Home

Our researchers in the Fairlie Group at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, study CHEMISTRY, BIOCHEMISTRY and PHARMACOLOGY  to better understand the detailed processes of life, ageing, disease and death. The Fairlie group works at the interface of chemistry, biology and disease. We apply our skills in MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY and organic chemistry, biochemistry and pharmacology to develop new treatments for human inflammatory diseases, cancers, metabolic diseases (type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular), viral infections, and Alzheimer's disease. We also execute basic research to understand fundamental principles and processes in chemistry (medicinal, organic, biological, computational, inorganic), biochemistry (proteins, enzymes), pharmacology (cells, rodents, human tissues) and IMMUNOLOGY (neutrophils, macrophages, mast cells, dendritic cells, complement, T cells, rodents).

 

slide_show
slide_show2

Chemistry researchers in the Fairlie Group develop expertise in medicinal chemistry and organic chemistry, using solution and solid phase organic synthesis; structure determination through 2D NMR spectroscopy; computer-aided drug design; and study interactions between small molecules and proteins, DNA and RNA. Outcomes are new chemical reactions, new chemical mechanisms, new organic compounds, new chemical structures, novel enzyme inhibitors, protein agonists and antagonists, and structural mimics of protein surfaces as new leads to drugs, diagnostics and vaccines.

Biology researchers in the Fairlie Group interrogate human and viral proteins and human cell/tissue function, and elucidate mechanisms of protein activation, biological/physiological processes, viral infection, disease development, and drug action. Some researchers study rat or mouse models of human diseases. Researchers gain insights to human physiology or aberrant processes in disease, and develop interdisciplinary skills in enzymology, biochemistry, pharmacology, immunology, virology, parasitology, oncology or neurobiology.

The Fairlie Group's focus on diseases involves basic, strategic and applied research in biochemistry, pharmacology and virology directed at: (1) understanding how the immune system resolves infection (by parasites, viruses, bacteria) and tissue injury; (2) how prolonged inflammatory responses can cause debilitating chronic inflammatory diseases, including onset of cancersmetabolic diseases (obesity, type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular diseases), chronic inflammatory pain, and neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. Alzheimer's disease); and (3) how our novel compounds can act on human proteins, human and rodent cells and tissues, and rat or mouse models of human diseases. See links for our publications in all of these disease areas and allied chemicalbiochemical and pharmacological research.


 

website.jpg