Peter Karuso

Associate Professor
(Head of Department)

Qualifications
BSc(Hons)
@ University of Sydney

PhD
@ University of Sydney

Cert. Higher Ed. @ Macquarie University

Outstanding Teacher
Award 2000
@ Macquarie University

Fellowship of Royal
Australian Chemical
Institute 2000

Email: peter.karuso@mq.edu.au

Dr. Karuso is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry, Macquarie University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Sydney. This was followed by several post-doctoral appointments: Department of Zoology, University of Auckland; Department of Chemistry, University of Hawaii; Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University; Department of Organic Chemistry at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen as an Alexander von Humbolt Fellow before returning to Australia to take up an appointment as Lecturer in Biotechnology and Organic Chemistry at Macquarie University.

Dr. Karuso's interests span the full spectrum of natural products chemistry, with particular emphasis on chemical biology, marine natural products chemistry and bioorganic chemistry. The latter includes the synthesis and study of potential enzyme inhibitors. A common theme of much of this research is the conformational analysis of biomolecules in solution using modern NMR techniques in combination with molecular modelling/dynamics.

Research Interests

• Bioorganic and natural product chemistry
• Marine natural products
• Bioactive compounds from Australian insects and African medicinal plants
• Phage display in the isolation of natural product receptors
• Rational design and synthesis of enzyme inhibitors and DNA-binding metal complexes
• Structure of biomolecules by NMR spectroscopy
• Biodegradation of chlorinated pollutants

Current Collaborations

• Dave Austin, Yale - Display cloning
• J. F. Jamie, MU - Fluorescent Bioassay Development
• D. A. Veal, MU - Bio-degradation of PCBs by soil organisms and fluorscent labelling
• P. R. Bergquist (Auckland) and J. Fromont (WAM) - Natural products from sponges as taxonomic markers

Teaching Interests

• Advanced Organic and Biological Chemistry; CHEM330, CHEM331
• Natural Products Chemistry and Biosynthesis; BIOL371
• History and Philosphy of Chemistry CHEM123
• Medicinal Chemistry CHEM339
• Chemical Biology

Teaching Resources

• Links for Chemistry Teachers
• Science and its Applications in the Humanities, the Arts, etc

Peter at the Chemistry Magic Show