Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment
School of Life and Environmental Sciences
Centre for Chemistry and Biotechnology (CCB)
The Strategic Research Centre (SRC) encompasses Biotechnology, Chemistry and Systems Biology. These three research areas are linked by a desire to understand how molecules are made, how they can be utilised and how they work in complex biological systems.
Research within the SRC falls into three major areas:
- Biotechnology
- Chemistry
- Systems Biology
Biotechnology is an important industry sector that covers molecular biology, human and animal health, pharmaceuticals, environment, agriculture, medical devices, nanotechnology and related sciences and manufacturing, together with the associated business, regulatory, and intellectual property skills.
Much of the research undertaken within the SRC is underpinned by chemistry that has as its core the isolation, synthesis, processing and detection of compounds, especially those with biological activity. There is a strong link between chemistry and forensic sciences in research and innovation. Our research includes medicinal, supramolecular and natural product chemistry and applications of chemiluminescence as a qualitative and quantitative tool for the determination of pharmaceuticals, antioxidants in food, other biologically active molecules and explosives.
Systems biology is the analysis of organisms from the level of the gene through to their interactions within ecosystems. Our approach is to use model organisms, including the Tamar wallaby and various plant models, and the use of bioinformatics to compare genomes, proteomes and metabolomes to solve both fundamental and applied research questions.
Centre Director
Prof Colin Barrow
| Phone | +61 3 522 71318 | |
| colin.barrow@deakin.edu.au | ||
| Campus | Geelong | |
Key Research Areas
- Plant molecular biology, physiology and plant pathology
- Plant genetic engineering for novel protein synthesis
- Functional foods including stabilisation and delivery systems
- New enzymes and production methods for biofuels
- Bioactive milk proteins and omega-3 fatty acids
- Comparative genomics, proteomics and metabolomics
- Synthesis of small bioactive molecules and peptides, and expression of proteins
- Supramolecular host:guest chemistry
- Bio-nanotechnology and nanomaterials
- Identification of antioxidants and other bioactive compounds in plants
- Spectroscopy and chemistry of chemiluminescence reactions
- Two dimensional liquid-chromatography and gas-chromatography
- Rapid screening for illicit drugs and key biomolecules using microfluidic devices
Members of the Centre
- Adcock, Dr Jaqui (G)
- Alhazzaa, Dr Ramez (G)
- Appleton, Dr Belinda (G)
- Barnett, Prof Neil (G)
- Barrow, Prof Colin (G)
- Byrne, Dr Nolene (G)
- Cahill, Prof David (G)
- Conlan, Dr Xavier (G)
- Crowley, Dr Tamsyn (G)
- Dyson, Ms Gail (G)
- Francis, Dr David (W)
- Francis, Dr Paul (G)
- Haworth, Dr Naomi (G)
- Henderson, Dr Luke (G)
- Lefevre, Dr Christophe (G)
- Li, Dr Da (G)
- Lim, Assoc Prof Kieran (B)
- Nicholas, Prof Kevin (G)
- Pfeffer, Dr Frederick (G)
- Puri, Dr Munish (G)
- Rookes, Dr James (G)
- Sinclair, Prof Andy (G)
- Suphioglu, Assoc Prof Cenk (G)
- Stevenson, Dr Paul (G)
- Terry, Dr Jessica (G)
- Turchini, Dr Giovanni (W)
- Verma, Dr Madan (G)
- Vongsvivut, Dr Pimm (G)
- Williams, Dr Richard (G)
- Yang, Dr Wenrong (G)
Seminars
For related seminars please refer to:
Higher Degree by Research opportunities within the Centre
The centre is always keen to hear from intelligent, progressive and creative potential research candidates who seek to develop specialist skills within areas covered by this SRC. We encourage prospective candidates to develop their own projects within the Centre’s framework and to explore this with the Director.
Research groupings
