Rate My Professor Peter Rutledge

The Rutledge Group focuses on developing new drugs and sensors for biomedical applications, chemical solutions to environmental challenges, and biologically inspired catalysts for synthesis. Key projects include the synthesis and evaluation of novel cyclobutanone antibiotics with resistance-activated and double-punch modes of action to battle superbugs; iron-based catalysts mimicking non-heme iron oxidases for selective hydrocarbon oxidation and remediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon pollutants; thiol- and sulfide-rich peptides for sensing and binding heavy metals such as mercury and cadmium; and peptide-based mimics of nitrile hydratase for nitrile hydration and cyanide breakdown. Rutledge has authored numerous publications, including 'Antitubercular Bis-Substituted Cyclam Derivatives: Structure–Activity Relationships' (Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2018), 'Bio-Inspired Nitrile Hydration by Peptidic Ligands Based on L-Cysteine' (Molecules, 2018), and 'Perphenazine–Macrocycle Conjugates Rapidly Sequester the Aβ42 Monomer' (ACS Chemical Neuroscience, 2023). He serves as a judge for the Eureka Prizes, is a Rhodes Scholar (New Zealand & Magdalen College, Oxford, 1995), and received the 2008 NSW Tall Poppy Science Award.