Dr Ben Greatrex
Lecturer, School of Science and Technology
Qualifications
BSc (Hons), PhD
Contact
| Email: | ben.greatrex@une.edu.au |
| Room: | Riggs Building (C23) 2.20 |
| Phone: | 02 6773 2402 (or +61 2 6773 2402 overseas) |
| Fax: | 02 6773 3268 |
I obtained my PhD from The University of Adelaide in 2004 working with Prof. Dennis Taylor on the chemistry of organic peroxides and reactions that can be driven by the high energy peroxide bond. I then travelled to Wellington, NZ where I was employed for 3.5 years in the carbohydrate research group of Dr Richard Furneaux working on commercial drug discovery and competitive grant funded projects. These projects included the synthesis of glycodendrimers and saponins as vaccine adjuvants and the synthesis of purine analogues to treat cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. This work was patented and licensed by the companies commercialising the discoveries. I then returned to Australia and was employed in the Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Laboratory for 2 years at the University of Wollongong in the field of natural products based drug discovery before taking up an academic position at UNE in 2010.
Affiliations
Member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.
Areas of Teaching
Teaching is an important part of academic work and I thoroughly enjoy seeing students develop into professional scientists and pharmacists. As a teacher, I take into account different abilities and goals through the use materials that are relevant to the student. Due to my background in drug development, much of my undergraduate teaching is at the interface of biology and chemistry. I have developed the units Pharmaceutical Science I and II at 1st and 2nd year level and I also teach Medicinal Chemistry and Organic Chemistry.
Research interests
My research interests include synthetic organic chemistry, natural products chemistry and developing quantitative structure activity relationships to aid in the development of human therapeutics. Current synthetic targets include a series of naturally occurring glycosides with potent antiviral and immune stimulating activity. The goal of this research is to develop novel ways to construct complex carbohydrate containing molecules which will allow for the development of analogues which may display better activity and lower toxicity. The total synthesis of these molecules should help to develop new ways to construct glycosidic linkages and may yield new leads in the treatment of disease.
I am also interested in the chemical and biological characterisation of triterpene and steroidal glycosides (saponins) in Australian native plant species. This class of compounds can have diverse biological activities such as calcium channel specificity, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and immune stimulatory activity. We are currently engaged in the isolation of these molecules and they will be screened through collaboration and commercial agreements.
Selected Publications
Daines A.D., Greatrex B.W., Furneaux R.H., Hayman C.H., Lenz D.H., Hook S.M., McBurney W.T., Rades T. and Rendle P.M., Mannosylated saponins based on oleanolic and glycyrrhizic acids. Towards synthetic colloidal antigen delivery systems, Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, 17(14), 5207-5218, 2009.
Greatrex B.W., Brodie S.J., Furneaux R.H., Hook S. M., McBurney W.T., Painter G.F., Rades T. and Rendle P.M., The synthesis and immune stimulating action of mannose-capped lysine-based dendrimers, Tetrahedron, 65(15), 2939-2950, 2009.
Avery T.D., Greatrex B.W., Pedersen D.S., Taylor D.K. and Tiekink E.R.T., A Concise Route to β-Cyclopropyl Amino Acids Utilizing 1,2-Dioxines and Stabilized Phosphonate Nucleophiles, Journal of Organic Chemistry, 73(7), 2633-2640, 2008.
Evans G.B., Furneaux R.H., Greatrex B., Murkin A.S., Schramm V.L. and Tyler P.C., Azetidine Based Transition State Analogue Inhibitors of N-Ribosyl Hydrolases and Phosphorylases. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 51(4), 948-956, 2008.
Avery T.D., Macreadie P.I., Greatrex B.W., Robinson T.V., Taylor D.K. and Macreadie I.G., Design of endoperoxides with anti-Candida activity, Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, 15(1), 36-42, 2007.
Macreadie P., Avery T., Greatrex B., Taylor D. and Macreadie I., Novel endoperoxides: Synthesis and activity against Candida species, Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 16(4), 920-922, 2006.
Jevric M., Taylor D.K., Greatrex B.W. and Tiekink E.R.T., DDQ-induced oxidative cyclizations of 1,2-dihydronaphtho[2,1-b]furans, Tetrahedron, 61(7), 1885-1891, 2005.
Greatrex B.W. and Taylor D.K., Ring-Opening of Unsymmetrical 1,2-Dioxines Using Cobalt(II) Salen Complexes. Journal of Organic Chemistry, 70(2), 470-476, 2005.
Taylor D.K., Avery T.D., Greatrex B.W., Tiekink E.R.T., Macreadie I.G., Macreadie P.I., Humphries A.D., Kalkanidis M., Fox E.N., Klonis N. and Tilley L., Novel endoperoxide antimalarials: synthesis, heme binding, and antimalarial activity, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 47(7), 1833-1839, 2004.
Greatrex B.W., Kimber M.C., Taylor D K., Tiekink E.R.T., A Novel Synthesis of Functionalized Tetrahydrofurans by an Oxa-Michael/Michael Cyclization of γ- Hydroxyenones, Journal of Organic Chemistry, 68(11), 4239-4246, 2003.