SCIENCE AT THE SHINE DOME canberra 2 - 4 may 2007

New Fellows Seminar

Wednesday, 2 May 2007

Professor Peter Lay
Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Sydney

Peter Lay obtained a BSc from the University of Melbourne in 1977 and a PhD from the Australian National University (ANU) in 1981. He was a CSIRO Postdoctoral Fellow from 1981 to 1984 at Stanford University in the USA and the CSIRO Division of Applied Organic Chemistry, and then a QEII Fellow from 1984 to1985 at Deakin University in Melbourne and the ANU. He commenced a Lectureship in inorganic chemistry at the University of Sydney in 1985, and received a Personal Chair in 1997 and an Australian Research Council Professorial Fellowship from 2002 to 2007. Peter has received the Rennie, Burrows and HG Smith Medals from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and the Edgeworth David Medal from the Royal Society of New South Wales for his research in inorganic and bioinorganic chemistry, including the design of metal-containing pharmaceuticals. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Berne in Switzerland in 1991 and the National University of Argentina in 1999, and is currently the Academic Director of the Foundation for Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Sydney.

Micron-sized x-ray and infrared beams for probing diseases and pharmaceuticals in cells and tissues

In the past, much of our knowledge of diseases and the ways in which pharmaceuticals work in their treatments have relied on the study of biomolecules or drugs in isolation (in vitro studies). However, such studies are far removed from the complex biochemical processes that occur in cells, tissues and organs and which are relevant to understanding diseases and their optimal treatments. We are now using microprobe X-ray and infrared techniques to follow directly biochemical changes and structures within cells, as well as the movement of drugs and toxins through cells. Such studies also enable chemical changes to be studied within cells, biological fluids and tissues, to understand how they work. These techniques are being used to improve the diagnosis of diseases and the design of new drugs, and also to understand the earliest cellular changes that lead to cardiovascular diseases. The latter information is being used to design and evaluate new drugs for preventing and treating heart disease and the damage caused to heart and brain tissues after a heart attack or stroke. Peter will discuss a selection of the application of these techniques.