New Zealand-Virtual Event

Professor Michelle Coote is a Matthew Flinders Professor in Chemistry at Flinders University, having recently moved from the Australian National University (ANU). She completed a PhD in polymer chemistry at the University of NSW, followed by postdoctoral fellowships in polymer physics at the University of Durham, UK, and computational chemistry, at the ANU. She established her own research group at the ANU in 2004, where she served in various roles until early this year. She is a Georgina Sweet ARC Laureate Fellow, an Executive Editor of JACS, an elected fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and is the 2021 recipient of the RACI Leighton Memorial Medal. Her group uses theory and experiment to design new synthetic methods and catalysts, with an emphasis on non-traditional methods of bond activation using electricity and light.

Distinguished Professor Sir William (Bill) Denny, Ph.D., DSc is a medicinal chemist by training, interested in all aspects of the development and progression to clinical trial of novel small-molecule drugs for cancer and for neglected tropical diseases (primarily tuberculosis). His major interest has been in building multi-disciplinary teams, linking laboratory researchers with commercial groups (small and large pharma companies and our own investor-supported start-up companies to develop our design ideas from the laboratory through to clinical trials. To date this has resulted in 15 drugs taken to clinical trials, 3 of which to date have been approved for use; work reported in 740 c-authored papers and 115 granted patents. Current work is focused on: (i) drugs for tuberculosis (in collaboration with the Global Alliance for Tuberculosis (New York); (ii) the development of a novel and flexible drug class (xanthenones) for the selective inhibition on various cancer-causing kinase enzymes and; (iii) the development of cardiac glycosides for the treatment of brain cancers (with the Centre for Brain Research, University of Auckland).

Dr Shalini Divya is a Co-Founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Tasmanion. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2020 from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Her discoveries in novel cathode materials for non-aqueous aluminium ion batteries are a core part of TasmanIon’s intellectual property. Dr Divya completed BSc in Chemistry Honors from Delhi University and an MSc in Chemistry from Birla Institute of Technology, India. She received the Kiwinet Breakthrough Innovator Award in November 2021.

Dr Heather Cole is the Customer Success Specialist for Australia and New Zealand at CAS- the Chemical Abstract Services; a division of the American Chemical Society. Her primary role is to provide training and customer support for those using SciFindern Heather has a PhD from Monash University, Australia, and has worked as a researcher in both the academic and commercial sectors, spending 3 years as a researcher in England, and 7 years in Australia as a product developer in chemical start-up and research and development companies. Heather can be engaged to provide onboarding/beginners training to new staff members and well as specialised/advanced training sessions to users of the SciFindern platform.