Monash University's Professor Arthur Christopoulos, FAA, FAHMS, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, has been honoured with a prestigious 2025 Research Excellence Award from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia.
NHMRC's Research Excellence Awards are handed annually to top-ranked researchers following peer review of applications to the NHMRC's highly competitive grant schemes. Professor Christopoulos has received the 2025 NHMRC Peter Doherty Investigator Grant Award (Leadership), recognising the highest ranked recipient in the national Leadership category of Investigator Grants.
Professor Christopoulos earned the award for his exceptional work in the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MIPS) developing new classes of more targeted medicines to tackle major global health burdens, in particular cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia and Alzheimer's Disease.
"I'm extremely honoured to receive the 2025 NHMRC Doherty Leadership Award. It's a testament of how fundamental discovery research into novel paradigms of drug action can be leveraged all the way through to real-world translation and application – but also a reminder that we must never rest on our laurels," Professor Christopoulos said.
"Furthermore, biomedical research is a truly multidisciplinary venture, and I want to acknowledge the dedication and support of our brilliant research team, talented lab alumni and world-class collaborators – work like this doesn't happen in silos."
Director of MIPS, Professor Chris Porter, said: "On behalf of MIPS, I'd like to congratulate Arthur on this very well deserved recognition of what is a world leading program of research. NHMRC Investigator Grants are incredibly competitive and to be recognised as the top ranked application in the Leadership category with a Peter Doherty Investigator Grant Award is a remarkable achievement."
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise) and Senior Vice-President Professor Robyn Ward AM said: "Arthur's award really highlights his drive to turn complex science into meaningful outcomes for patients and communities. His leadership in research, within the Faculty and at Monash, along with his work creating completely new types of medicine, shows exactly the kind of tangible impact we strive for at Monash."
A world-renowned expert in drug discovery and analytical pharmacology, Professor Christopoulos' pioneering research focuses on G protein-coupled receptors – the most common protein target class for modern medicines, with a specific focus on novel 'allosteric' drug binding sites on these proteins that are spatially distinct from the primary binding site used by the body's natural hormones, neurochemicals and most traditional types of medicines on the market.
His work integrates pharmacology, medicinal chemistry, mathematical modelling, structural and computational biology and preclinical disease models to tackle major health burdens such as neuropsychiatric and neurological diseases, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, chronic pain and lymphatic dysfunction.
Professor Christopoulos's impact on the global scientific community is far-reaching, and he has annually been named as a Clarivate Analytic 'Highly Cited Researcher' (top one per cent in the world in his discipline) for over 12 years, in addition to receiving numerous accolades and Fellowships from national and international Societies. In 2017 he was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and in 2021 was elected to the Australian Academy of Science for his seminal contributions to pharmacology and drug discovery.
Professor Christopoulos' NHMRC project is titled "Allosteric modulation of muscarinic receptors for the treatment of neurocognitive deficits". Its brief research overview is described below:
"Cell surface proteins called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), are the major conduits by which we sense our external environment to maintain optimal human health. Dysregulation of GPCRs can thus lead to major disease states, with GPCRs representing the largest target class for currently approved medicines. This research program will focus on a subset of GPCRs that have emerged as exciting targets for treating schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease but that have remained resistant to standard drug targeting approaches. We will overcome this challenge through application of cutting edge structural, computational, chemical, pharmacological and translational biology approaches pioneered by our lab exploiting alternative modes of targeting previously 'intractable' or 'undruggable' GPCRs."
