Mark Blaskovich
- Email:
- m.blaskovich@imb.uq.edu.au
- Phone:
- +61 7 334 62039
- Mobile:
- 0414955380
Overview
Background
Professor Mark Blaskovich is an antibiotic hunter and Director of Translation at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at The University of Queensland. He is co-founder and former Director of the Centre for Superbug Solutions at IMB.
A medicinal chemist with 15 years of industrial drug development experience prior to his academic career, Mark has been developing new antibiotics to treat drug resistant pathogens and using modified antibiotics to detect bacterial infections. He is a co-founder of the Community for Open Antimicrobial Drug Discovery, a global antibiotic discovery initiative, and has led a number of UQ-industry collaborations focused on antibiotic development. An inventor on eleven patent families, Mark has developed drugs in clinical trials, published more than eighty research articles, and received over $10m in grant funding.
Availability
- Professor Mark Blaskovich is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Qualifications
- Bachelor (Honours) of Science (Advanced), University of Victoria
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of Waterloo
Works
Search Professor Mark Blaskovich’s works on UQ eSpace
2023
Journal Article
Impact of the new membrane-targeting lipoglycopeptide antibiotic MCC5145 on the treatment of bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia in mice
Ogunniyi, Abiodun D., Nguyen, Hang Thi, Hansford, Karl A., Cooper, Matthew A., Trott, Darren J. and Blaskovich, Mark A. T. (2023). Impact of the new membrane-targeting lipoglycopeptide antibiotic MCC5145 on the treatment of bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia in mice. Microbiology Spectrum, 11 (5) e04459-22, 1-6. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.04459-22
2023
Journal Article
The antimicrobial properties of PdII‐ and RuII‐pyta complexes
van Niekerk, Annick, Joseph, M. Cassiem, Kavanagh, Angela, Dinh, Hue, Swarts, Andrew J., Mapolie, Selwyn F., Zuegg, Johannes, Cain, Amy K., Elliott, Alysha G., Blaskovich, Mark A. T. and Frei, Angelo (2023). The antimicrobial properties of PdII‐ and RuII‐pyta complexes. ChemBioChem, 24 (19) e202300247, e202300247. doi: 10.1002/cbic.202300247
2023
Journal Article
Natural products as anthelmintics: safeguarding animal health
Salim, Angela A., Butler, Mark S., Blaskovich, Mark A. T., Henderson, Ian R. and Capon, Robert J. (2023). Natural products as anthelmintics: safeguarding animal health. Natural Product Reports, 40 (11), 1754-1808. doi: 10.1039/d3np00019b
2023
Journal Article
Quantifying the economic and clinical value of reducing antimicrobial resistance in gram-negative pathogens causing hospital-acquired infections in Australia
Gordon, Jason P., Al Taie, Amer, Miller, Ryan L., Dennis, James W., Blaskovich, Mark A. T., Iredell, Jonathan R., Turnidge, John D., Coombs, Geoffrey W., Grolman, David Charles and Youssef, Jacqueline (2023). Quantifying the economic and clinical value of reducing antimicrobial resistance in gram-negative pathogens causing hospital-acquired infections in Australia. Infectious Diseases and Therapy, 12 (7), 1875-1889. doi: 10.1007/s40121-023-00835-9
2023
Journal Article
Antibiotics in the clinical pipeline as of December 2022
Butler, Mark S., Henderson, Ian R., Capon, Robert J. and Blaskovich, Mark A. T. (2023). Antibiotics in the clinical pipeline as of December 2022. The Journal of Antibiotics, 76 (8), 431-473. doi: 10.1038/s41429-023-00629-8
2023
Journal Article
Siderophore conjugates to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria
Rayner, Beth, Verderosa, Anthony D., Ferro, Vito and Blaskovich, Mark A. T. (2023). Siderophore conjugates to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria. RSC Medicinal Chemistry, 14 (5), 800-822. doi: 10.1039/d2md00465h
2023
Conference Publication
Developing the monitoring and evaluation framework for ‘Australia’s antimicrobial resistance strategy: 2020 and beyond’ using a one health approach
Hall, Lisa, Lawler, Sheleigh, Comans, Tracy, Reid, Simon, Soares Magalhães, Ricardo, Blaskovich, Mark, Henseleit, Julia and Welch, Alyssa (2023). Developing the monitoring and evaluation framework for ‘Australia’s antimicrobial resistance strategy: 2020 and beyond’ using a one health approach. 17th World Congress on Public Health, Rome, Italy, 2-6 May 2023. Heraklion, Greece: EU European Publishing. doi: 10.18332/popmed/163919
