Research in chemistry

Research groups and labs

• Australian Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants (ALEC)

  The Australian Laboratory for Emerging Contaminants (ALEC) is a leading research facility at the University of Melbourne focused on tackling pollution from harmful and emerging chemicals.

• Bioanalytical Chemistry

  Development of fundamental and applied bioanalytical mass spectrometry-based instrumentation to improve our understanding of disease pathogenesis and may enable the identification of candidate biomarkers for improved disease diagnostic or prognostic monitoring, or novel targets for therapeutic intervention.

• Boskovic Group – Inorganic Molecular Materials

  Physical inorganic chemists researching transition and rare earth metal chemistry, this group aims to harness the electronic properties of these metals in switchable, stimuli-responsive molecular materials for future applications in sensors, displays and molecular electronic and spintronics.

• Computational Chemistry and Statistical Mechanics

  Understanding complex emergent phenomena through computer simulations and statistical mechanics theory.

• Computational Inorganic Chemistry

  Research focusing on single-molecule magnets (SMMs) for applications in datastorage and spintronics (emerging electronic technology), or as qubits (the basic information units in quantum computing).

• Coordination Polymers

  To use simple geometric and chemical principles to assemble molecular structures that exhibit unusual and technologically useful properties, such as electronic communication and adsorption behaviour.

• Energy Materials

  Developing high performance organic electronic semiconductor materials for organic solar cells and their translation to large area printed solar cells.

• Environmental and physical organic chemistry

  Gaining a better understanding of the adverse effects of air pollution and to increase the environmental friendliness of agriculture by developing better inhibitor compounds.

• Food Science

  The Food Science and Nutrition Group conducts research to understand the fundamental characteristics of food including composition, structure, function, flavour and aroma of foods and beverages.

• Functional Organic Materials

  Addressing fundamental scientific problems in the development of materials for emerging technologies.

• Goerigk Group – Theoretical and Computational Quantum Chemistry

  Our research revolves around the exciting field of quantum chemistry, including both the development of new quantum-chemical methods and applications to organic-, inorganic-, physico- and biochemical problems.

• Hinde Lab: Cellular Biophysics

  The Laboratory for Cellular Biophysics develops optical microscopy methods based on fluorescence lifetime, anisotropy and correlation spectroscopy to spatiotemporally map the cell nucleus and uncover the role of nuclear architecture in genome function.

• Hua Group – Responsive Inorganic Materials

  Our research involves using supramolecular inorganic chemistry to make materials for the next generation of technological devices and chemical sensors of importance for health and the environment.

• Donnelly Group: Inorganic and Bioinorganic Chemistry

  Focusing on synthetic inorganic and organic chemistry to make new metal-containing compounds with potential applications in biology.

• Jameson Group – Bioinorganic Chemistry

  This groups aims to understand the chemical basis of disease through studying how enzymes work at the molecular level and understanding how enzyme malfunction contributes to disease progression.

• Maher Lab – Structural Bioinorganic Chemistry

  A research lab using a combination of bioinorganic chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics and structural biology to assemble a holistic view of how trace elements are used by biological systems.

• Mechanistic and Structural Enzymology

  The Leung Research Group focuses on the enzymology that involves protein function modulation. We apply a range of biophysical, chemical biology and structural biology techniques to enable our discoveries.

• Nanoscience Lab

  Discovering new materials that can help Australia transition to a sustainable energy future.

• O'Hair Group – Fundamental and Applied Mass Spectrometry

  This group studies gas phase reactions through the use of mass spectrometry to investigate the gas phase chemistry of organic, biomolecules and inorganic and organometallic icons.

• Organic Electronic Materials and Devices

  Focusing on the development of high-performance organic and perovskite solar cells through device optimisation, morphology control of the photoactive layer, and interface engineering of the photovoltaic device.

• Peptide Chemistry

  Developing new chemical methods that enable the efficient preparation of biologically active peptides and proteins at scale. A key aim is to improve the thermal and chemical stability of proteins and enzymes for therapeutic and industrial applications.

• Peptide Synthesis and Modification

  Our goal is to develop new chemical reactions to enable the synthesis of peptides and proteins for use as therapeutic agents.

• Polyzos Lab – Synthetic Organic Chemistry and Catalysis

  Our vision is to harness catalysis and advanced technologies to generate new molecular scaffolds delivered in a scalable and sustainable fashion.

• Sonochemistry & Sonoprocessing

  My fundamental and applied research work involves multi-disciplinary areas involving ultrasonic technology, materials chemistry, surface chemistry, photochemistry and spectroscopy. My focus has been to address energy, environment and health.

• Trace Analysis for Chemical, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

  The TrACEES research platform supports research requiring high quality surface chemical analysis, trace elemental and speciation analysis, and associated structural chemical analysis.

• Ultrafast and Microspectroscopy Lab

  This lab uses a comprehensive set of ultrafast laser spectroscopy and advanced optical microscopy instrumentation to carry out collaborative research on many areas of photochemistry and photophysics.

• Waterway Ecosystem Research Group (WERG)

  Studying the interactions between landscapes and running waters. We aim to generate knowledge and tools for achieving healthy streams and rivers in urban and rural landscapes.