People_
Our staff
Meet the team
Our experts help you get the most from our state–of-the-art tools and techniques.
Professor Margaret Sunde, Academic Director
Margie Sunde is a Professor in the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Sydney. Her research is focused on the structure and formation of functional amyloid structures in microorganisms, in particular amyloids with a biological role in infection or immune evasion.
Professor Chris Ling, Deputy Director
Chris Ling is Professor and Associate Head of School – Research in the School of Chemistry. His research into inorganic solid-state chemistry makes particular use of neutron and synchrotron X-ray scattering methods to characterise the structures and dynamics of new materials.
Dr Peter Southon, Operations Manager
Background
Peter’s scientific background is in materials chemistry, with over 15 years’ experience as a postdoctoral researcher and laboratory manager. He has a particular interest in characterisation of the properties and structure of novel microporous materials such as coordination frameworks and metal-organic frameworks.
Role
As Operations Manager, Peter’s job is to know a little bit about everything and keep the cogs turning in the background. He has general oversight of administration, reporting, finance, policy, procurement and outreach.
Amanda Young, Administration Officer
Background
Amanda has extensive experience in administration, finance and Human Resources, working across multiple industries. Amanda successfully operated her own small start-up business for six years where she was able to use her passion for customer service and communication.
Role
Amanda supports the Directors, Facility Managers and Operations Manager, manages enquiries and billing, and improves and streamlines operational management systems, processes and best practices.
Dr Elizabeth Carter, Facility Manager, Vibrational Spectroscopy
Background
Liz has worked at the University since 2000 and has had the opportunity to assist researchers from a wide range of fields. This exposure has strongly influenced her own research interests which include microplastics, natural glasses (obsidian, tektites, fulgurites), hard and soft biological materials (cells, tissues, teeth, hair, wool) and cultural heritage objects (ceramics, coffins, textiles, pigments, manuscripts).
OrcID
Role
Liz is the manager of the Sydney Analytical Vibrational Spectroscopy node which is the largest facility of its type in Australia. Liz is responsible for all day-to-day management and operating activities. She also provides advice, research support and assistance to researchers, students and other technical staff working in the facility.
Dr Michelle Wood, Staff Scientist, Vibrational Spectroscopy
Background
Dr Wood gained a BSc (Hons) in Analytical Chemistry – Forensic Science at UTS before moving to The University of Sydney to begin a PhD in bio-inorganic chemistry. After completing her PhD she joined the Vibrational Spectroscopy Core Facility, which has since become part of Sydney Analytical. Dr Wood has experience in a wide a range of analytical and microscopic techniques, including vibrational spectroscopy, XPS, XRF, UV-Vis, AFM and fluorescence microscopy, as well as data analysis and chemometric techniques.
Role
Dr Wood assists in running the Vibrational Spectroscopy Facility in Sydney Analytical, including maintenance of the instruments and other facilities as well as the development and implementation of safety protocols. She provides guidance, support and training for researchers using the facility.
Thérèse Harrison, Professional Officer, Museum Analyses (currently on maternity leave)
Background
Thérèse has a background in Fine Arts and Chemistry. She specialises in the analysis of Cultural Heritage across a number of analytical techniques including vibrational and X-ray spectroscopy.
Role
Thérèse acts as the liaison between Sydney University Museums and Sydney Analytical. She offers training and support to internal and external users working in the field of Cultural Heritage. With an emphasis on non-destructive analysis, Thérèse provides researchers with assistance in the development and application of techniques suitable to the varied needs of different artefacts and materials using both portable and benchtop instrumentation to help achieve high quality research outcomes.
Lorraine Leung, Professional Officer, Cultural Heritage Analyses (Filling in for Thérèse Harrison)
Background
Lorraine has a background in Archaeological Science. She has experience working on a wide range of interdisciplinary projects with archaeological, museum and cultural heritage material using analytical techniques including vibrational spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy techniques.
Role
Lorraine supports and trains users from archaeological, museum and cultural heritage fields. She provides technical project specific assistance in the development of research methodology and the application of non-destructive portable and benchtop instrumentation to characterise a diverse range of samples/objects. Most recently, she has undertaken the scientific analysis of jade objects, paint pigments and ancient Egyptian Papyrus.
