Nial J. Wheate

Nial J. Wheate
Born 1976
Werribee, Victoria, Australia
Residence Sydney
Nationality Australian
Fields Chemistry
Institutions University of Sydney
University of Strathclyde
University of New South Wales
University of Western Sydney
Royal Australian Navy
Alma mater University of New South Wales
Australian Defence Force Academy
Doctoral advisor [J. Grant Collins]
Notable awards Australian Defence Medal (2005)

Nial J. Wheate (PhD, FRACI, CChem, FHEA) is an Australian pharmaceutical chemist at the University of Sydney.

Career

After completing high school at Copland College in Canberra, Australia, he was appointed an officer in the Royal Australian Navy and attended the Australian Defence Force Academy,[1] where he studied for a Bachelor of Science degree double majoring in chemistry, in 1997 with Class I honours for his degree . After a short appointment as a Visiting Military Scholar, Nial undertook a PhD under the supervision of Associate Professor J. Grant Collins within the School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, at University College, University of New South Wales, with a thesis: Platinum Anticancer Drugs in 2001.[2]

Over the next three years Dr Wheate was posted to the School of Air Navigation (now the School of Air Combat), RAAF Base East Sale, the Air Coordination and Policy Agency, the Joint Health Support Agency and the Sea Power Centre – Australia.[3] He left the Navy in 2005, receiving the Australian Defence Medal in 2007. He was then appointed a Senior Fellow in the School of Biomedical and Health Sciences at the University of Western Sydney before appointment as a lecturer in medicinal chemistry in the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. Currently he is a senior lecturer within the Faculty of Pharmacy at University of Sydney.[4] In 2013 he was appointed the Head of Cancer research within the Faculty of Pharmacy.[5]

Research interests

Dr Wheate's research interests are in the field of metal-based drugs for use in chemotherapy. His research group's work includes drug design and synthesis, encapsulation of drugs in macrocyles, attachment of drugs to nanoparticles, drug solid state stability and polymorphism (materials science), drug mechanisms of action, improving drug solubility through the formation of cocrystals, drug metabolism, drug preformulation and formulation, and drug-excipient interactions in various dosage forms. Recent highlighted work has included the development of magnetically directed drug delivery for platinum drugs.[6]

He is best known for his work on multinuclear platinum-based drugs[7] and the drug delivery applications of cucurbiturils.[8]

In 2013 he was made Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute in recognition of his achievements in cancer research [9] and is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

He was previously an associate editor of the Australian Journal of Chemistry and is a current editor of the Source Journal of Pharmaceutical Science.

Science communication

In addition to his research, Dr Wheate is committed to science communication. He has previously written for Australasian Science Magazine[10] and is a regular contributor on The Conversation (website).[11] Whilst most of his general interest articles are on the topic of cancer he has also written about how drugs are named[12] and the potential health risks of alcohol powder.[13] In June 2014, he was appointed to The Conversation (website)'s Community Council.[14] The Community Council is a group of academics and readers who help moderate the site and improve the quality of discussions.

Other contributions

Dr Wheate has also published in a variety of other areas including military justice,[15] naval history,[16][17] weapons of mass destruction[18] and he has written a novel titled Whikatak Island.[19]

Service to the community

In addition to his cancer research, Dr Wheate is committed to service to the community. He is a volunteer with the New South Wales State Emergency Service and is a St John Ambulance Australia First Responder.[20]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.raci.org.au/jobs-careers/career-profiles-2/lecturer-in-medicinal-chemistry-and-ex-navy-officer
  2. ↑ http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/3584312?l-format=Thesis&sortby=dateDesc&q=nial+wheate&l-availability=y&l-australian=y&c=book
  3. ↑ http://www.navy.gov.au/Sea_Power_Centre_-_Australia
  4. ↑ http://sydney.edu.au/pharmacy/alumni/fiatmist_july2012.pdf FIAT Mist, The alumni magazine of the Faculty of Pharmacy
  5. ↑ http://sydney.edu.au/pharmacy/our-research/themes/cancer/ Cancer Research Theme
  6. ↑ http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/magnets-that-mark-cancer-20120616-20gle.html Magnets that mark cancer, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 June 2012
  7. ↑ "Multi-nuclear platinum complexes as anti-cancer drugs". Coordination Chemistry Reviews. 241: 133–145. doi:10.1016/S0010-8545(03)00050-X.
  8. ↑ "The Potential of Cucurbit[n]urils in Drug Delivery". Israel Journal of Chemistry. 51: 616–624. doi:10.1002/ijch.201100033.
  9. ↑ http://www.chemaust.raci.org.au/assets/pdfs/2014/CiA_Dec2014.pdf
  10. ↑ http://www.australasianscience.com.au/article/issue-november-2012/magnetic-medicine.html Magnetic Medicine
  11. ↑ https://theconversation.com/profiles/nial-wheate-96839/profile_bio
  12. ↑ https://theconversation.com/cant-pronounce-the-name-of-your-medicine-heres-why-15416 Can't pronounce the name of your medicine? Here's Why
  13. ↑ https://theconversation.com/powdered-alcohol-seriously-a-health-risk-we-dont-need-25912 Powdered Alcohol, seriously? The health risk we don't need
  14. ↑ http://theconversation.com/introducing-our-community-council-27991 Introducing our Community Council
  15. ↑ "Lawful Dissent and the Modern Australian Defence Force" (PDF). Australian Defence Force Journal. 160: 20–30. 2003.
  16. ↑ http://www.defence.gov.au/publications/dfj/ADFJ160.pdf Lawful Dissent and the Modern Australian Defence Force database of Royal Australian Navy Operations 1990-2005.
  17. ↑ http://www.navy.gov.au/Publication:Papers_in_Australian_Maritime_Affairs_No._16 Borneo 1945 – An amphibious success story, Paper in Australian Maritime Affairs, 2005, 16, p 139.
  18. ↑ http://www.navy.gov.au/w/images/PIAMA19.pdf The chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threat, Papers in Australian Maritime Affairs, 2006, 19, 71-76.
  19. ↑ http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/659965?lookfor=author:%22Wheate,%20Nial%20%28Nial%20J.%29,%201976-%22&offset=1&max=1
  20. ↑ http://www.chemaust.raci.org.au/assets/pdfs/2014/CiA_Dec2014.pdf
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