2023
Journal Article
Photocatalytic degradation of methylparaben using green nanosilver supported on reduced graphene oxide
Khan, Sadaf Aiman, Jain, Marut, Pant, Kamal Kishore, Ziora, Zyta Maria and Blaskovich, Mark A. T. (2023). Photocatalytic degradation of methylparaben using green nanosilver supported on reduced graphene oxide. Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 62 (17), 6646-6659. doi: 10.1021/acs.iecr.3c00146
2023
Journal Article
Synthesis of vancomycin fluorescent probes that retain antimicrobial activity, identify Gram-positive bacteria, and detect Gram-negative outer membrane damage
Zhang, Bing, Phetsang, Wanida, Stone, M. Rhia L., Kc, Sanjaya, Butler, Mark S., Cooper, Matthew A., Elliott, Alysha G., Łapińska, Urszula, Voliotis, Margaritis, Tsaneva-Atanasova, Krasimira, Pagliara, Stefano and Blaskovich, Mark A. T. (2023). Synthesis of vancomycin fluorescent probes that retain antimicrobial activity, identify Gram-positive bacteria, and detect Gram-negative outer membrane damage. Communications Biology, 6 (1) 409, 1-16. doi: 10.1038/s42003-023-04745-x
2023
Journal Article
Metals to combat antimicrobial resistance
Frei, Angelo, Verderosa, Anthony D., Elliott, Alysha G., Zuegg, Johannes and Blaskovich, Mark A. T. (2023). Metals to combat antimicrobial resistance. Nature Reviews Chemistry, 7 (3), 1-23. doi: 10.1038/s41570-023-00463-4
2023
Journal Article
Use of antiviral agents and other therapies for COVID-19
Blaskovich, Mark A. T. and Verderosa, Anthony D. (2023). Use of antiviral agents and other therapies for COVID-19. Seminars in Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 44 (1), 118-129. doi: 10.1055/s-0042-1758837
2023
Conference Publication
Developing the monitoring and evaluation framework for ‘Australia’s antimicrobial resistance strategy: 2020 and beyond’ using a one health approach
Hall, Lisa, Lawler, Sheleigh, Comans, Tracy, Reid, Simon, Magalhães, Ricardo Soares, Blaskovich, Mark, Henseleit, Julia and Welch, Alyssa (2023). Developing the monitoring and evaluation framework for ‘Australia’s antimicrobial resistance strategy: 2020 and beyond’ using a one health approach. 17th World Congress on Public Health, Rome, Italy, 2-6 May 2023. Heraklion, Greece: European Publishing. doi: 10.18332/popmed/164014
2023
Journal Article
Correction: Antibiotics in the clinical pipeline as of December 2022 (The Journal of Antibiotics, (2023), 76, 8, (431-473), 10.1038/s41429-023-00629-8)
Butler, Mark S., Henderson, Ian R., Capon, Robert J. and Blaskovich, Mark A. T. (2023). Correction: Antibiotics in the clinical pipeline as of December 2022 (The Journal of Antibiotics, (2023), 76, 8, (431-473), 10.1038/s41429-023-00629-8). Journal of Antibiotics, 77 (1), 71-71. doi: 10.1038/s41429-023-00671-6
2022
Conference Publication
WS1.4: Biostimulation of bacteria for streamlined identification of new antimicrobial compounds
Mirzaee, Hooman, Ariens, Emily, Booth, James, Carvalhais, Lilia C., Blaskovich, Mark A.T., Clark, Richard J. and Schenk, Peer M. (2022). WS1.4: Biostimulation of bacteria for streamlined identification of new antimicrobial compounds. 32nd International Congress of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (ICC), Perth, WA Australia, 27 – 30 November 2022. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier BV. doi: 10.1016/s2213-7165(22)00272-7
2022
Journal Article
A fluorescently labelled quaternary ammonium compound (NBD-DDA) to study resistance mechanisms in bacteria
Nordholt, Niclas, O'Hara, Kate, Resch-Genger, Ute, Blaskovich, Mark A. T., Rühle, Bastian and Schreiber, Frank (2022). A fluorescently labelled quaternary ammonium compound (NBD-DDA) to study resistance mechanisms in bacteria. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13 1023326, 1-13. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1023326
2022
Journal Article
Leveraging the potential of silver nanoparticles-based materials towards sustainable water treatment