Dr Majharul Haque Khan (Reyad), Senior Technical Officer
Background
Reyad’s academic background is in the field of material science. He did his PhD at the University of Wollongong, and subsequently working in postdoctoral positions at EPFL and UTS. He has extensive experience in nanomaterials and 2D material synthesis, advanced material characterizations, and their applications on gas separation membranes. Reyad has expertise in building ultra-high vacuum setups, and working on various materials characterization instruments such as Raman, FTIR, AFM, SEM-EDX, XRF, XRD, XPS, TGA-DSC, MS, and GC-MS.
Role
Reyad provides technical support and training to researchers using various state-of-the-art research instrumentations of the Vibrational Spectroscopy node of Sydney Analytical in the Madsen Building. He is the primary contact person for instrumentation training and support of the Vibrational Spectroscopy node in the Engineering Building J03.
Dr William Lewis, Facility Manager, X-ray techniques
Background
William graduated with a BSc(Hons) with a project under Professor Ward Robinson and PhD with Professor Peter Steel, both in Chemistry at the University of Canterbury. Following a short postdoctoral position with Professor Steel, he moved to the School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham as Manager of the Crystal Structure Service in 2008. He was promoted to Senior Research Fellow in 2014. In 2018 he moved to the University of Sydney to take up the role of Core Facility Manager: X-ray in Sydney Analytical and the School of Chemistry.
Role
William is the manager of the X-ray arm of Sydney Analytical, and an expert in small molecule X-ray diffraction.
Dr Paul Fitzgerald, Professional Officer, X-ray Techniques
Background
Paul did his PhD at the University of Sydney in soft-matter and complex fluids, predominantly studied through small angle scattering and atomic force microscopy. He has expertise in the structure and behaviour of surfactant micelles, lyotropic liquid crystals, self-assembling polymer solutions, polymer latices, proteins in solution, microgels, emulsions and foams.
Role
Paul provides instruction, training and support for the X-ray instruments in Sydney Analytical with a particular focus on Small and Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS/WAXS).
Dr Samuel Duyker, Professional Officer, X-ray Techniques
Background
Sam completed a PhD at the University of Sydney, after which he undertook post-doctoral work at ANSTO and Oxford before returning to Sydney on a Gritton Fellowship in the School of Chemistry. His experience lies in the physical and chemical characterisation of advanced functional materials with a focus on in situ experiments under non-ambient conditions.
Role
Sam supports researchers using X-ray powder diffraction techniques at Sydney Analytical. This includes training users in instrument operation and data analysis, including database matching and Rietveld refinements.
David Mitchell, Professional Officer, CaP Laboratory
Background
David commenced at the University of Sydney Marine Studies Centre moving to Geology and then Geoscience with the move to the Madsen Building. Marine geophysics (underwater imaging) was his full time role evolving to more general fieldwork. Rockwork became part of his portfolio when the Madsen facility was refurbished.
Role
The Cutting and Polishing (CaP) Laboratory cuts rocks half as thick as human hair (30 microns) allowing examination under polarised light. David has started back, part time, with Sydney Analytical to invigorate rock sample preparation for the variety of scanners at Sydney Analytical.
Dr Alireza Samiee, Senior Technical Officer
Background
Dr Alireza Samiee is experienced in the fields of scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscope, atom probe tomography, conventional XRD, mechanical testing, electrochemical corrosion tests, heat treatments of titanium, aluminium alloys, stainless steel, cast iron, and nanomaterials. He developed several novel methods for sample preparation, and he published several papers in the field of mechanical properties of metallic alloys.
Role
Alireza is managing both cutting and polishing (CaP) and Stress Analysis laboratories along with managing WHS requirements in Sydney Analytical. Based on his experience in residual stress analysis, he will provide clients with utter through-thickness residual stress measurements from full-size components, which prove critical in the next stages of multidisciplinary domain analysis.
Dr Toby Passioura, Facility Manager, Drug Discovery
Background
Dr Passioura conducts research at the interface of chemistry and biology with a focus on drug discovery. After completing his PhD, he worked in the pharmaceutical sector before returning to academia with roles at the University of Tokyo and, more recently, the University of Sydney.
