Bulletin

Issue: October 2005

News

Professor provides leadership in drug design

A World-leader in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy - and head of a research group contributing to the world-wide search for new drug molecules - has been appointed Professor of Chemistry at La Trobe University.

He is Dr Robert Brownlee, a specialist in biological chemistry. Professor Brownlee joined La Trobe as a Research Fellow in 1970. Formerly Reader and Associate Professor in Chemistry, he is Head of La Trobe's Department of Chemistry.

As well as his leadership in the application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, Professor Brownlee is recognised for developing new NMR techniques and pulse sequences used to help solve medicinal problems. His work concentrates largely on medicinal chemistry, the application of NMR methods to drug design, particularly for antifungal, anti-AIDS and anti-cancer drugs.

His other studies have included proton, carbon and fluorine magnetic nuclei as well as more unusual metals, such as molybdenum. Recently, he has focused on three-dimensional NMR methods and using these to determine the chemical structures of cyclic peptides and metalloproteins.

Professor Brownlee has been a visiting scientist at the University of California, Irvine, the University of East Anglia and the Victorian College of Pharmacy.

His expertise in structural analysis has resulted in many industry partnerships and research collaborations, and he was recently appointed as an assessor for analysts by the Victorian Environmental Protection Authority.

Professor Brownlee's research has been recognised by his election as a Fellow of the Australian Chemical Institute and by a variety of awards, including the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (Medicinal and Agricultural Division) Adrien Albert Lecturer Award.

He is Director and Treasurer of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Magnetic Resonance and was a founding member of the Melbourne NMR Group in 1996. He also served as chairperson of the Medicinal and Agricultural Chemistry Division of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, and is editor of the electronic journal, ARKIVOC.