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Dr Mariusz Skwarczynski

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
Faculty of Science
m.skwarczynski@uq.edu.au
+61 7 334 69894

Overview

Mariusz Skwarczynski completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1999 at Wroclaw University of Technology (Poland). His postdoctoral training began at Tokushima Bunri University (Japan) under the direction of late Professor M. Nishizawa, where he studied the biomimetic total synthesis of anticancer agent paclitaxel. He then joined the laboratory of Professor Yoshiaki Kiso at Kyoto Pharmaceutical University (Japan) to study prodrugs of paclitaxel. In 2004 he was awarded with Japanese fellowship (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science postdoctoral fellowship) and research grant to conduct further research on paclitaxel. He developed novel classes of paclitaxel prodrugs: isotaxoids and phototaxels. He also co-developed an epimerization-free method for the synthesis of novel building blocks (isodipeptides) for solid phase peptide synthesis and these units have been commercialized by Merck-Novabiochem.

In 2008 he joined Professor Istvan Toth group at University of Queensland (Australia) to work on vaccine delivery strategies. Since then, he research is mainly focused on nanotechnology-based peptide vaccine delivery approaches. In 2010 he was awarded with University of Queensland Strategic Fund Research Fellowship. In Australia, he is involved in a wide range of collaborative research projects, both nationally and internationally, to develop vaccines against GAS, HIV, hookworm infections, malaria and cancer, along with antibiotics against multidrug resistant bacteria.

Research Interests

  • Vaccines and Nanomedicine
    Vaccine Desing, Nanotechnology, Peptide Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Vaccine/Drug Delivery, Antimicrobial Agents, Macromolecules, Adjuvants, Immunology

Research Impacts

Mariusz Skwarczynski has over 180 publications, including peer-reviewed journals, book chapters (Wiley, Springer Nature, Nova Science, Elsevier), and two edited book (Elsevier, Springer Nature) – as of 2023. Among these publications, 16 are in journals with an impact factor of 10-30. He was ranked 3rd in the world in the Subunit Vaccines field (2012-2022) by Expertscape's PubMed-based scheme and placed among the top 0.1% (0.022% of 18,308 published authors) of scholars writing about Subunit Vaccines over the past 10 years: https://expertscape.com/ex/vaccines%2C+subunit. He is an inventor on three patents that attracted interest from the industry including Meat & Livestock Australia Ltd, Vet-Agro Sp. z o.o., Paragen Bio, and Brandon Capital. He co-developed an epimerization-free method for the synthesis of novel building blocks (isodipeptides) for solid-phase peptide synthesis; these units have been commercialised by Merck-Novabiochem. Recently, he has been actively engaged in several projects aimed at the commercialisation of veterinary vaccines (mostly targeting domestic and wild animals’ fertility control) in Australia and Italy.

He is very active in a collaborative initiative between universities, on projects to develop vaccines against Group A Streptococcus, tuberculosis, hookworm, malaria, porcine circovirus, babesia and cancer, as well as other drug delivery systems. He is an Associate Editor in Frontiers in Pharmacology, (2016 – current) and Regional Editor of Australia in Vaccines (2018 – current). In addition to grants from the ARC and NHMRC, he is also the recipient of industry-specific grants (Economic Accelerator Launch Programme 2023 and Meat & Livestock Australia Limited grant 2021). He regularly communicates with the public (locally and internationally) on issues related to vaccine development and safety. His recent publication on the oral hookworm vaccine has attracted wide media interest from all over the world (Australia, India, China, Kenya, New Zealand, Hungary, Pakistan, etc.). He is often invited to present at international conferences, and recently he organised and chaired Micro and Nanoparticles in Drug and Vaccine Delivery Symposium, Brisbane, 2021.

He has served as a primary supervisor of four PhD students (two ongoings, two theses awarded) and co-supervisor of 23 PhD students in the medicinal chemistry, biotechnology, and vaccine development fields. All his former students have successfully found jobs, many of which are in the fields of biology or chemistry, across industry and academia, in Australia and abroad. Some notable examples of current employers of his past students include Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, National University of Malaysia, The Translational Research Institute, Griffith University, Miltenyi Biotec Australia, James Cook University, Procter & Gamble, Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, WuXi Biologics, and Endologix California.

