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About Us

Ron Quinn

Ron Quinn

Positions

  • Director, Eskitis Institute, Griffith University

Contact Details

Biography

Professor Quinn obtained his PhD from the University of New South Wales in 1970. Following post-doctoral research at Arizona State University, University of Hawaii and ANU, he joined the Roche Research Institute of Marine Pharmacology in Sydney (1974–1981). He then joined Griffith University in 1982, was appointed Professor in 1994 and is the Foundation Director of the Eskitis Institute for Drug Discovery. Prof Quinn’s research concentrates on the use of molecules as tools to understand interactions in biological systems and to build concepts around molecular recognition. To facilitate this research, he has established Nature Bank as a state-of-the-art resource for biodiscovery. The research theme continues with developing an understanding of natural product recognition for biosynthetic enzymes and correlation with therapeutic targets as a rational approach to drug discovery, developing concepts of biological structure space imbedded in natural product scaffolds and the design and synthesis of receptor ligands and enzyme inhibitors, particularly in the adenosine area, protein phosphatase 1 and 2A and Factor Xia. Through funding from the Gates Grand Challenge Exploration Grant, he has developed a novel approach to study protein – small molecule binding interactions using natural product fragments and fragment-based screening with FTMS.

Prof Quinn is the author of over 200 publications and patents. These have attracted 2989 citations resulting in an h-index of 28. Prof Quinn is a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to scientific research in the field of chemistry, and is recognized as a leader in the development of therapeutic compounds from marine organisms and plant materials (Australia Day Awards 2010). In May 2012, he was awarded the Queensland Museum Medal for the discovery of many new species as a consequence of biodiscovery.

Research interests

drug discovery, medicinal chemistry, natural health products, small molecule research