Phurpa Wangchuk

Dr. Phurpa Wangchuk has been a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine (AITHM) and moved to the College of Public Health, Medical, and Veterinary Sciences (CPHMVS) in 2023 and recently in 2024 to the College of Science and Engineering. He is a medicinal chemist and he is a group leader currently leading a dedicated research team to find treatments for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which has no cure but affects 1 in 6 Australians.

Dr. Wangchuk was an NHMRC Peter Doherty Biomedical Fellow (ECF) and a recipient of the Australian Endeavour Award and DANIDA Fellowships. He was also awarded two successive/back-to-back NHMRC Ideas grants for his innovative biodiscovery projects (2020-2028). He works closely with the Aboriginal Communities of Queensland to add commercial value to their bush medicine and bush food resources. Dr. Wangchuk's multifaceted contributions to academia, research, and professional leadership underscore his dedication to advancing biomedical science and addressing critical healthcare challenges.

He has published 132 articles, including book chapters, two medicinal plants monographs, and two books. He has a FWCI of 2.77, which is twice more than the global average. He sits on the Editorial Board of five reputed international journals and gives invited keynote/panel/guest talks at international conferences. The ScholarGPS, which recognises Top Scholars for their outstanding performance in various fields, has placed him in the top 0.5% of all scholars worldwide with a top percentage ranking of 0.09% and 0.08% in the specialties of medicinal plants and biological activity research, respectively.

 Educational achievements: Dr. Wangchuk acquired his:

• Ph.D. with an ‘Outstanding Thesis’ from the University of Wollongong (UOW), Australia.
• M.Phil. (Medicinal Chemistry) from UOW.
• Post Graduate Diploma in Research Methodology (Clinical Research) with HD from the DBL-Centre for Health Research and Development, Copenhagen University, Denmark.
• Bachelor of Science (Major in Chemistry, Botany, and Zoology) from the University of Delhi, India with an ‘Overall Academic Excellence Award’.

Grant achievements: He was awarded the following highly competitive grants (Category A) and has led/leading the research projects as Chief Investigator A. In addition, he obtained several other small grants from Far North Hospital Foundation Research Grants (listed under the funding tab):

• National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Ideas Grant (CIA, 2024-2028)
• NHMRC Ideas Grant (CIA, 2020-2024)
• NHMRC Early Career Peter Doherty Biomedical Fellowship (currently called NHMRC Investigator Grant for Emerging Leadership Fellow, 2015-2019).
• Australian Endeavour Fellowship Award (2010-2014).
• Danish DANIDA Research Fellowship (2006).
• Royal Government of Bhutan M.Sc. Scholarship (2002-2004).

Awards and prizes: He was awarded:

• University level - 2 consecutive conference awards for best Ph.D oral presentation organized by the University of Wollongong, Australia
• State level: 2 consecutive Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) conference prizes for best student talk and poster presentation organized by RACI, New South Wales, Australia
• International level: 2 international conference prizes/awards for best communication (in Spain organized by Phytochemical Society of Europe) and best poster presentation (in Greece organized by Molecular Parasitology Society).

Research program: Dr. Wangchuk designed a research program called 'Nature-inspired therapeutics for inflammatory bowel disease'. His drug discovery research at AITHM and CPHMVS focuses on discovering novel anti-inflammatory, antiparasitic, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, and antimalarial drug leads from natural sources such as medicinal plants, climate-affected plants, insect fungi, parasitic helminths, and other tropical flora and fauna. His research projects resulted in the discovery of 10 novel molecules, 18 drug lead compounds, and 3 patent/provisional patents on the novel antimalarial and anti-inflammatory drug leads.

He also established the 'Metabolomics platforms' for helminth's small molecules research, which is the first of its kind in the field of parasitology. He identified biomarkers including polar metabolites and novel lipids that have potential applications in developing diagnostics and therapeutics.

Nature-inspired Therapeutics Group

Dr. Wangchuk is one of the group leaders at AITHM/CPHMVS and he is leading a group of nine researchers including:

• Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Dr. Matthew Perry
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Dr. Karma Yeshi
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Dr. Shatarupa Das
  
• Adjunct Postdoc - Dr. Edita Ritjemeryte
• Adjunct Postdoc - Dr. Pornphimon Meesakul
• PhD student - Tenzin Jamtsho
• PhD student - Felix Wuemba
• PhD student - Handa Mulasari
• PhD student - Jessica Watt
• PhD student - Preetha Ebenezer
• MPhil student - Geral Turpin
• MPhil student - Andres Alvarez
• MPhil student - Ngawang Gempo
• MPhil student - Mizanur Rahaman
• B.Sc.student research intern (Germany) - Mara Curic
• MBBS student research program - Ioannis Tsabikos Chatzipapas
• MBBS student research program - Fitsum Abay Weldenugus

Potential research candidates interested in undertaking a Ph.D. or Masters project/Honours should contact Dr. Wangchuk to discuss potential projects. Funding is available through:

https://www.jcu.edu.au/graduate-research-school/hdr-candidates/postgraduate-research-scholarships.

Available research techniques and technologies: 

His research laboratory uses innovative and integrated techniques of:

• Natural products chemistry, metabolomics, drug development, ethnobotany, molecular biology, parasitology, and immunology.
• Advanced analytical technologies including HPLC, MALDI-MS, GCMS, LCMS, and NMR for isolation, structure elucidation, and identification of novel compounds.
• In vitro (PBMC), in vivo (animal models), and ex vivo (for parasites) experimental models.

Past and present professional leadership roles: 

Prior to his appointment at JCU, he worked in Bhutan in various capacities as a Chemist, Product Manager, and Head of the Research and Development Section of Manjong Sorig Pharmaceuticals. As a Head of R&D, he led a team comprising ethnobotanist, pharmacognosist, traditional physicians, and external technical consultants from Europe, Japan, India, and Thailand. He implemented four World Health Organisation grants and was an executive team member involved in deciding and executing the million Euros European Union Medicinal Plants Project in Bhutan.

He currently serves in the following professional bodies/capacities as a/an:

• Scientific reviewer for more than 33 reputed international journal papers
• Assessor for books and grant proposals
• Examiner for the HDR thesis (National and International)
• Active member of the NHMRC Ideas grant review panel
• Editor, and editorial board member of four reputed international journals.

Teaching/Supervising/Marking:

• MD1010 - Introduction to Integrated Medical Studies Part 1 of 2 (Medical Biochemistry).
• MD1010 - Introduction to Integrated Medical Studies Part 2 of 2 (Genetics and Health).
• TV3002 Research Proposals - Veterinary Sciences Year 3.
• NRS-MBBS 6 Research Activity Task- MBBS Year 6
• DS40101 Research Task - Dentistry Year 4.