New professor of chemistry

A world leader in the application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, Robert Brownlee, has been appointed Professor of Chemistry at La Trobe University.

A specialist in biological chemistry, Professor Brownlee joined La Trobe as a Research Fellow in 1970. At the time of his appointment as Professor, he was Reader/Associated Professor in Chemistry, and Head of La Trobe's Department of Chemistry.

As well as his leadership in the application of NMR spectroscopy, he has also achieved world recognition in the development of new NMR techniques and pulse sequences, especially as applied to medicinal problems.

His studies have included proton, carbon and fluorine magnetic nuclei as well as more unusual metals, including molybdenum.

Recently, he has focused on three-dimensional NMR methods and on determining the chemical structures of cyclic peptides and metalloproteins.