Dr Andrew Christofferson

Dr. Christofferson received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Montana State University, USA, and a PhD in chemistry with a focus on computational chemistry from the University of Birmingham, UK. During his PhD studies he determined the reaction mechanism for the reduction of the chemotherapy prodrug CB1954 by the enzyme NfsB.

His post-doctoral work at the National Institute of Biological Sciences, China resulted in new models for selenium-modified DNA, and an explanation for the experimentally observed differences in DNA melting points with various modified base pairings. He also received a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China for design and applications of a reactive force field for ambient-temperature proton transfer reactions.

In his current position as a Research Fellow at RMIT University, he uses molecular dynamics simulations, quantum chemical calculations, and machine learning methods along with experimental X-ray diffraction data to determine atomistic models of self-assembled materials, polymers, biomaterial interactions, liquid metals, ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents, and fluorescent materials.