Cutting Edge Professional Learning Day

Professor von Itzstein AO was the founding Director of Griffith University’s Institute for Glycomics (now known as the Institute for Biomedicine and Research) in 2000.  Professor von Itzstein AO has a major research effort in the area of drug discovery, with a carbohydrate-based drug candidate against sepsis in phase 2 human clinical trials. He has international standing in glycoscience and drug discovery particularly in the area of anti-infective drug discovery.   Professor von Itzstein led the team responsible for the design, synthesis and biological evaluation of the anti-influenza drug, Relenza®, which has been approved for the treatment of influenza worldwide since 1999. This discovery is considered to be a significant outcome and flagship in glycotherapeutic and antiviral drug development in the last century and has further consolidated the world platform of using carbohydrates as drugs and carbohydrate-recognising proteins as drug discovery targets. Professor von Itzstein AO is currently a Distinguished Professor and his current research interests in drug discovery are focused on influenza, parainfluenza and other viruses, drug-resistant bacteria and cancer.