Khan, Sadaf Aiman, Jain, Marut, Pandey, Ashish, Pant, Kamal Kishore, Ziora, Zyta Maria, Blaskovich, Mark A. T., Shetti, Nagaraj P. and Aminabhavi, Tejraj M. (2022). Leveraging the potential of silver nanoparticles-based materials towards sustainable water treatment. Journal of Environmental Management, 319 115675, 115675. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115675
2022
Journal Article
Metal complexes as antifungals? From a crowd-sourced compound library to the first in vivo experiments
Frei, Angelo, Elliott, Alysha G., Kan, Alex, Dinh, Hue, Bräse, Stefan, Bruce, Alice E., Bruce, Mitchell R., Chen, Feng, Humaidy, Dhirgam, Jung, Nicole, King, A. Paden, Lye, Peter G., Maliszewska, Hanna K., Mansour, Ahmed M., Matiadis, Dimitris, Muñoz, María Paz, Pai, Tsung-Yu, Pokhrel, Shyam, Sadler, Peter J., Sagnou, Marina, Taylor, Michelle, Wilson, Justin J., Woods, Dean, Zuegg, Johannes, Meyer, Wieland, Cain, Amy K., Cooper, Matthew A. and Blaskovich, Mark A. T. (2022). Metal complexes as antifungals? From a crowd-sourced compound library to the first in vivo experiments. JACS Au, 2 (10), 2277-2294. doi: 10.1021/jacsau.2c00308
2022
Journal Article
Nitroimidazopyrazinones with oral activity against tuberculosis and Chagas disease in mouse models of infection
Ang, Chee Wei, Lee, Brendon M., Jackson, Colin J., Wang, Yuehong, Franzblau, Scott G., Francisco, Amanda F., Kelly, John M., Bernhardt, Paul V., Tan, Lendl, West, Nicholas P., Sykes, Melissa L., Hinton, Alexandra O., Bolisetti, Raghu, Avery, Vicky M., Cooper, Matthew A. and Blaskovich, Mark A.T. (2022). Nitroimidazopyrazinones with oral activity against tuberculosis and Chagas disease in mouse models of infection. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 65 (19), 13125-13142. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c00972
2022
Journal Article
A lipoglycopeptide antibiotic for Gram-positive biofilm-related infections
Blaskovich, Mark A.T., Hansford, Karl A., Butler, Mark S., Ramu, Soumya, Kavanagh, Angela M., Jarrad, Angie M., Prasetyoputri, Anggia, Pitt, Miranda E., Huang, Johnny X., Lindahl, Fredrik, Ziora, Zyta M., Bradford, Tanya, Muldoon, Craig, Rajaratnam, Premraj, Pelingon, Ruby, Edwards, David J., Zhang, Bing, Amado, Maite, Elliott, Alysha G., Zuegg, Johannes, Coin, Lachlan, Woischnig, Anne-Kathrin, Khanna, Nina, Breidenstein, Elena, Stincone, Anna, Mason, Clive, Khan, Nawaz, Cho, Hye-Kyung, Karau, Melissa J. ... Cooper, Matthew A. (2022). A lipoglycopeptide antibiotic for Gram-positive biofilm-related infections. Science Translational Medicine, 14 (662) abj2381. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abj238
2022
Journal Article
A lipoglycopeptide antibiotic for Gram-positive biofilm-related infections
Blaskovich, Mark A.T., Hansford, Karl A., Butler, Mark S., Ramu, Soumya, Kavanagh, Angela M., Jarrad, Angie M., Prasetyoputri, Anggia, Pitt, Miranda E., Huang, Johnny X., Lindahl, Fredrik, Ziora, Zyta M., Bradford, Tanya, Muldoon, Craig, Rajaratnam, Premraj, Pelingon, Ruby, Edwards, David J., Zhang, Bing, Amado, Maite, Elliott, Alysha G., Zuegg, Johannes, Coin, Lachlan, Woischnig, Anne-Kathrin, Khanna, Nina, Breidenstein, Elena, Stincone, Anna, Mason, Clive, Khan, Nawaz, Cho, Hye-Kyung, Karau, Melissa J. ... Cooper, Matthew A. (2022). A lipoglycopeptide antibiotic for Gram-positive biofilm-related infections. Science Translational Medicine, 14 (662) abj2381, 1-16. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abj2381
Funding
Current funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Mark Blaskovich is:
- Available for supervision
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Available projects
-
Functionalised antibiotics for diagnostics and therapeutics
The increasing incidence of infections caused by drug resistant bacteria and fungi poses a significant and increasing threat to global human health, with predicted annual mortality of 10 million people by 2050. It is imperative to advance new technologies capable of rapidly and accurately diagnosing infections to enable timely and appropriate therapy. We must develop new antibiotics with efficacy against multidrug-resistant bacteria and fungi, and new methods to rapidy diagnose infections. To enable this we require fundamental studies that probe the chemical biology of antibiotic action and investigate microbial growth, metabolism and resistance.
