Dr Yun Shi is an ARC DECRA Fellow and an NHMRC Investigator (Emerging Leadership) with multiple high-impact publications in journals such as Science, Molecular Cell, and Nature Communications. He integrates biophysical, biochemical, structural, and computational approaches to investigate protein-ligand interactions and guide drug discovery for neurodegenerative, inflammatory, and infectious diseases.

Dr Shi obtained his PhD in Chemistry from Simon Fraser University (Canada) and undertook his postdoctoral training at Griffith University. Supported by a Griffith University Postdoctoral Fellowship (2016-2018), he established a fragment-based drug discovery platform using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy as the primary technique. His work contributed to industry drug-discovery programs with Disarm Therapeutics Inc and Eli Lilly & Co (2019-2023). In 2025, Dr Shi relocated to Monash University to esatblish his independent research program. His current research focuses on fragment-based drug design, molecular functions of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) metabolites, and reprogramming of nucleotide-signalling pathways for therapeutic impact.

1. Fragment-based ligand discovery against neurodegeneration
2. Discovery of new metabolite-protein interactions for neuroprotection
3. Hijacking nucleotide immune signalling to treat neuroinflammation
4. Discovery of substrate-coupled inhibitors to counter bacterial infections
5. Discovery of targetted protein degraders for neuroprotection
6. Computational drug design combining data-centric and physics-centric approaches

Please visit the group website for further information.

Available to supervise PhD, Masters by Research, and Honours students.