Role
Dr Passioura is responsible for all aspects of cyclic peptide drug discovery as part of both the University of Sydney’s Drug Discovery Initiative and Sydney Analytical. This includes both ultra-high-throughput screening and technology development.
Dr Lorna Wilkinson-White, Staff Scientist, Fragment based Drug Discovery
Background
Lorna has a BSc (Hons I) and PhD from the University of Sydney. Following her PhD, she spent eight years as a postdoctoral researcher in the field of protein structural biology, characterising a variety of protein:protein and protein:nucleic acid complexes. Since 2016 she has helped set up and manage the Fragment Based Drug Discovery (FBDD) platform at Sydney University, which has been part of Sydney Analytical since 2018.
Role
Lorna’s main role is to carry out FBDD screens for internal research groups as well as for the wider Sydney researcher community on a variety of protein targets. These screens are carried out using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) techniques. She also works with researchers to characterise protein:protein, protein:nucleic acid and protein:small molecule interactions using NMR, SPR, Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC) and in-silico docking methodologies. Additionally, she runs NMR-based metabolomics analysis on a variety of sample types.
Dr Mario Torrado del Rey, Staff Scientist, Protein Production
Background
Dr. Mario Torrado del Rey joined Sydney Analytical after a three-year postdoctoral experience in Prof Joel Mackay's laboratory, where he was working in protein structure, function and interactions, focusing on the improvement of the protein production stage. Mario completed his BSc in Biochemistry (2002) and his PhD in Molecular Biology (2012) at the Autonoma University of Madrid, Spain. His PhD work studied the stability-function relationship in homeodomains, in Dr. Juan Luis Asensio’s lab.
Role
Mario is a Staff Scientist at Protein Production and Characterisation (PPC) in the Drug Discovery node of Sydney Analytical. He is focused on helping scientists with their protein-related research problems, either training them or performing experiments for them. Mario has extensive experience with three expression hosts to produce recombinant proteins: bacteria, insect cells and mammalian cells. He is also skilled in protein purification methods, circular dichroism and other protein analysis techniques, and can provide advice on molecular biology solutions.
Dr Chandrika Deshpande, Staff Scientist, Protein Production
Background
Chandrika completed her PhD from Macquarie University with Dr. Bridget where her research involved using stages of structural genomics to study proteins from the lateral gene transfer system in bacteria. Following this, Chandrika joined Dr. Mika Jormakka’s structural biology group in Centenary Institute, Sydney, where she worked on structural and functional characterization of important bacterial and eukaryotic membrane proteins for 7 years. During this period, she received the National Breast Cancer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship and the University of Sydney Early Career Researcher’s grant. Prior to her PhD Chandrika worked as a Research Scientist at the Institute of Bioinformatics (India) on a wide variety of projects involving comparative genomics-based analysis.
Role
Chandrika is a staff scientist in the Protein Production and Characterisation (PPC) node. Chandrika is a biochemist and molecular biologist with a strong background in protein research. Chandrika’s role is to provide expert advice and technical support to assist researchers and train new users in a wide variety of experimental techniques including recombinant protein expression (bacterial and insect), protein purification, functional characterization and structural studies using x-ray crystallography. In addition, she also has the expertise in working with the more challenging and difficult membrane proteins.
Angela Nikolic, Laboratory Manager, Drug Discovery
Background
Angela Nikolic has had extensive experience in all aspects of Lab Management and management of WHS issues in Molecular Biology/ Structural Biology focussed research labs based at the University of Sydney.
Role
Angela Nikolic is responsible for the Lab Management and Management of WHS issues in the Structural Biology Labs of University of Sydney together with managing the same for the University of Sydney’s Drug Discovery Initiative and Sydney Analytical arm based in the Molecular Bioscience Building (G08).
Sneha Desa, Research Assistant, Drug Discovery
Background
Sneha completed a BSc (Hons I) in biochemistry from the University of Queensland, under the supervision of Professor Bostjan Kobe. Her honours project focussed on the expression, purification and characterization of Arabidopsis immune proteins.
Role
Sneha is a research assistant in the Protein Production and Characterisation team within the Drug Discovery node at Sydney Analytical where she provides essential technical professional support to staff and researchers. Her role includes undertaking laboratory work involving protein expressions and purifications in bacterial, insect and mammalian expression systems, as well as carrying out functional studies.
