Welcome from Head of Department

Meet Professor Stuart Ralph

Head of Department

Explain your research and what inspires you about your work?

I am interested in parasitic diseases, with a primary focus on the causative agent of severe malaria, Plasmodium falciparum. The burden of disease-causing parasites is particularly high in developing countries. Complete genome sequences are available for many of these parasites, so a wealth of data is available from which to search for potential targets for chemotherapeutic interventions. Specifically I am working on identifying and characterising promising drug targets from Plasmodium falciparum and other parasites, as well as studying the modes of action and mechanisms of resistance for existing drugs.

I’m interested in infection biology and the Parkville Precinct really punches above its weight in infectious diseases. My research explores how the body reacts to infectious disease, how we discover new drugs and vaccines to combat infectious diseases.

"The other thing that attracts many of us to Melbourne is the students. For those of us who have worked at other institutions, we recognise the students at Melbourne are a consistently engaged cohort with some students among them who are really brilliant – it’s a real treat to interact with students of that calibre," Stuart says.

Tell us about the affiliation and opportunities the department has with the Bio21 Institute?

The University’s Bio21 Institute is a world-class multidisciplinary research centre specialising in medical, agricultural and environmental biotechnology. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology researchers have been located at Bio21 since its opening in 2005.

The Bio21 Institute is home to more than 600 researchers in biochemistry, chemistry, genetics, neuroscience, environmental science, dentistry and engineering. It supports several major technology platforms including the Melbourne Advanced Microscopy Facility, the Magnetic Resonance Facility, the Melbourne Mass spectrometry and Proteomics Facility, Metabolomics Australia, the Macromolecular Interactions Facility, a peptide synthesis facility, as well as High Performance Computing and facilities for animal models. The Bio21 Institute also has research facilities for a number of biotechnology companies including the major research laboratories of CSL, Australia’s largest pharmaceutical and biotechnology company. This means, the Department of Biochemistry & Pharmacology and the Bio21 Institute provide outstanding career opportunities for staff and superb training facilities and environment for University of Melbourne students.