People
Francis Kuang
PhD candidate
Francis completed his Master of Drug Discovery and Development at the Victoria University of Wellington. In his MDDD project, Francis developed a genomic driven approach to identify biosynthetically gifted actinomycetes from New Zealand mangrove samples. His current project aims to decipher the mechanism and regulation of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid oxidase.
Madison Nuske
PhD candidate
Madie obtained her Bachelor of Science and Master’s degree in Chemistry at the University of Melbourne. She is developing and utilising mass spectrometry and omics methods to explore biological questions about lipids, proteins and their interactions.
Chai Xin Yu
PhD candidate
Chai Xin completed her Master of Research in Medicinal Chemistry at the Universiti Putra Malaysia on repurposing drugs for dengue using computer-aided drug design methods. She also has some work experience at a pharmaceutical company in drug formulation development and provided technical support in upscale drug production. Her current project involves the study of post-translational regulation of isocitrate lyase and isocitrate dehydrogenase in Mycobacteria tuberculosis.
Xiaoxu Chen
PhD candidate
Xiaoxu completed her Master’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, where she measured weak interactions within proteins and studied protein allostery in cells. Her current project focuses on the catalytic mechanisms of isocitrate lyase from Mycobacteria tuberculosis.
Catur Kurniawan
MSc candidate
Catur obtained his Bachelor’s degree from the State University of Medan, Indonesia. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Chemistry under the joint supervision of Drs Ludovica Monti and Ivanhoe Leung. His research project focuses on finding inhibitors for the ACC oxidase enzyme.
Mandy Wang
MSc candidate
Meng Wang completed her Bachelor of Applied Chemistry at the Anhui Jianzhu University. Currently, she is pursuing a Master’s degree in Chemistry. Her research focusses on understanding the function and regulation of the plant ethylene-forming enzymes, which is strongly linked to the ability of plants to respond to stress caused by climate change.
Ben Plevey
Exchange MSc candidate
Ben is an exchange student from the University of Edinburgh completing the final year of his integrated master’s degree in chemistry at the University of Melbourne as a part of the Leung Research Group. His research involves using analytical techniques to explore post translation modifications of key metabolic enzymes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Past members
Past members of the Leung Research Group and their completion years are listed below.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
The University of Melbourne
▪ Dr Glenda Vasku, 2025
▪ Dr Brooke Kwai, 2022
The University of Auckland
▪ Dr Aimee Son, 2019
▪ Dr Yu Li, 2018
Doctor of Philosophy – PhD
The University of Melbourne
▪ Dr Evelyn Huang, 2025
The University of Auckland
▪ Dr Vicky Juan, 2023
▪ Dr Renjie Huang, 2023
▪ Dr Brooke Kwai, 2022
▪ Dr Eva Antony, 2022
▪ Dr Nabangshu Sharma, 2021
▪ Dr Ryan Dixon, 2021
▪ Dr Naasson Mbambi Mbenza, 2020
▪ Dr Jinal Patel, 2020
▪ Dr Dona Gunawardana, 2020
▪ Dr Praveen George Vadakkedath, 2020
▪ Dr Oi Wei Mak, 2020
▪ Dr Danilo Correddu, 2019
▪ Dr Ram Bhusal, 2018
▪ Dr Yu Li, 2017
Master of Science – MSc
The University of Melbourne
▪ Craeg Casals, 2025
▪ Buster Wu, 2025
▪ Wenqiao Man, 2025
▪ Benjamin Harris, 2024
▪ Kallet Zhou, 2023
▪ Jinpeng Zhou, 2023
▪ Junlang Zhong, 2023
The University of Auckland
▪ Simran Kaur, 2019
▪ Renjie Mike Huang, 2017
Bachelor of Science (Honours) – BSc(Hons)
The University of Melbourne
▪ Patrick Bajan, 2023
The University of Auckland
▪ Mark-Anthony McLarin, 2019
▪ Brooke Kwai, 2017
▪ Nawal Nasarudin, 2016
▪ Dona Gunawardana, 2016
▪ M. Nasri Muhammad Rosdi, 2015
Postgraduate Diploma in Science – PGDipSci
The University of Auckland
▪ Weijing Sun, 2020
▪ Renjie Mike Huang, 2015
Summer Research Scholars
The University of Melbourne (Amgen Scholars Program)
▪ Le Thao Anh Nguyen, 2024
▪ Sarah Tynan, Bond University, 2023
▪ Tricia Lee, The University of Queensland, 2022
The University of Auckland
▪ Daniel Bousfield, 2020
▪ José de Jesús Montaño López, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2018
▪ Jane Pernes, University of Bristol, 2017
▪ Johanna Viluma, University of Bristol, 2017
▪ Amy Lai, 2017
▪ Paris Watson, Victoria University of Wellington, 2016
Undergraduate Project Students
The University of Melbourne
▪ Nikki Leung, 2025
▪ Kate Yu, 2025
▪ Biechunzi Liu, 2024
▪ George Ye, 2024
▪ Gabriel Chan, 2023
▪ Andrew Yerondais, 2023
▪ YuTao Zhou, 2022
▪ Devia Rachmat Kurniawan, 2022
Visitors/Volunteers
The University of Melbourne
▪ Irene Wachirapond Thongsuwan, Mahidol University, 2025
▪ Eugene Quang Le, Monash University, 2025
▪ Yingqi Lai, Hong Kong Baptist University, 2024
▪ Ka Ki Leung, Hong Kong Baptist University, 2024
▪ Simran Kaur, Hong Kong Baptist University, 2023
▪ Lan Huong Le Viet, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2023
▪ Anu Sharma, The University of Auckland, 2023
▪ Dr Tianyang Liu, 2023
▪ Michael Valens Soegianto, 2023
The University of Auckland
▪ Cathy Yin, 2020
▪ Misha van Merrienboer, Avans Hogeschool, 2019
▪ Esmée Van Tol, Avans Hogeschool, 2019
▪ Ravi Tej Allam, 2017
▪ Thomas Hanauer, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, 2015