Conan Fee (Co-director, Theme 1 Leader) email
Conan Fee is a Co-Director of the Biomolecular Interaction Centre and a Professor of Chemical Engineering  at the University of Canterbury. His research interests lie mainly in the areas of bioseparations and biomolecular engineering, currently focusing on protein PEGylation, surface interactions and surface plasmon resonance. more

Juliet Gerrard (Co-director) email
Professor Juliet Gerrard is a Co-Director of the Biomolecular Interaction Centre and a Professor in the School of Biological Sciences.  Her personal research is interdisciplinary, cutting across biochemistry, chemistry, health, agricultural and food science and biomaterial design. It also incorporates a full spectrum of applied and fundamental research, focused on proteins and how they assemble. This research has potential application in the design of novel therapeutic agents and in the assembly of novel materials. more

Emily Parker (Theme 3 Leader) email
Emily is a Principal Investigator and theme leader for Theme 3 in the Biomolecular Interaction Centre and an Associate Professor in the Chemistry Department at the University of Canterbury. Emily's research team explores the evolution and molecular details of enzymic catalysis. This research area spans the areas of chemistry and biochemistry and involves a range of research techniques including small molecule synthesis, protein purification and manipulation, and molecular biology. more

William Swallow (Theme 4 Leader) email
Bill is a Principal Investigator and theme leader for Theme 4 in the Biomolecular Interaction Centre and Adjunct Professor at the University of Canterbury. He has a strong interest in facilitating the movement of ideas from academia out into the wider community. Bill seeks to encourage BIC researchers to consider applications for and commercialisation of their research. In addition he oversees our orthogonal activities providing an interfacing with interested social scientists and implementation pathways. more

Renwick Dobson (Theme 2 Leader) email
Ren is a Principal Investigator in the Biomolecular Interaction Centre and a Biochemistry Lecturer at the University of Canterbury. His research focuses on the role of protein structure and function in enzyme biology. Ren has been awarded a Marsden Fast-Start for 2011-2014. more

Grant Pearce email
Grant is a Principal Investigator in the Biomolecular Interaction Centre and a Biochemistry Lecturer at the University of Canterbury. His research focuses on protein biochemistry, with an emphasis on molecular interactions and enzymology, including studies of Rubisco and Rubisco activase (funded by Marsden). more

Prof Stephen Brennan (Adjunct. Prof., BIC)

Dr Jolon Dyer (Adjunct Senior Fellow, BIC)
Dr Jolon Dyer is Science Group Leader of the Food and Bio-Based Products. Dr Dyer’s team specialises in protein chemistry, proteomics and structural biology, and their application to wool, meat, dairy and personal care products.
More

Dr Brent Gilpin (Adjunct Senior Fellow, BIC)
Dr Brent Gilpin is a Science Leader at the Institute of Environmental Science & Research, a Crown Research Institute of the New Zealand Government. His research interests include campylobacter, molecular epidemiology, genotyping, water quality, and faecal source tracking. Brent holds two Adjunct Senior Fellow positions at the University of Canterbury, one in the Biomolecular Interaction Centre, and the second in the Department of Biological Sciences. More

Dr Nigel Larsen (Adjunct Assoc Prof, BIC)
Dr Nigel Larsen is an Adjunct Associate Professor with the Biomolecular Interactions Centre at the University of Canterbury, but his regular day job is Science Group Leader for Bioresources Engineering and Chemistry in the Food Innovation Portfolio at Plant and Food Research. His personal research interests include biomolecular interactions and structures and their applications in foods and materials, and emerging nanotechnologies. More

Dr Phillip Rendle (Adjunct Senior Fellow, BIC)
Phillip Rendle is a Principal Scientist and Team Leader for the Carbohydrate Chemistry Group at Industrial Research in Lower Hutt. His research interests have included the design and synthesis of saponins, glycolipids and glycodendrimers as immune modulators. He has been involved in progressing a drug candidate through pre-clinical studies and has also carried out many commercial contracts for domestic and international clients. More

Dr Tim Woodfield

Dr Susie Meade
Departmental Innovation Champion
Susie is the Research Programmes Leader for the Biomolecular Interaction Centre. She has a background in protein research and comes to us after a career at UC, Canesis and Crop & Food, followed by a stint with powerHouse, a local science and technology commercialization organization.
Phone: +64 3 364 3987 Extn 7645
Office: 433, von Haast Building
Email: susie.meade@canterbury.ac.nz

Dr Simone Dimartino Theme 1 email
Simone joined BIC as a Theme 1 Postdoc working with Conan in November 2010.
Simone’s expertise in biochemical engineering includes protein purification, material characterization and modelling of protein adsorption and interactions.
Currently Simone is investigating antifouling coatings for the food and pharmaceutical industry; in particular he is developing smart oligo-peptides that prevent bio-adhesion on stainless steel surfaces. In addition, he is studying the effects of cold temperatures and freezing on PEGylated protein stability.

Dr Céline Valéry Theme 2 email
Céline is the Theme 2 Postdoc working with Juliet Gerrard. Céline obtained a PhD in Pharmacy from the University of Paris XI, France, after completing two MSc in respectively Physicochemistry and Chemical Engineering (University of Aix-Marseille, France). Her PhD thesis focused on the structural physicochemistry of peptide self-assemblies as biomaterials for drug delivery. After a postdoctoral position at the Collège de France, Paris, focused on gold nanoparticle functionalization, she joined the Ipsen research center (pharma company) in Barcelona, Spain. Céline led the Physicochemistry team within the Formulation Innovation unit. Céline specialises in the structural aspects of peptide self-assembly and protein aggregation using biophysical techniques, with a special interest for functional and biomimetic nanoscale self-assemblies.

Dr Ali Reza Nazmi Theme 3 email
Ali joined BIC as a Theme 3 Postdoc working with Emily. Ali obtained a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Münster, Germany after completing a MSc in biophysics and a bachelor of science in cell biology. During his PhD as a member of the Graduate School of Chemistry, he worked in the Institute of Physical Chemistry on the stability of a-Amylase from Bacillus licheniformis under different conditions. After completing his PhD he worked as a postdoc in the Institute of Medical Biochemistry at the University of Münster. His postdoctoral projects involved working on protein-protein and protein-lipid interactions in the annexin and S100 family of proteins. Ali specialises in different methods for studying ligand-protein interactions.