DrShane Wilkinson

BSc(Hons) USyd; DChem ANU

Shane is an education-focused lecturer based at The University of Sydney. His research focuses on emerging technologies to empower educators with the latest tools and shape students into the scientists of tomorrow. Current research explores the use of augmented reality (AR) goggles in a laboratory environment and how we can utilise data science to automate education and deliver a "personalised teaching experience".

Shane received his BSci(Hon I) from The University of Sydney in 2006 and then completed his PhD at the Research School of Chemistry at the Australian National University in 2010. His PhD work involved the development of a genetically-modified enzyme to catalyse a challenging chemical reaction to access a library of previously inaccessible drug metabolites. These metabolites are of interest to the field of drug testing in sport as their presence in urine samples indicate drug doping by the tested athlete.

Shane returned to The University of Sydney as a post-doctoral researcher in 2010 withProfessor Michael Kassiou. He undertook a number of medicinal chemistry projects that targeted diseases of the brain including depression, Alzheimer's diseaseand dementia. During this time, he was also prolific in exposing the extent and dangers of synthetic cannabinoids available on the black market. His review on synthtic cannabinoids was the most accessed article in the Australian Journal of Chemistry.