David J Leaver

Medical Science and Pathology

Dr David J. Leaver

BSc (Hons) La Trobe, PhD La Trobe

Lecturer in Biochemistry
Wagga Wagga
Building 288 Room 249

David obtained his BSc (Hons) from La Trobe University in 2008 and he completed his Honours research project in the medicinal chemistry laboratories at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. David obtained his PhD in Organic Chemistry from La Trobe University in 2012. David worked briefly in chemical industry at Advanced Molecular Technologies before becoming a postdoctoral research fellow in medicinal chemistry (2012-2013) at Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University. David then moved to the United States of America as a postdoctoral research fellow in chemical biology (2013-2014) at Texas Tech University. David worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry (2014-2015), Assistant Professor of Chemistry (2015-2020) and Associate Professor of Chemistry (2020-2021) at Sul Ross State University. David joined Charles Sturt University in 2021 as a Lecturer in Biochemistry.

David’s research focuses on early-stage drug discovery and collaborative research projects he has participated in have been published in a number of journals including Nature, Cell Metabolism and the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

Professional memberships:

  • Australian Institute of Medical and Clinical Scientists
  • Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • Royal Australian Chemical Institute
  • International Chemical Biology Society
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science
  • American Chemical Society

The best way to change the future is to effectively train the leaders of tomorrow and David aims to motivate and challenge future scientific leaders with current biomedical problems we face in society such as discovering new drugs to treat multi-drug resistant and extensively drug-resistant pathogens, understand why some human diseases have limited or no treatment options available to patients and how applied biochemistry can be used to solve these problems. David encourages independent thinking and he enjoys using research to produce original scientific knowledge that can be utilized to generate new biomedical technology. David enjoys teaching medical science and biochemistry subjects at Charles Sturt University.

David’s research focuses on the development of novel therapeutics that target specific proteins with the goal of improving the quality of life for people that suffer from life threatening diseases. David enjoys tackling difficult aspects of early-stage drug discovery with vibrant and rigorous research projects. David’s research interests include the development of novel sterol biosynthesis inhibitors that could be used to treat cancer or parasitic protozoan diseases (Human African Trypanosomiasis & Chagas Disease), the development of synthetic carbohydrate biomimetics as urinary tract infection prophylactics, the synthesis of irreversible enzyme inhibitors that could be used to kill parasitic nematodes, and the optimization of monovalent and multivalent carbohydrate derivatives that could be used to inactivate toxins such as cholera toxin and heat-labile enterotoxin.