigate chemical diversity from different sources such as natural toxins in certain plants and atypical sugars in stingless bee honey.

Dr Santiago earned her Ph.D. from The University of Queensland, where her dissertation focused on applying advanced molecular networking techniques, such as the Global Natural Products Social Molecular Networking (GNPS), to explore the chemical diversity of Australian microbes. Her academic journey also includes a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of the Philippines – Diliman. These academic experiences have equipped her with a comprehensive understanding of natural products chemistry, enabling her to make significant contributions to both academia and industry.

Viviene Santiago
Viviene Santiago