Ben Greatrex

Ben completed a PhD at The University of Adelaide in 2004, working with Professor Dennis Taylor on the chemistry of organic peroxides and reactions that can be driven by the high energy peroxide bond. He  then travelled to Wellington, NZ where he spent 3.5 years working with the carbohydrate research group of Professor Richard Furneaux 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 some purine analogues. Ben then spent several years at the University of Wollongong working with Professor Stephen Pyne on a Johnson and Johnson project using natural products as privileged scaffolds for drug discovery before joining UNE in 2010.

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 learning styles through the use of an array of 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, organic and analytical chemistry units.