Qualifications

  • Journal Editorial Board Member, Vaccines (Regional Editor of Australia), Vaccines (Regional Editor of Australia)
  • Member, The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Alumni Association in Australia, The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Alumni Association in Australia
  • Member, Royal Australian Chemical Institute, Royal Australian Chemical Institute
  • Journal Editorial Board Member, Medicinal Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry
  • Journal Editorial Board Member, Frontiers in Pharmacology (Associate Editor), Frontiers in Pharmacology (Associate Editor)
  • Journal Editorial Board Member, Current Drug Delivery, Current Drug Delivery
  • Member, Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Wroclaw University of Technology
  • Masters (Coursework) of Science, Wroclaw University of Technology

Publications

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Grants

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Supervision

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Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • Current Prospects in Peptide-Based Subunit Nanovaccines

    Koirala, Prashamsa, Bashiri, Sahra, Toth, Istvan and Skwarczynski, Mariusz (2022). Current Prospects in Peptide-Based Subunit Nanovaccines. Methods in Molecular Biology. (pp. 309-338) New York, NY: Humana Press Inc.. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1892-9_16

  • Developments in vaccine adjuvants

    Firdaus, Farrhana Ziana, Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2022). Developments in vaccine adjuvants. Vaccine Design: Methods and Protocols, Volume 3: Resources for Vaccine Development. (pp. 145-178) edited by Sunil Thomas. New York, United States: Humana Press. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1892-9_8

  • Liposomes for the delivery of lipopeptide vaccines

    Yang, Jieru, Azuar, Armira, Toth, Istvan and Skwarczynski, Mariusz (2022). Liposomes for the delivery of lipopeptide vaccines. Methods in Molecular Biology. (pp. 295-307) New York, NY, United States: Humana Press. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1892-9_15

  • Polymer–Peptide Conjugate Vaccine for Oral Immunization

    Faruck, Mohammad Omer, Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2022). Polymer–Peptide Conjugate Vaccine for Oral Immunization. Methods in Molecular Biology. (pp. 35-44) New York, NY: Humana Press Inc.. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1892-9_3

  • Preparation of Trimethyl Chitosan-Based Polyelectrolyte Complexes for Peptide Subunit Vaccine Delivery

    Zhao, Lili, Bashiri, Sahra, Toth, Istvan and Skwarczynski, Mariusz (2022). Preparation of Trimethyl Chitosan-Based Polyelectrolyte Complexes for Peptide Subunit Vaccine Delivery. Methods in Molecular Biology. (pp. 141-149) New York, NY: Humana Press Inc.. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1900-1_9

  • Double conjugation using mercapto-acryloyl and alkyne-azide reactions for the synthesis of branched multiantigenic vaccine candidates

    Hussein, Waleed M., Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2021). Double conjugation using mercapto-acryloyl and alkyne-azide reactions for the synthesis of branched multiantigenic vaccine candidates. Peptide conjugation: methods and protocols. (pp. 141-150) New York, NY United States: Humana Press. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1617-8_13

  • Peptide-Polymer Conjugation Via Copper-Catalyzed Alkyne-Azide 1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddition

    Hussein, Waleed M., Toth, Istvan and Skwarczynski, Mariusz (2021). Peptide-Polymer Conjugation Via Copper-Catalyzed Alkyne-Azide 1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddition. Methods in Molecular Biology. (pp. 1-7) New York, NY United States: Humana Press. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1617-8_1

  • An isodipeptide building block for microwave-assisted solid-phase synthesis of difficult sequence-containing peptides

    Hussein, Waleed M., Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2020). An isodipeptide building block for microwave-assisted solid-phase synthesis of difficult sequence-containing peptides. Peptide synthesis: methods and protocols. (pp. 139-150) edited by Waleed M. Hussein, Mariusz Skwarczynski and Istvan Toth. New York, NY, United States: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0227-0_9

  • Preface

    Hussein, Waleed M., Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2020). Preface. Peptide synthesis: methods and protocols. (pp. v-v) edited by Waleed M. Hussein, Mariusz Skwarczynski and Istvan Toth. New York, NY, United States: Springer.

