Dr Michelle Taylor

Senior Lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry, Convenor of Chemistry &Physics (Teaching and Learning), postgraduate course coordinator (GCSC, GDSC, MSCST) - School of Science and Technology

Phone: +61 2 6773 2363

Email: michelle.taylor@une.edu.au

Biography

Dr Taylor completed a MSci degree in Forensic and Analytical Chemistry from the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, UK) in 2002, during which she spent a year working for the Police Scientific Development Branch, and 6 months working for SRI International in California. She completed her PhD from The University of Strathclyde in 2005 in synthetic inorganic chemistry working with Dr John Reglinski on the development of novel imaging agents for the detection of oxidative stress. Dr Taylor then moved to Australia to take up a 2-year postdoctoral research fellow position in inorganic chemistry at the University of Melbourne with Assoc. Prof. Charles Young, synthesising models for the active sites of molybdenum enzymes. Following this, she joined Prof. Carl Schiesser's research group in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Free Radical Chemistry and Biotechnology at the University of Melbourne in 2008 where her research focussed on the synthesis of fluorescently labelled drugs and profluorescent nitroxide, radical sensing, drug derivatives.

Dr Taylor was appointed as a Lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry at UNE in 2010, and Senior Lecturer in 2014. She has been the postgraduate course coordinator for the Graduate Certificate in Science, the Graduate Diploma in Science and the Master of Scientific Studies and Convenor of Chemistry and Physics since the end of 2020. She teaches a range of units including CHEM120, FSC102, CHEM204, CHEM302, CHEM303 and FSC310 and was involved in the development of a short course on Spectroscopy for HSC teachers. Dr Taylor has a strong interest in outreach and engagement running Far Out Science for several years and getting involved in numerous activities such as the Science Experience, HSC Booster and Grass Teacher PD.

Qualifications

MSci, PhD

Teaching Areas

I will be teaching into CHEM204, CHEM302, CHEM120 and FSC310.

Unit Co-ordinator for CHEM204 and FSC310.

Primary Research Area/s

Coordination chemistry; Redox tuned metal complexes; Profluorescentnitroxide radical sensors; Forensic chemistry

Research Interests

My research and teaching interests include synthetic inorganic and organic chemistry, specifically the development of imaging agents for oxidative stress and the synthesis of fluorescent and profluorescently labelled drugs.

The design and synthesis of metal complexes for in-vivo detection of inflammatory based diseases.

This project involves the synthesis of a range of macrocyclic ligands containing N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) and their transition metal complexes. Alteration of macrocycle size, donor atoms and substituent groups will be used to control the properties of the complexes, such as the redox potentials and solubility, such that they will become localised in tissues experiencing oxidative stress.

The development of fluorescently labelled analogues of therapeutic compounds used in the treatment of disease.

In collaboration with Chemists and pharmacologists at The University of Melbourne and ARC Centre of excellence for free radical chemistry and biotechnology we are developing fluorescently labelled analogues of drugs used in the treatment of hypertension. These compounds will have numerous applications in furthering our understanding of drug-receptor interactions and receptor localisation and expression, studies that will provide the foundations for the future development of new and improved drugs.

In the future this research will be extended to the study of additional receptor-ligand systems

The development of profluorescent nitroxide labelled therapeutic compounds to detect oxidative stress associated with specific diseases.

Oxidative stress, which includes free radicals, is implicated in the pathology of a number of important diseases. We are applying technology developed for the detection of free radicals generated during polymer degradation to detect oxidative stress associated with disease. Profluorescent nitroxides consist of a fluorophore covalently linked to a stable nitroxide radical. Nitroxide radicals have two properties which are exploited in this research, their ability to quench fluorescence and their rapid reaction with free radicals.

By attaching a nitroxide to our fluorescently labelled drugs, these compounds become probes in which the fluorescence is 'switched on' in the presence of free radicals allowing us to correlate receptor distribution with oxidative stress.

Publications

Selected Publications

Staples M.K., Grange R.L., Angus J.A., Ziogas J., Tan N.P.H., Taylor M.K. and Schiesser C.H., Tandem free-radical addition/substitution chemistry and its application to the preparation of novel AT₁ receptor antagonists, Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 9(2):473-9, 2011.

Ng V.W.L., Taylor M.K., White J.M. and Young C.G., Cis-dioxo-and cis-(hydroxo)oxo-mo(V) complexes stabilized by intramolecular hydrogen-bonding, Inorganic Chemistry, 49(20):9460-9. 2010.

Ng V.W.L., Taylor M.K., Hill L.M.R., White J.M. and Young C.G., Novel O,O'-donor oxo-MoIV hydrotris(3-isopropylpyrazolyl)borate complexes formed by chelation of potentially hydrogen-bonding phenolate ligands on reduction of dioxo-MoVI complexes, European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, (21):3261-9, (Front Cover Article), 2010.

Trotter K.D., Taylor M.K., Forgie J.C., Reglinski J., Berlouis L.E.A., Kennedy A.R., Spickett C.M. and Sowden R.J., The structural and electrochemical consequences of hydrogenating copper N₂S₂ schiff base macrocycles. Inorganica Chimica Acta, 363(7):1529-38, 2010.

Taylor M.K., Trotter K.D., Reglinski J., Berlouis L.E.A., Kennedy A.R., Spickett C.M. and Sowden R.J., Copper N₂S₂ schiff base macrocycles: The effect of structure on redox potential. Inorganica Chimica Acta, 361(9-10):2851-62, 2008.

Taylor M.K., Evans D.J. and Young C.G., Highly-oxidised, sulfur-rich, mixed-valence vanadium(IV/V) complexes, Chemical Communications, (40):4245-6, 2006.

Reglinski J., Taylor M.K. and Kennedy A.R., Hydrogenated schiff base ligands: Towards the controlled organisation of open metal frameworks, Inorganic Chemistry Communications, 9(7):736-9, 2006.

Taylor M.K., Reglinski J., Berlouis L.E.A. and Kennedy A.R., The effect of donor groups and geometry on the redox potential of copper schiff base complexes, Inorganica Chimica Acta, 359(8):2455-64, 2006.

Taylor M.K., Stevenson D.E., Berlouis L.E.A., Kennedy A.R. and Reglinski J., Modelling the impact of geometric parameters on the redox potential of blue copper proteins, Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, 100(2):250-9, 2006.

Abernethy C.D., Codd G.M., Spicer M.D. and Taylor M.K., A Highly Stable N-Heterocyclic Carbene Complex of Trichloro-oxo-vanadium(V) Displaying Novel Cl-C_carbene Bonding Interactions, J. Am. Chem, Soc., (Communication), 125, 1128-1129, 2003.

Memberships

Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Associate Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Free Radical Chemistry and Biotechnology.