School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences

Dr Philip Sharpe

BSc (Hons) LLB (Hons) PhD
Lecturer
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
+61 7 336 59149
Chemistry Building (68), Room 404
View researcher profile

Primary research interest

Laboratory-based learning in chemistry - what are the barriers to student success in the laboratory and how do we provide situations that allow students to maximise their learning? Mathematical foundations for chemistry study.

Research focus and collaborations

My active research interests are in the field of chemistry education research, particularly student learning within the laboratory environment.

I have previously undertaken chemistry research in the areas of coordination chemistry, macrocyclic chemistry and medicinal inorganic chemistry.

Teaching interests

Teaching-focused academic:

  • Coordinator, First Year Chemistry Program
  • Coordination of online computer quizzes in chemistry
  • Course coordinator CHEM1221, General, Organic and Biological Chemistry; CHEM2054, Experimental Chemistry; and CHEM2052, Chemical Biology
  • Lecturing in first year chemistry and second year chemistry (CHEM1221, CHEM2054, CHEM2058, CHEM2052)

Achievements and awards

  • Faculty of Science Teaching Excellence Award 2016
  • 2017 Australian Awards for University Teaching - Award for Programs that Enhance Learning - First Year Chemistry Team
  • Member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute
  • Member of the American Chemical Society

Featured publications

Researcher biography

My research interests are in the field of Chemistry education, particularly how students learn in the chemistry laboratory.

I teach biological inorganic chemistry at a second and Masters level, as well as a broad range of topics in first year chemistry. I also teach the ethics of chemistry in second year.

Publications

Books (4)
Book Chapter (1)
Journal Articles (35)
Conference Papers (8)

Books

Adriaans, Kate and Sharpe, Philip (2020). Chemistry for Queensland Units 1 & 2 Student Workbook. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Drenen, Carolyn and Sharpe, Philip (2019). Chemistry for Queensland units 3 & 4 student workbook. Docklands, VIC, Australia: Oxford University Press.
Kuipers, Krystle, Devlin, Paul, Braebec, Martin, Sharpe, Philip and Bloomfield, Carrie (2019). Chemistry for Queensland Units 3 & 4. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Kuipers, Krystle, Devlin, Paul, Keillor, Paul, Sharpe, Philip, Bloomfield, Carrie and Silvester, Helen (2018). Chemistry for Queensland Units 1 & 2. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

Book Chapter

Harrison, R. S., Sharpe, P. C., Singh, Y. and Fairlie, D. P. (2007). Amyloid peptides and proteins in review. Reviews of physiology, biochemistry and pharmacology. (pp. 1-77) edited by S. G. Amara, B. Bamberg, T. Fleischmann, S. C. Gudermann, S. C. Hebert, R. Jahn, W. J. Lederer, R. Lill, A. Miyajima, S. Offermanns and R. Zechner. Berlin, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/112_2007_0701