  • Peptide-based vaccines

    Nevagi, Reshma J., Toth, Istvan and Skwarczynski, Mariusz (2018). Peptide-based vaccines. Peptide applications in biomedicine, biotechnology and bioengineering. (pp. 327-358) edited by Sotirios Koutsopoulos. Duxford, United Kingdom: Woodhead Publishing (Elsevier). doi: 10.1016/B978-0-08-100736-5.00012-0

  • Liposomes as a vaccine delivery system

    Marasini, N., Ghaffar, K.A., Skwarczynski, M. and Toth, I. (2017). Liposomes as a vaccine delivery system. Micro and Nanotechnology in Vaccine Development. (pp. 221-239) edited by Mariusz Skwarczynski and Istvan Toth. Kidlington, Oxford, United Kingdom: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-323-39981-4.00012-9

  • Micro- and Nanotechnology in Vaccine Development - Introduction

    Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2017). Micro- and Nanotechnology in Vaccine Development - Introduction. Micro- and Nanotechnology in Vaccine Development . (pp. XVII-XVIII) edited by Skwarczynski, M. and Toth, I.. Kidlington, Oxford, United Kingdom: Elsevier Science.

  • Introduction

    Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2016). Introduction. Micro and nanotechnology in vaccine development: micro and nano technologies. (pp. xvii-xviii) edited by Mariusz Skwarczynski and Istvan Toth. Oxford, United Kingdom: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-323-39981-4.00027-0

  • The use of microwave-assisted solid-phase peptide synthesis and click chemistry for the synthesis of vaccine candidates against hookworm infection

    Ahmad Fuaad, Abdullah A. H., Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2016). The use of microwave-assisted solid-phase peptide synthesis and click chemistry for the synthesis of vaccine candidates against hookworm infection. Vaccine design: methods and protocols: volume 1: vaccines for human diseases. (pp. 639-653) edited by Thomas, Sunil. New York, NY United States: Springer New York. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-3387-7_36

  • Lipo-peptides/saccharides in peptide vaccine delivery

    Skwarczynskim, Mariusz, Zaman, Mehfuz and Toth, Istvan (2013). Lipo-peptides/saccharides in peptide vaccine delivery. Handbook of biologically active peptides. (pp. 571-579) edited by Abba J. Kastin. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Academic Press/Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-385095-9.00078-6

  • Lipid core peptide system for self-adjuvanting synthetic vaccine delivery

    Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2011). Lipid core peptide system for self-adjuvanting synthetic vaccine delivery. Bioconjugation protocols: Strategies and methods. (pp. 297-308) edited by Sonny S. S. Mark. New York , U.S.A: Humana Press. doi: 10.1007/978-1-61779-151-2_18

  • Medicinal chemistry of a-hydroxy-b-amino acids

    Ziora, Zyta, Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Kiso, Yoshiaki (2011). Medicinal chemistry of a-hydroxy-b-amino acids. Amino Acids, Peptides and Proteins in Organic Chemistry: Volume 4 - Protection Reactions, Medicinal Chemistry, Combinatorial Synthesis. (pp. 189-234) edited by Andrew B. Hughes. Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH. doi: 10.1002/9783527631827.ch6

  • Toll-like receptor 2 mediated dendritic cell activation: Key target for lipopeptide vaccines design

    Zaman, Mehfuz, Skwarczynski, Marius and Toth, Istvan (2010). Toll-like receptor 2 mediated dendritic cell activation: Key target for lipopeptide vaccines design. Dendritic Cells: Types, Life Cycles and Biological Functions. (pp. 63-80) edited by Lorraine C. Welles. New York, NY, U.S.A.: Nova Science Publishers.

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ResearcherID: A-6707-2009

ORCID: 0000-0001-7257-807X

Scopus ID: 6506842099

Google Scholar ID: CWnS7rQAAAAJ

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