Dr Ian Luck, Facility Manager, Magnetic Resonance
Background
Ian has a background in organometallic and organic chemistry, having worked with analytical and spectroscopic techniques in industry and the tertiary research sector. He has more than 20 years’ experience in managing NMR and EPR facilities and has interests in heteronuclear NMR methods and small molecule and natural product characterisation by NMR.
Role
Ian is the manager of the Magnetic Resonance node and has overall responsibility for the management and functioning of Sydney Analytical’s NMR and EPR capabilities. He provides specialist support for research activities in magnetic resonance, with particular focus on small molecule and chemical applications of NMR.
Dr Biswaranjan Mohanty, Staff Scientist, Biomolecular NMR
Background
Completing both Bachelor and Master of Science (Physics) at Utkal University in India, Biswaranjan undertook his Ph.D. in Soft Condensed Matter Physics at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. Before joining the University of Sydney, he worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University for 10 years and a Postdoctoral Research Associate with Nobel Laureate Professor Kurt Wüthrich at Scripps Research in the USA for almost four years. His research work at Monash and Scripps primarily involved:
- Fast structure determination of proteins and protein-ligand complexes using solution NMR spectroscopy;
- CPMG relaxation dispersion NMR studying protein dynamics (micro–millisecond timescales);
- Fast NMR data acquisition using non-uniform sampling and processing
- High-throughput small-molecule screening using ligand/protein detected NMR experiments to design inhibitors of various diseases related protein targets;
- NMR quality control and structure elucidation of small-molecule ligands in aqueous/non-aqueous solutions
Role
Biswaranjan role at Sydney Analytical, University of Sydney provides management and supervision of biomolecular NMR laboratory facilities (1H frequencies of 400/600/800 MHz), including planning, training, data collection, analysis, and reporting in support of both internal and external users. In addition, Biswaranjan is looking forward to collaboration with various academic and industry partners with his vast research expertise on solution NMR spectroscopy
Ahmad Nassar, Instrumentation Engineer, NMR
Background
Ahmad has a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering, he graduated in 2008 from Cairo University, Egypt, and started his career as a field service engineer in 2009 in the healthcare and medical equipment sector. He has experience working on medical systems and equipment including anesthesia, life support and critical care systems, patient monitoring, incubators, medical beds, bed head units, ultrasound, dermatology and laser systems. He has experience working with Picture Archiving and Communication Systems PACS, Radiology Information Systems RIS, and Hospital Information System HIS using DICOM, HL7 and other medical, laboratory and healthcare standards. Ahmad’s roles have included planned preventative maintenance, troubleshooting, corrective repair and installation of biomedical equipment and integration with healthcare IT infrastructure.
Role
Ahmad joined Sydney Analytical as an Instrumentation Engineer, his role is to provide technical maintenance and support for diverse scientific instrumentation and support specialist applications to best meet the requirements of the Core Research Facilities. Ahmad’s role is focused supporting the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometers, with an extension of support to all Sydney Analytical equipment and instruments.
Paige Hawkins, Research Assistant, Magnetic Resonance
Background
Paige has a BSc (Hons I) from UNSW (2015) and a PhD with Professor Richard Payne from the University of Sydney (2020). Paige’s PhD work was centred in the area of medicinal organic chemistry with a particular focus on peptide natural products and antibiotic resistance. Paige continues to work in this area part-time as post-doctoral researcher in the Payne group whilst also contributing to Sydney Analytical.
Role
Paige is responsible for providing management, user support and training for the chemistry NMR laboratory facilities (1H frequencies of 300/400/500 MHz). In addition, Paige provides training and user support for the Sydney Analytical benchtop EPR.
Anita Marfavi, Research Assistant, Magnetic Resonance
Background
Anita is a current PhD candidate with Professor Louis Rendina in the School of Chemistry. She is a passionate chemist exploring the applications of boron in the design of new biological near-infrared fluorophores. Since 2019 she has been working in the Magnetic Resonance node.
Role
Anita’s role at Sydney Analytical includes performing sample analysis of multinuclear, 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy, new user training on 200/300/400/500 MHz spectrometers, and routine NMR spectrometer maintenance (cryogen fills).
