About

We are a newly established research group at the School of Science at the University of New South Wales Canberra, also known as the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). The team uses organic chemistry to make molecules for drug discovery, materials and agricultural research applications. We also investigate and develop chemical methodology to aid in our synthetic efforts.

Team Leader – Dr Tristan Reekie

Tristan commenced his role as a Lecturer in Chemistry at UNSW Canberra in January 2022. He completed his undergraduate studies and PhD at the Australian National University (ANU), where he was heavily involved in the chemistry teaching program. He then undertook a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the ETH in Switzerland in the group of Prof. François Diederich. Subsequently, Tristan moved to the University of Sydney as a Senior Postdoctoral Associate working as a medicinal chemist with Prof. Michael Kassiou and then held the position of Undergraduate Convenor at ANU from 2019–2021. Tristan has been the co-inventor on a number of patents which have led to the spin-out company Kinoxis Therapeutics for which he remains as the head of chemistry. Tristan is also currently the Deputy Program Director for the Australian Chemistry Olympiad.

Group Members

  • Phil Nashar – Affiliated PhD candidate (ANU)
  • Pheebs – Post-dog-toral Fellow

Past Group Members

  • Craig Stewart – PhD graduate (ANU)
  • Dr Jiri Mikusek – Postdoctoral associate (ANU)

Collaborators

To aid in our research we have collaborators at a number of different institutions including The University of Sydney, Charles Sturt University and Macquarie University.

Opportunities

We are always seeking qualified applicants for undergraduate, Honours, and PhD positions within the group. Please email Tristan for more information on available projects!

Details on graduate research in chemistry can be found here.  PhD Scholarships are available for highly qualified applicants.