Current students and alumni
We welcome around 20 postgraduate students to study with us in a wide range of chemistry and biochemistry research areas.
Current students
PhD candidates at the Ferrier Research Institute are listed below, along with their thesis title and supervisors.
Rudy Bundela: Investigating key diversity generating enzymes in indole diterpene biosynthesis
Supervisors: Emily Parker, David Ackerley, Rosannah Cameron
Lani Campbell: Investigating transcriptional regulation to enhance natural product biosynthesis in Penicillium paxillin.
Supervisors: Emily Parker, Luke Stevenson
Ben Clarke: Measuring Stachybotrys mycotoxins in New Zealand’s leaky buildings
Supervisors: Simon Hinkley, Joanne Harvey
Patrick Cunningham: Transition state inhibitors for radical SAM enzymes as ways to treat viral disease.
Supervisors: Lawrence Harris, Joshua Buckler
Sarah Draper: Chemical programming to control self-assembly of peptides
Supervisors: Gavin Painter, Margaret Brimble
Mitch Ganley: Harnessing NKT cells for better therapeutic vaccines
Supervisors: Gavin Painter, David Ackerley
Mahdieh Ghofrani: Quantifying heparan sulfate in biological systems
Supervisors: Simon Hinkley, Susie Carnachan
Taylor Hibbard: Characterisation of tolypocladium album genes required for indole-terpenoid biosynthesis
Supervisors: Emily Parker, Andrew Munkacsi
Lucy Hughes: Drug chaperones for rare diseases
Supervisors: Farah Lamiable-Oulaidi, Scott Cameron
Hsin-Chuan (David) Hsu: Development of proximity induced bioorthogonal conjugation reaction
Supervisors: Regan Anderson, Richard Furneaux, Todd Lowary
Thomas Lang: Towards anti-tuberculosis drugs
Supervisors: Farah Lamiable-Oulaidi, Peter Tyler, Wanting Jiao
Cara Luiten: Determining the polysaccharide composition of New Zealand lake snow
Supervisors: Simon Hinkley, Tracey Bell
Emily Mason: Towards a new class of anti-tuberculosis drugs
Supervisors: Peter Tyler, Farah Lamiable-Oulaidi
Michael Meijlink: An expedited on-resin synthesis of α‑galactosylceramide-peptide conjugate vaccines
Supervisors: Gavin Painter, Benji Compton
Charlotte Page: Synthesis of biomimetic polymers and their derivatives
Supervisors: Simon Hinkley, Richard Furneaux
Daniel Phipps: Synthesis of heparan sulfate mimetics
Supervisors: Simon Hinkley, Joanne Harvey
Yoan Preux: New bioorthogonal conjugation methodology
Supervisors: Regan Anderson, Gavin Painter
Liam Sargison: Customised heparin for bone void repair
Supervisors: Simon Hinkley, Alison Daines
Sam Spijkers-Shaw: Novel heparanase inhibitors for anti-cancer applications
Supervisors: Phillip Rendle, Olga Zubkova
Arran Stewart: Synthesis of heparan sulfate mimetics and their bioisostere analogues
Supervisors: Olga Zubkova, Benji Compton, John Miller
Daniel Torres: Broad spectrum antivirals
Supervisors: Lawrence Harris, James Wood
Javier Vargas: Characterisation of carbapenem-hydrolysing β-lactamases for KIE-based transition state analysis
Supervisors: Emily Parker, Gerd Mittelstadt
Alumni
Students who have completed a Master’s or PhD degree at Ferrier are listed below with a link to their LinkedIn profile.