Journal Articles

Al-Eisawi, Zaynab, Stefani, Christian, Jansson, Patric J., Arvind, Akanksha, Sharpe, Philip C., Basha, Maram T., Iskander, George M., Kumar, Naresh, Kovacevic, Zaklina, Lane, Darius J. R., Sahni, Sumit, Bernhardt, Paul V., Richardson, Des R. and Kalinowski, Danuta S. (2016). Novel mechanism of cytotoxicity for the selective selenosemicarbazone, 2-acetylpyridine 4,4-dimethyl-3-selenosemicarbazone (Ap44mSe): lysosomal membrane permeabilization. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 59 (1), 294-312. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5b01399
Chen, Kuan I., Challinor, Victoria L., Kielmann, Linda, Sharpe, Philip C., De Voss, James J., Kappler, Ulrike, McEwan, Alastair G. and Bernhardt, Paul V. (2014). Electrochemically mediated enantioselective reduction of chiral sulfoxides. Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, 20 (2), 395-402. doi: 10.1007/s00775-014-1215-5
Sharpe, Philip C. and Blanchfield, Joanne T. (2014). Chemistry for the masses. International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education, 22 (4), 33-47.
Mohammed, Beada'a J., Abbosh, Amin M. and Sharpe, Philip (2013). Planar array of corrugated tapered slot antennas for ultrawideband biomedical microwave imaging system. International Journal of RF and Microwave Computer-Aided Engineering, 23 (1), 59-66. doi: 10.1002/mmce.20651
Lovejoy, David B., Sharp, Danae M., Seebacher, Nicole, Obeidy, Peyman, Prichard, Thomas, Stefani, Christian, Basha, Maram T., Sharpe, Philip C., Jansson, Patric J., Kalinowski, Danuta S., Bernhardt, Paul V. and Richardson, Des R. (2012). Novel second-generation Di-2-Pyridylketone Thiosemicarbazones show synergism with standard chemotherapeutics and demonstrate potent activity against lung cancer xenografts after oral and intravenous administration in vivo. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 55 (16), 7230-7244. doi: 10.1021/jm300768u
Quach, Patricia, Gutierrez, Elaine, Basha, Maram Talal, Kalinowski, Danuta S., Sharpe, Philip C., Lovejoy, David B., Bernhardt, Paul V., Jansson, Patric J. and Richardson, Des R. (2012). Methemoglobin formation by triapine, di-2-pyridylketone-4,4-dimethyl-3- thiosemicarbazone (Dp44mT), and other anticancer thiosemicarbazones: identification of novel thiosemicarbazones and therapeutics that prevent this effect. Molecular Pharmacology, 82 (1), 105-114. doi: 10.1124/mol.112.078964
Stefani, Christian, Punnia-Moorthy, Gaya, Lovejoy, David B., Jansson, Patric J., Kalinowski, Danuta S., Sharpe, Philip C., Bernhardt, Paul V. and Richardson, Des R. (2011). Halogenated 2′-benzoylpyridine thiosemicarbazone (XBpT) chelators with potent and selective anti-neoplastic activity: Relationship to intracellular redox activity. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 54 (19), 6936-6948. doi: 10.1021/jm200924c
Abu Bakar, A, Abbosh, A, Sharpe, P, Bialkowski, ME and Wang, YF (2011). Heterogeneous breast phantom for ultra wideband microwave imaging. Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, 53 (7), 1595-1598. doi: 10.1002/mop.26046
Kovacevic, Zaklina, Kalinowski, Danuta S., Lovejoy, David B., Yu, Yu, Rahmanto, Yohan Suryo, Sharpe, Phillip C., Bernhardt, Paul V. and Richardson, Des R. (2011). The medicinal chemistry of novel iron chelators for the treatment of cancer. Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, 11 (5), 483-499. doi: 10.2174/156802611794785190
Sharpe, Philip C., Richardson, Des R., Kalinowski, Danuta S. and Bernhardt, Paul V. (2011). Synthetic and natural products as iron chelators. Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry, 11 (5), 591-607. doi: 10.2174/156802611794785163
Singh, Yogendra, Sharpe, Philip C., Hoang, Huy N., Lucke, Andrew J., McDowall, Alasdair W., Bottomley, Stephen P. and Fairlie, David P. (2011). Amyloid formation from an α-helical peptide bundle is seeded by 310-helix aggregates. Chemistry: A European Journal, 17 (1), 151-160. doi: 10.1002/chem.201002500
Jansson, Patric J., Sharpe, Philip C., Bernhardt, Paul V. and Richardson, Des R. (2010). Novel thiosemicarbazones of the ApT and DpT Series and their copper complexes: Identification of pronounced redox activity and characterization of their antitumor activity. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 53 (15), 5759-5769. doi: 10.1021/jm100561b
Yu, Yu, Kalinowski, Danuta S., Kovacevic, Zaklina, Siafakas, Aritee R., Jansson, Patric J., Stefani, Christian, Lovejoy, David B., Sharpe, Philip C., Bernhardt, Paul V. and Richardson, Des R. (2009). Thiosemicarbazones from the old to new: Iron chelators that are more than just ribonucleotide reductase inhibitors. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 52 (17), 5271-5294. doi: 10.1021/jm900552r
Richardson, Des R., Kalinowski, Danuta S., Richardson, Vera, Sharpe, Philip C., Lovejoy, David B., Islam, Mohammad and Bernhardt, Paul V. (2009). 2-acetylpyridine thiosemicarbazones are potent iron chelators and antiproliferative agents: Redox activity, iron complexation and characterization of their antitumor activity. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 52 (5), 1459-1470. doi: 10.1021/jm801585u
Bernhardt, Paul V., Sharpe, Philip C., Islam, Mohammed, Lovejoy, David B., Kalinowski, Danuta S. and Richardson, Des R. (2009). Iron chelators of the dipyridylketone thiosemicarbazone class: Precomplexation and transmetalation effects on anticancer activity. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 52 (2), 407-415. doi: 10.1021/jm801012z
