Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Research in pharmaceutical chemistry is broadly divided into drug discovery and biological mechanisms of drug actions. The research in drug discovery focuses on the conceptualization, design and testing of drugs (including drug quality), while research on biological mechanisms of drug actions explores how and why drugs work and the identification of potential future drug targets.

In 1997, the Herbal Medicines Research and Education Centre, the first of its kind in Australia, was established within the pharmaceutical chemistry program. The centre focuses on scholarship and research on the quality, safety and efficacy of herbal and complementary medicines and their interactions with conventional drugs, as well as promoting co-operation and linkages between the pharmaceutical, herbal and complementary medicine industries and user groups. The use of plants and other naturally occurring materials as sources of safe and effective therapeutic agents is a major objective of research carried out in the Herbal Medicines Research and Education Centre.