Fluorescent sensors to elucidate the chemistry of cells
Title: Fluorescent sensors to elucidate the chemistry of cells
Abstract: While there are now many sophisticated imaging techniques to study biological systems, chemists hold the key to understanding what is happening in the cell, on a molecular level. We are interested in designing small molecule fluorescent sensors to probe sub-cellular molecular species, and we are particularly interested in studying redox state in cells, and imaging biological metal ions. We have been able to use our new fluorescent probes in a number of confocal microscopy experiments to gain important new information about the chemistry of the cell. We have also expanded our work to multimodal probes and sensors for diagnostic applications.
Biography: After undergraduate and Masters studies at the University of Sydney, Liz completed her PhD in 2010 at the University of Durham (UK) before taking a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of the 1851 Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California, Berkley. In 2012, she returned to the University of Sydney to take up a lectureship and a DECRA fellowship. Liz's research focusses on the development of small molecule fluorescent sensors for biological and environmental applications. She is a Chief Investigator on the ARC Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science and has just finished a one-year term as interim Head of the School of Chemistry. Liz's awards include the 2019 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year at the Prime Minister's Science Prizes and the 2022 Australian Financial Review Emerging Leadership Award.
About T. G. H. Jones Memorial Lecture
This annual UQ public lecture is a memorial to the late Thomas Gilbert Henry Jones, who joined UQ as an assistant lecturer and demonstrator in 1915. Following service in WWI as a munitions and explosives producer, he returned to UQ as a lecturer in inorganic chemistry, being promoted to professor and Head of Department in 1940. During his 50 years of service to UQ, Professor Jones was a member of the Senate (from 1944 to 1968), Dean of the Faculty of Science (from 1942 to 1949 and again from 1960 to 1961) and President of the Professorial Board (from 1951 to 1956).
Professor Jones initiated a program of research into the chemistry of natural (plant) products. He held officer positions in the Royal Society of Queensland and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. He led a public meeting in City Hall in 1957 to protest against State Government legislation that threatened the University’s autonomy in making appointments. He was awarded a CBE in 1960 and received honorary doctorates from UQ and the University of Newcastle.
The lecture was not offered in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From 2022 it is offered every second year, alternating with the School's other chemistry public lecture, the Bertram Dillon Steele Lecture.
Read more about Professor Jones on our history page.