Rate My Professor Tristan Reekie

Dr Tristan Reekie is a Senior Lecturer and Chemistry Stream Coordinator in the School of Science at the University of New South Wales Canberra. He earned his PhD in 2013, B.Sc. (Honours) in 2007, and LLB in 2010 from the Australian National University. After his PhD, he held a postdoctoral fellowship at ETH Zurich under Professor François Diederich, followed by a position as Senior Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Sydney with Professor Michael Kassiou in medicinal chemistry. He began his independent research career at the Australian National University in 2019, serving as Undergraduate Convenor until 2021, before joining UNSW Canberra as Lecturer in Organic Chemistry in January 2022, later promoted to Senior Lecturer.

Reekie's research focuses on small molecule organic chemistry for medicinal, materials, and plant science applications. His projects include novel naphthalene bioisosteres for drugs and agrichemicals, usnic acid derivatives targeting cancer cells, and small-molecule chromophores. He co-founded the chemistry for spin-out Kinoxis Therapeutics, heading its chemistry. Committed to teaching and outreach via the Australian Chemistry Olympiad, he has earned the RACI Athel Beckwith Lectureship in Organic Chemistry (2023), RACI Peter Andrews Award for Medicinal Chemistry Innovation (2022), and Young Tall Poppy Science Award (2020). Select publications: "Low intrinsic efficacy for G protein activation can explain the improved side effect profiles of new opioid agonists" (Gillis et al., Science Signaling, 2020); "The pyrazole derivative of usnic acid inhibits the proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and in vivo" (Gimła et al., Cancer Cell International, 2023); "Divergent reactivity of usnic acid..." (Gunawan et al., Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, 2023); "Synthesis and spectroscopic investigation of substituted piperazine-2,5-dione derivatives" (Stewart et al., Tetrahedron, 2024). His contributions advance CNS therapeutics and oncology.