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Who am I?
Who am I?
I’m currently a PhD candidate enrolled through the School of Chemistry at the University of Melbourne, jointly based at CSIRO Black Mountain in Canberra, where I spend most of my time. My research sits at the interface of chemistry, biology, and materials science, focused on building new catalytic systems by combining protein scaffolds with non-biological cofactors.
At the heart of my current work is a question: how far can we push enzyme function beyond the limits of natural evolution? To explore this, I design and characterise hybrid catalysts that bring together the selectivity of enzymes with the reactivity of small-molecule photocatalysts and redox dyes. My approach blends protein engineering, spectroscopy, computational chemistry, and structure-guided design to build artificial enzymes capable of performing previously inaccessible transformations.
I’m especially interested in how proteins can be adapted to mediate light-driven, radical-based, or redox reactions, and how we can use these systems to expand the synthetic toolkit of biocatalysis. I work closely with collaborators across synthetic chemistry, enzymology, and computational design, and aim to build modular platforms that are both mechanistically insightful and practically useful.
Qualifications
Qualifications
2024 - Present
PhD, Research School of Chemistry
The University of Melbourne, Parkville
Supervisors: A/Prof Anastasios Polyzos, Prof Colin Scott (UWa)
2019 - 2023
Bachelor of Advanced Science (First Class Honours in Protein Chemistry)
The Australian National University, Canberra
A competitive, research-focused science degree
Awards
Awards
2024 - Present Research School of Chemistry PhD Scholarship
2024 - Present Australian Government Research Training Program Stipend Scholarship
2019 - 2020 Vice Chancellor’s Travel Grant
2019 - 2020 Summer Research Program Scholarship
Skills
Skills
Experimental expertise - the majority of my experience lies in in vitro protein characterisation and recombinant protein purification, including:
FPLC-based protein purification such as SEC and Ni-NTA (primarily using AKTA systems)
Absorbance and emission assays using plate readers (various models)
Electrochemical characterisation (potentiostat use - various models and modes)
HPLC and MS characterisation (LC- and GC-MS)
DNA amplification and detection methods including LAMP, RCA, PCR and qPCR
Computational experience - I consider myself to be an experimental scientist, but heavily aided by computational tools, including:
RFdiffusion, ProteinMPNN and LigandMPNN (recently All Atom)
Molecular dynamics simulations (Gromacs with Amber force-fields)
Chimera
PyMOL
Organism use - although I mainly use Escherichia coli, I have had experience using several organisms, including:
Vibrio natriegens bacteria cells
Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cells
Spodoptera frugiperda derived Sf9 insect cell line
Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Nannochloropsis oceanica algae cells
Professional Experience
Professional Experience
Research Technician John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University
June 2023 - March 2024
Biomedical research for the optimisation and delivery of a catalytic electrochemical biosensor for specific disease detection
Full-time research technician
Design, development and assaying of isothermal amplification processes
Clinical sample testing with aseptic technique
Founder, Director and CEO QuateRN Diagnostics Pty Ltd
July 2022 - August 2023
Commercialisation of my honours work through the formation of a company
Participated in the University of New South Wales Founders start up accelerator program (2022 cohort)
Successfully raised funding from Venture Capital
Aided in the finalisation of a key provisional patent with the Australian National University, Australian Provisional Patent Application No.2022903706
Designed and delivered fundraising presentations and pitches
Worked and managed a multidisciplinary team including designers, HR, regulatory and third party contractors.
Research Technician Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University
July 2021 - June 2023
Protein and enzyme engineering.
Casual research position
Designed novel assaying approaches
Key publication in Protein Science: The role of oligomerization in the optimization of cyclohexadienyl dehydratase conformational dynamics and catalytic activity. https://doi.org/10.1002/pro.4510
Casual Sessional Academic Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University
February 2021 - August 2022
Provided laboratory demonstration to groups of 16 first year students
First year chemistry teaching position
Senior laboratory demonstrator and assessment marker
Volunteering & Experience
Volunteering & Experience
STEM Together Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
June 2024 - Present
Judging and assess young student applications to enter the programme
University Board Representative Australasian Synthetic Biology Challenge (ASBC)
November 2020 - Present
The ASBC is a catalyst for scientific innovation and bring Synthetic Biology
training into the university curriculum.
Aided and driven key workshops and in the running of the program
Curate and publish bi-monthly newsletter to over 500 recipients
Early Career Representative Government and Industry Liaison Committee
March 2023 - Present
The Government and Industry Liaison Committee is formed by members from the Australian Research Council, Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation to promote and educate policy makers and politicians in Synthetic Biology.
Science Awards BHP Billiton Science and Engineering Awards Judge
November 2018 - 2024
Judge and peer mentor for the awards program
Chair the alumni group
Synthetic Biology Research School of Biology, Australian National University
January 2021 - November 2021
Designed golden gate cloning components for the expression of multienzyme cassettes in yeast for lipid synthesis
The production and growth of several algae species
Protein Engineering Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University
Jan 2021 - March 2022
Designed, cloned, expressed and assayed protein variants
Characterisation through several analytic techniques including protein crystallography, multi-angle light scattering
Aided in the maintenance of key laboratory equipment.
Peer mentor Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University
February 2020 - November 2020
Peer assisted learning mentor in 1st year chemistry courses
Three hours per week tutoring 3-5 students
Yeast Synthetic Biology Research School of Biology, Australian National University
March 2020 - February 2021
Designed golden gate cloning components for the creation of a whole cell, yeast-based biosensor for CRISPR engineering into yeast
Molecular Dynamics Simulation Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University
October 2019 - March 2020
The preparation and analysis of atomistic molecular dynamics simulations of the GlyT2 membrane protein
Small molecule docking and analysis
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