Bernhardt, P.V., Wilson, G.J., Sharpe, P.C., Kalinowski, D.S. and Richardson, D.R. (2008). Tuning the antiproliferative activity of biologically active iron chelators: characterization of the coordination chemistry and biological efficacy of 2-acetylpyridine and 2-benzoylpyridine hydrazone ligands. Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, 13 (1), 107-119. doi: 10.1007/s00775-007-0300-4
Kalinowski, Danuta S., Sharpe, Philip C., Bernhardt, Paul V. and Richardson, Des R. (2008). Structure-activity relationships of novel iron chelators for the treatment of iron overload disease: The methyl pyrazinylketone isonicotinoyl hydrazone series. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 51 (2), 331-344. doi: 10.1021/jm7012562
Kalinowski, DS, Sharpe, PC, Bernhardt, PV and Richardson, DR (2007). Design, synthesis, and characterization of new iron chelators with anti-proliferative activity: Structure-activity relationships of novel thiohydrazone analogues. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 50 (24), 6212-6225. doi: 10.1021/jm070839q
Kalinowski, D. S., Yu, Y., Sharpe, P. C., Islam, M., Liao, Y. T., Lovejoy, D. B., Kumar, N., Bernhardt, P. V. and Richardson, D. R. (2007). Design, synthesis, and characterization of novel iron chelators: Structure-activity relationships of the 2-benzoylpyridine thiosemicarbazone series and their 3-nitrobenzoyl analogues as potent antitumor agents. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 50 (15), 3716-3729. doi: 10.1021/jm070445z
Bernhardt, Paul V., Chin, Piao, Sharpe, Philip C. and Richardson, Des R. (2007). Hydrazone chelators for the treatment of iron overload disorders: iron coordination chemistry and biological activity. Dalton Transactions, 2007 (30), 3232-3244. doi: 10.1039/b704102k
Bernhardt, P. V., Chen, K. I. and Sharpe, P. C. (2006). Transition metal complexes as mediator-titrants in protein redox potentiometry. Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, 11 (7), 930-936. doi: 10.1007/s00775-006-0148-z
Richardson, D. R., Sharpe, P. C., Lovejoy, D. B., Senaratne, D., Kalinowski, D. S., Islam, M. and Bernhardt, P. V. (2006). Dipyridyl thiosemicarbazone chelators with potent and selective antitumor activity form iron complexes with redox activity. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 49 (22), 6510-6521. doi: 10.1021/jm0606342
Bernhardt, Paul V., Chin, Piao, Sharpe, Philip C., Wang, Jing-Yan C. and Richardson, Des R. (2005). Novel diaroylhydrazine ligands as iron chelators: coordination chemistry and biological activity. Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, 10 (7), 761-777. doi: 10.1007/s00775-005-0018-0
Arnold, Phillip J., Davies, Sian C., Durrant, Marcus C., Griffiths, D. Vaughan, Hughes, David L. and Sharpe, Phillip C. (2002). Copper(II) nitrite complexes of tripodal ligands derived from 1,1,1-tris(2-pyridyl)methylamine. Inorganica Chimica Acta, 348 (5), 143-149. doi: 10.1016/S0020-1693(02)01487-1
Arnold, PJ, Davies, SC, Dilworth, , Durrant, MC, Griffiths, DV, Hughes, DL, Richards, RL and Sharpe, PC (2001). Copper complexes of the functionalised tripodal ligand tris(2-pyridyl)methylamine and its derivatives. Journal of the Chemical Society-Dalton Transactions (5), 736-746. doi: 10.1039/b008476j
Bernhardt, PV and Sharpe, PC (2000). C-substituted macrocycles as candidates for radioimmunotherapy. Inorganic Chemistry, 39 (18), 4123-4129. doi: 10.1021/ic000315f
Bernhardt, PV and Sharpe, PC (2000). Self-assembly of a noncovalently bonded Dicopper(II) complex in the solid state and in solution. Inorganic Chemistry, 39 (22), 4994-4995. doi: 10.1021/ic000587i
Bernhardt, PV and Sharpe, PC (2000). Structurally reinforced tetraazamacrocyclic complexes. Inorganic Chemistry, 39 (10), 2020-2025. doi: 10.1021/ic9906353
Bernhardt, PV and Sharpe, PC (1998). A novel tricopper(II) complex of a polyamine alcohol. Journal of The Chemical Society-dalton Transactions (7), 1087-1088. doi: 10.1039/a800297e
Bernhardt, PV and Sharpe, PC (1998). New stereoselective routes to macrocyclic ligands. Inorganic Chemistry, 37 (7), 1629-1636. doi: 10.1021/ic971020d
Bernhardt, PV, Jones, LA and Sharpe, PC (1997). Nitrogen- and carbon-based isomerism in the copper(II) complexes of 6,13-dimethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane-6,13-diamine. Journal of The Chemical Society-dalton Transactions (7), 1169-1175. doi: 10.1039/a606476k
Bernhardt, PV, Jones, LA and Sharpe, PC (1997). Structural and electron self-exchange rate variations in isomeric (hexaamine)cobalt(III/II) complexes. Inorganic Chemistry, 36 (11), 2420-2425. doi: 10.1021/ic961345e
Bernhardt, P.V., Byriel, K.A., Kennard, C.H.L. and Sharpe, P.C. (1996). The potentially hexadentate isomeric macrocycles trans- and cis-6,13-diethyl-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane-6,13-diamine and their cobalt(III) complexes: Unexpected conformational behavior. Inorganic Chemistry, 35 (7), 2045-2052. doi: 10.1021/ic951260y
Bernhardt, Paul V., Byriel, Karl A., Kennard, Colin H. L. and Sharpe, Philip C. (1996). Stereoselective assembly of a new pendant-arm macrocycle. Journal of the Chemical Society - Dalton Transactions (1), 145-146. doi: 10.1039/dt9960000145
Bernhardt P.V. and Sharpe P.C. (1996). Unexpected rearrangement of a novel pendent-arm tetraazamacrocyclic complex. Chemical Communications (11), 1267-1268. doi: 10.1039/cc9960001267

