The TetraQ team is led by Professor Maree Smith in partnership with three distinguished professors from The University of Queensland. Each are specialists in their respective fields and have highly complimentary skills and experience that combine to cover all aspects of preclinical drug development. Commercial matters are handled by a dedicated Business Development Manager.

Principals
Professor Maree Smith, Executive Director and Director - Efficacy
Professor Ron Dickinson, Director - ADME
Professor Istvan Toth, Director - Pharmaceutics
Professor Rod Minchin, Director - Toxicology

Commercial
Rose-marie Pennisi, Business Development Manager

Professor Maree Smith
Executive Director and Director - Efficacy

Professor Smith has a broad range of expertise in preclinical and clinical drug development, including animal models of human disease, assay development and validation and in vivo pharmacokinetics in both animals and humans. Professor Smith is one of Australia's leading researchers in the pain field and has particular expertise in testing molecules of effectiveness as pain drugs. Professor Smith has considerable experience in commercialization of intellectual property which makes her well placed to understand the needs of early stage biopharmaceutical companies. Professor Smith leads an internationally-recognized team of 20 research staff and students. Since 1998, Prof Smith has published more than 65 peer-reviewed papers and she is a member of the editorial review board for Pain: Clinical Updates.

Professor Ron Dickinson
Director - ADME

Professor Dickinson has extensive experience in preclinical and clinical drug development specialising in drug metabolism and disposition, biochemical pharmacology and toxicology, drug absorption and bioavailability, and the analysis of drugs and drug metabolites. As co-founder of the well-known Centre for Studies in Drug Disposition (CSDD) at The University of Queensland and the Phase 1 clinical trials provider, Q-Pharm, he has considerable expertise in carrying out contract bioequivalence and pharmacokinetic studies for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Professor Dickinson has published over 120 refereed journal articles, and he is on the Editorial Board of Chemico-Biological Interactions, Life Sciences and Drug Metabolism and Drug Interactions.

Professor Istvan Toth
Director - Pharmaceutics

Professor Toth is a renowned chemist and an internationally recognised expert in drug delivery. He leads a strong research team comprising 17 members in his UQ laboratory. He has extensive experience in commercialization of intellectual property and was one of the founders of Alchemia Ltd, a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, synthesis and development of complex and diverse products for pharmaceutical applications. His major research interests are drug delivery, immunoadjuvants, carbohydrates, lipids, peptides, nucleosides and nucleotides. Professor Toth is an author on over 150 peer-reviewed publications and is an inventor on over 40 patents. He is the co-editor of a recently published book and is Editor in Chief of Current Drug Delivery.

Professor Rod Minchin
Director - Toxicology

Professor Minchin is a well recognised molecular toxicologist and pharmacologist and has considerable experience in chemical carcinogenesis, molecular toxicology, drug metabolism, pharmacogenetics and cancer cell biology. Professor Minchin has a distinguished career as a toxicology researcher and has served on numerous international and national bodies. He has been an associate editor of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention and currently serves as the Australasian Editor of International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and reviews.

Rose-marie Pennisi
Business Development Manager

Rose-marie Pennisi is a pharmacist and MBA graduate with over 20 years experience in various sectors of the pharmaceutical industry in areas such as regulatory affairs, clinical research, customer service, external relations, project management and marketing. She has a good understanding of the drug development process (including drug discovery) and the issues facing companies in the biopharmaceutical industry in getting their products to market. She has been involved in strategy development, dealt with regulatory agencies and managed various portfolios of products in the prescription, over-the-counter and complementary medicines areas. Rose-marie has extensive experience in Australian and international markets gained from working in 'Big Pharma' multinational pharmaceutical companies (3M Pharmaceuticals and Wellcome Australia Ltd), and in private Australian entrepreneurial companies (Herron Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd and Imaginot Pty Ltd).