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Biography
Luke Schembri completed his Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences (with Honours) at Monash University Parkville in Australia in 2011. He then completed his PhD under the supervision of Associate Professor Bim Graham and Professor Peter Scammells at the same institute which focused on the synthesis and biological evalution of fluorescent opiate ligands from 2012 to 2016. He subsequently continued his research here for one year as a postdoctoral researcher on projects such as: the design and synthesis of fragment libraries as HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitors, the synthesis of covalently bound inhibitors for studies on the human muscarinic receptors and synthesis of Aminopeptidase N inhibitors for the treatment of cancer.
His move to Uppsala in Sweden at Uppsala University in Sweden in 2017 lead him to continue his post-doctoral studies under Associate Professor Luke Odell investigating the synthesis of acylsulfonamides as bioisosteres of carboxylic acids via palladium-catalysted carbonylative coupling, followed by a research fellowship with Professor Per Andrén and Associate Professor Luke Odell in the synthesis and evaluation of new matrices for MALDI mass spectrometry in 2018. He then began teaching and unit coordination for organic, medicinal and physical chemistry for two years. His last position at Uppsala saw him get involved in the antibacterial engine ENABLE-2 from 2022 to 2023, where he then moved to The University of Nottingham to begin his post as an assistant professor in pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry.
Expertise Summary
- Organic chemistry and method development.
- Chemistry education.
- Matrix-assisted laser-desporption ionisation mass spectrometry imagine (MALDI-MSI).
- Fluorescent ligands for GPCRs.
- Drug discovery and chemical biology.
Research Summary
Luke's current research focuses on the following areas:
- Organic chemistry and method development: the development of safer methods for the use of diazomethane.
- Chemistry education: enhancing the learning environment through incorperating active learning methods.
- Chemical biology: Novel chemical matrices for matrix-assisted laser-desporption ionisation mass spectrometry imagine (MALDI-MSI) for the detection of small-molecule metabolites.
- Chemical biology: Fluorescent ligands for GPCRs such as CXCR7.
- Drug discovery: novel therapeutics for Alzhiemer's disease.