Professor Richard Payne FAA. Photo: Stefanie Zingsheim
An international leader in the fields of organic chemistry and chemical biology from the University of Sydney has been elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.
Professor Richard Payne joins 29 other esteemed Australian scientists, elected today to the academy, the pre-eminent independent scientific institution in Australia.
Professor Payne has been recognised for the development of a number of powerful technologies for the synthesis of modified peptides and proteins for applications in biology and medicine. He is also recognised for the development of peptide and protein drug leads for a range of diseases, such as anti-inflammatories, anti-thrombotics and anti-infectives (including for COVID‑19).
Peptides are short chains of amino acids that are linked together (such as phenylalanine or glutamine), whereas proteins are longer, more complex chains of amino acids.
An example of his team’s work has involved identifying modified proteins in tick saliva that can be developed to reduce inflammation and safely eliminate blood clots.
Professor Payne said: “It is such a massive honour to be elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. I am really proud of what my lab has been able to achieve over the past 15 years and I would like to thank the amazing PhD students, research associates, collaborators and colleagues at the University of Sydney for making it all possible.”
