Rate My Professor Joel Tyndall

Professor Joel Tyndall holds the position of Professor in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Otago, part of the Faculty of Health Professional Programmes within the Health Sciences Division. He earned his BSc (Hons) from Monash University and PhD from the University of Queensland's Centre for Drug Design and Development. After completing postdoctoral research at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Queensland, he joined the School of Pharmacy at the University of Otago as a lecturer in 2004. He advanced to Associate Professor in Medicinal Chemistry and was promoted to full Professor in 2022, delivering his inaugural professorial lecture in July 2023. In addition to his academic role, he serves as Associate Dean (Internationalisation) for the Division of Health Sciences and Co-Director of the D4 Network, focusing on drug design and development.

A medicinal chemist by training, Professor Tyndall specializes in drug design and discovery employing computational techniques. His research centers on identifying and characterizing proteins as drug targets and understanding their contributions to diseases, with particular emphasis on infectious diseases including chlamydial infections via HtrA protease inhibitors, antifungal targets such as CYP51 in Candida parapsilosis and lanosterol demethylases in pathogenic fungi, and antibacterial agents against Helicobacter pylori and other bacteria. His work also addresses cancer therapeutics through self-immolative linkers in prodrugs and antibody-drug conjugates, as well as inhibitors of macrophage migration inhibitory factor for colorectal cancer, alongside efforts in inflammatory disorders and neglected tropical diseases. He leads multidisciplinary research teams and supervises doctoral students on projects like validating essential enzymes for broad-spectrum antifungals and developing covalent ligands for receptors. Notable publications include 'Self-immolative Linkers in Prodrugs and Antibody Drug Conjugates in Cancer Treatment' (2021), 'Structure-Activity Analysis of Peptidic Chlamydia HtrA Inhibitors' (2019), 'Covalent isothiocyanate inhibitors of macrophage migration inhibitory factor as potential colorectal cancer treatments' (2024), 'Improving Antibacterial Activity of a HtrA Protease Inhibitor Against Helicobacter pylori' (2022), and 'Characterisation of Candida parapsilosis CYP51 as a Drug Target' (2022). His contributions have advanced insights into drug resistance and novel therapeutic strategies in these fields.