Conference Papers

Kartsonaki, Effie, Lawrie, Gwen, Sharpe, Philip and Bailey, Chantal (2021). Online, virtual, and adaptive learning environments: improving the journey through large first year chemistry courses. Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 28-30 September 2015.
Mohammed, Beada’a, Abbosh, Amin, Henin, Bassem and Sharpe, Philip (2012). Head phantom for testing microwave systems for head imaging. 2012 Cairo International Biomedical Engineering Conference (CIBEC), Cairo, Egypt, 20 - 22 December 2012. Piscataway, NJ, United States: IEEE. doi: 10.1109/CIBEC.2012.6473320
Sharpe, Philip C. (2012). Who's afraid of the chemistry lab?. Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education 2012, Sydney, Australia, 26-28th September 2012. Sydney, Australia: The University of Sydney, UniServe Science.
Abu Bakar, Aslina, Abbosh, Amin, Sharpe, Philip and Bialkowski, Marek (2010). Artificial breast phantom for microwave imaging modality. IEEE EMBS Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Sciences 2010, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 30 November - 2 December 2010. United States: IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers). doi: 10.1109/IECBES.2010.5742267
Sharpe, Philip (2008). Chelators as Medicinal Agents: Iron and Beyond. Inorganic Chemistry Conference IC08, Christchurch, New Zealand, 14-18 December 2008.
Fairlie, D., Singh, Y. and Sharpe, P. C. (2006). Peptide bundles: Loops, helices, strands and sheets. The American Chemical Society Meeting 2006, Atlanta, GA, USA, 26 -30 March, 2006. Washington: American Chemical Society.
Fairlie, DP, Singh, Y, Sharpe, P and Stoermer, M (2003). Template-assembled peptide loops, helices, sheets and nanofibres. 225th National Meeting of the American-Chemical-Society, New Orleans Louisiana, Mar 23-27, 2003. WASHINGTON: AMER CHEMICAL SOC.
Fairlie, David P ., Singh, Yogendra, Sharpe, Philip and Stoermer, Martin (2003). Template-assembled peptide loops, helices, sheets, and nanofibers. 225th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, United States, 23-27 March 2003.

Areas of research

Inorganic chemistry discipline
Science education theme