معرفی
Dr. Ben Capuano is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at Monash University's Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. He is also affiliated with the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences. His research focuses on synthetic medicinal chemistry, specifically targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) involved in schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease, noscapine-derived anticancer agents, muscarinic receptor modulators for Alzheimer's disease, and fragment-based drug discovery for antibacterial and anti-HIV agents.
Teaching Commitments:
- Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Science courses: Introduction to Pharmaceutical Sciences, Analytical Methods, Molecular Basis of Drug Action, Research Project
- Bachelor of Pharmacy courses: Basis of Drug Action I, Integrated Therapeutics: Psychiatry
Research Interests:
- Design of small biomolecules targeting GPCRs (e.g., dopamine D2 and serotonin receptors)
- Fragment-based lead discovery for challenging enzyme targets (DsbA, HIV-integrase)
- Allosteric modulators for muscarinic receptors in neurocognitive disorders
- Structure-based drug design techniques including molecular docking and virtual screening
Collaborations: Active in multidisciplinary projects involving medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, and structural biology. Collaborators include A/Prof. Christopher Choy, Prof. Arthur Christopoulos, and Prof. Paul Scammells.
Grants and Projects: Current roles as Chief Investigator in projects such as 'Modulation of the M4 muscarinic receptor for schizophrenia treatment' (2023–2026) and 'Fragment-based lead discovery for challenging targets' (2019–2024). Over 100 publications in journals like Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and ACS Chemical Neuroscience.
Labs/Teams: Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, with expertise in organic synthesis, drug screening, and receptor pharmacology.
