Regular biography
Prof. Christoph Nitsche is a Professor at The Australian National University (ANU) in the Department of CHEM. He holds a Dipl.-Chem. and MBA, and completed his PhD at Heidelberg University in 2014. Supported by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, he was awarded a Feodor Lynen Research Fellowship by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 2015 to work at ANU from 2015 to 2018. He was appointed Senior Lecturer in 2020, promoted to Associate Professor in 2023, and became Professor in 2026. His research interests include chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, with a focus on peptide science and drug discovery.
Scholar-generated biography
Christoph Nitsche is an organic chemist specializing in medicinal chemistry and chemical biology, with a focus on the development of peptide-based inhibitors targeting viral proteases. His research explores the structure and function of viral proteases, including those from SARS-CoV-2, Dengue, Zika, and West Nile viruses, with the aim of identifying novel therapeutic agents. His work combines structural biology, medicinal chemistry, and NMR studies to design and optimize inhibitors, emphasizing covalent enzyme inhibition and the role of electrophilic fragments. Nitsche's research also investigates the design of macrocyclic peptides and hybrid molecules to enhance selectivity and potency.