The ACRF Chemical Biology division aims to discover new medicines. 

We use structural, chemical and molecular biology approaches along with medicinal chemistry and high-throughput screening, to identify and validate novel therapeutic targets. 

Our work has relevance to a range of diseases including cancers, inflammatory diseases and infections.

Members of our division have made important contributions to a number of research areas, including our understanding of: 

• cell death pathways
• kinase signalling pathways 
• protein glycosylation in diseases
• the molecular mechanisms that contribute to malarial parasite survival
   

Health impact

Cancers: bowel cancer, brain cancer, breast cancer, leukaemia, lung cancer, lymphoma, myeloma, myeloproliferative disorders, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, rare cancers, stomach cancer

Immune health and infection: asthma, autoinflammatory diseases, Crohn’s disease, coeliac disease, HIV, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus, malaria, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, toxoplasmosis, multiple sclerosis, vaccines

Development and ageing: heart disease and stroke, multiple sclerosis, neurodegenerative disorders, Parkinson’s disease

Division news

• Team behind new cancer drug wins Clunies Ross Award

• $4.6M boost in search for new malaria drugs

• 3D 'scaffold' map to help the search for new cancer treatments

• $25M federal funding boost for Australian Drug Discovery Centre

• Imaging collaboration sheds new light on cancer growth

Division head

Associate Professor Isabelle Lucet

Lab heads

Associate Professor Ethan Goddard-Borger

Professor Guillaume Lessene

Dr Brad Sleebs

Division coordinator

Leeanne Lewis