Professor Michael Kassiou
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Professor Michael Kassiou

BSc PhD UNSW, FRACI, FAFMC, FRSC, FSRS
Professor of Medicinal Chemistry
Academic Director, Centre for Drug Discovery Innovation
Phone
61 2 9351 2745
Fax
61 2 9351 3329
Professor Michael Kassiou

Michael received his PhD in Organic Chemistry in 1992 from the University of NSW. Following this he took up a position as research scientist within the Biomedicine and Health Program at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). In 1993 he was appointed as a visiting scientist at the CEA-Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot Life Sciences group in France looking at methods for studying the living brain. Shortly after that Michael took up a postdoctoral position at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes in Baltimore USA. In 1996 he was awarded a Fogerty Fellowship that saw him take up a position at the NIH National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) USA. He then moved back to Sydney to the Department of PET and Nuclear Medicine at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital as a Principal Hospital Scientist and in 2006 took up a position at the University of Sydney in which he is currently Professor of Medicinal Chemistry and Academic Director of the Centre of Drug Discovery Innovation. He is an Honorary Professor with the Centre for Advanced Imaging at The University of Queensland and elected in 2017 to the position of Director for the Society of Radiopharmaceutical Sciences. He is the Editor for the Journal of Labelled Compounds and Radiopharmaceuticals, Chief Editor for Frontiers in Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and Associate Editor for ACS Chemical Neuroscience. He is an editorial advisory board member for ChemMedChem and Trends in Pharmacological Sciences.

  • Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery
  • Structure-activity relationships of CNS bioactive molecules
  • Rationale CNS drug design and evaluation
  • Heterocyclic Chemistry

Research in my group is interdisciplinary and built around the key themes of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery. Our research utilises modern organic chemistry techniques to rationally design and synthesise novel compounds for a range of CNS targets which are associated with conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, dementia, schizophrenia, social anxiety and depression. In this domain understanding drug-protein and drug-binding site interactions is a key component which allows us to obtain structure-activity relationships of bioactive CNS molecules. In addition by using molecular imaging techniques within these fields we are able to better understand the living brain in normal and diseased states through in vivo studies.

For current research activities and opportunities please visit our home page: Research Group Website

Fellow of the Asian Federation of Medicinal Chemistry

Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute

Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Fellow of the Society of Radiopharmaceutical Sciences

Project titleResearch student
Targeting Central Vasopressin Receptors for the Treatment of Neuropsychiatric DisordersDan HAYES
Investigating Endosomal Signaling of the Oxytocin Receptor and Its Potential for Pharmacological Targeting in the Treatment of Social DysfunctionZachary HYMAN
P2X7 Antagonists and Their Role in InflammationNick LYNCH
Exploring molecules that ameliorate social dysfunctionDane TREGEAGLE
Development of a new potential treatment for the deadly brain cancer glioblastomaWenbin ZHOU

Publications

Selected Grants

2025

  • Developing targeted therapies for gliomas by peptide-assisted fragment optimisation, Lau Y, Kassiou M, Cancer Institute NSW/Career Development Fellowship

2024

  • Inhibition of P2X7R for treatment of ALS, Kassiou M, The ALS Association/Research Grant
  • Oxytocin receptor PET ligands: imaging the love receptors engagement, Kassiou M, Werry E, Tran W, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Linkage Projects (LP)
  • Developing senolytics for ALS, Kassiou M, Werry E, FightMND/Research Grant
  • Novel Ligands for TDP-43 to enable a PROTAC development platform to fight ALS, Gotsbacher M, Danon J, Kassiou M, The ALS Association/Research Grant

In the media

NSW Organoid Innovation Centre launches at Sydney (University of Sydney media release - 2 April 2025)

Winning strategy: Love hormone research bears multimillion-dollar deal (The Australian Financial Review - 21 August 2024)

Professor Michael Kassiou wins the 2024 AFR Research Commercialisation award (University of Sydney media release - 21 August 2024)

Professor Michael Kassiou on how his Greek heritage inspires his medical innovations (The Greek Herald – 16 August 2023)

Drug discovery get $9.75m boost for MedChem Australia (University of Sydney media release - 27 June 2023)

AI drug discovery will power collaboration with Pharos Therapeutics (University of Sydney media release - 30 May 2023)

Michael Kassiou's molecule discovery leads to $273 million partnership (Neos Kosmos - 25 May 2023)

A Sydney chemist hunted this molecule for a decade. Now it’s worth $273 million (Sydney Morning Herald – 5 May 2023)

Sydney Professor Michael Kassiou discovers molecules worth $273 million (The Greek Herald – 5 May 2023)

Sydney spinout lands $273m deal to develop drugs for psychiatric disorders (University of Sydney media release - 5 May 2023)

Professor's 15-year journey ends with $273m drug deal (The Canberra Times - 5 May 2023)

Professor's 15-year journey ends with $273m drug deal (PerthNow - 5 May 2023)

Greek-Australian Professor Discovers Molecule For Psychiatric Disorders Which Is Now Worth $273 Million! (Greek City Times - 5 May 2023)

Mini organs in a dish' to turbocharge drug discoveries (Canberra Times - 1 Mar. 2023)

NSW Government backs University-led consortium on drug discovery (University of Sydney media release - 1 Mar. 2023)

$6 Million for Researchers and Startups to Make their Mark in Biotech Infrastructure (NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer - 28 Feb. 2023)

$2.2M boost for research equipment and infrastructure (University of Sydney media release - 17 Nov. 2022)

Profound neuroinflammation associated with long COVID (News-Medical - 13 Jul. 2022)

Treating our brains better (Chemistry World - 8 Jun. 2020)

New scan technique reveals brain inflammation associated with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (Science Daily - 5 Feb. 2019)

New Scan Technique Reveals Brain Inflammation Associated With Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (Infection Control Today - 5 Feb. 2019)

Focus on Innovative Therapies (AJP.com - 11 Sep. 2018)

New Drug Discovery Initiative focused on innovative therapies (Mirage News - 9 Sep. 2018)

New Drug Discovery Initiative focused on innovative therapies (University of Sydney media release - 10 Sep. 2018)

Kinoxis Therapeutics launched to develop anti-addiction drugs (University of Sydney media release - 15 Feb. 2018)

University of Sydney spins off drug to help you stop drinking (The Australian Financial Review - 14 Feb. 2018)

'Love drug' to solve addiction (The Australian - 14 Feb. 2018)

Lin BioScience Licenses Cancer-Fighting Candidate from University of ... (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News - 21 Mar. 2017)

Lin BioScience Licenses Novel Therapeutic Program for Brain Cancer ... (PR Newswire - 21 Mar. 2017)

Brain cancer patent licensed by University of Sydney (University of Sydney media release - 14 Mar. 2017)

Evidence of brain injury found in young NFL players (Science Daily - 30 Nov. 2016)

Study of former NFL players reveals specifics of concussive brain damage (Science Daily - 27 Jan. 2015)

Related research articles

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