This research program is designed to achieve these goals, based on the chemical functionalisation of antibiotics with a readily derivatised handle. The resulting set of versatile intermediates is then modified to create 1) fluorescent probes that can catalyse basic research and lead to new assays, 2) clinical imaging agents to visualise microbial infections, and 3) novel hybrid therapeutics. The project requires talented synthetic organic chemists with an interest in multidisciplinary research.
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Antibiotic potentiators as an alternative therapeutic option for the treatment of extensively drug-resistant Gram-negative infections.
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Johannes Zuegg
-
Doctor Philosophy
Clicking Conjugates into Place for the Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Joanne Blanchfield, Dr Rhia Stone, Dr Anthony Verderosa
-
Doctor Philosophy
Translating the Targeted Protein Degradation therapeutic approach into the context of antibacterial drug discovery: Investigating bacterial protease-engaging antibacterial degrader constructs
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Anthony Verderosa
-
Doctor Philosophy
Investigations of novel antimicrobial agents and formulations to treat topical agricultural infections.
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Conny Turni, Dr Sanjaya Kc
-
Doctor Philosophy
Evaluation of biofilm dispersal of Nontuberculous mycobacteria and Legionella in contaminated water environments
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Rachel Thomson, Professor Jianhua Guo
-
Doctor Philosophy
Antibiotic Conjugates: Joining Together to Fight Antimicrobial Resistance
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Vito Ferro
-
Doctor Philosophy
Investigations of the interactions between fluorescent antibiotics and bacteria
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Sanjaya Kc, Dr Anthony Verderosa
-
Doctor Philosophy
Repurposing Drugs, Redefining Models: Tackling Antimicrobial-Resistant Gonorrhoea
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Johannes Zuegg, Dr Tanuka Sen
-
Doctor Philosophy
Mechanism of action of MgO
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Conny Turni, Dr Sean Bisset, Professor Ian Henderson
-
Doctor Philosophy
Seeing the Unseen: Imaging Bacterial Infections
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Kristofer Thurecht, Dr Rhia Stone
-
Doctor Philosophy
Targeting bacterial biofilms in patients with gastrointestinal disorders
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Markus Muttenthaler
-
Doctor Philosophy
How does cannabidiol kill bacteria?
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Tanuka Sen, Dr Johannes Zuegg
-
Doctor Philosophy
Medicinal chemistry strategies to remove bacterial biofilms associated with gastrointestinal disorders
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Markus Muttenthaler
-
Doctor Philosophy
Development of computational models to discover new antibiotics against Gram-negative bacteria. (Note: online component of Onawole's application lists his Master's thesis title instead of this project)
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Johannes Zuegg
-
Doctor Philosophy
Targeting the Biogenesis of Resistance Enzymes to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Ian Henderson, Dr Tanuka Sen, Dr Rhia Stone
-
Doctor Philosophy
A global quantitative genetic network for Escherichia coli
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Ian Henderson
-
Doctor Philosophy
Development of Metal Organic Frameworks for targeted oral drug delivery
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Anjana Jayasree, Professor Amirali Popat
-
Doctor Philosophy
Seeing the Unseen: Imaging Bacterial Infections
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Kristofer Thurecht, Dr Rhia Stone
Completed supervision
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2025
Doctor Philosophy
Selenium - The SuperElement against Superbugs
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Joanne Blanchfield
-
2025
Doctor Philosophy
Design and synthesis of novel tyrosinase inhibitors
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Zyta M Ziora
-
2025
Doctor Philosophy
Hijacking Iron Uptake to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Vito Ferro, Dr Anthony Verderosa
-
2025
Doctor Philosophy
Understanding Molecular Accumulation in antimicrobial resistant microbes
Principal Advisor
-
2024
Doctor Philosophy
Expression and Characterisation of Human Tyrosinase as a Target for Novel Inhibitor Development
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Zyta M Ziora
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Structure-Activity and Structure-Toxicity Relationships of novel octapeptin antibiotic derivatives against Gram-negative Bacteria
Principal Advisor
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Deciphering Antibiotic Modes of Action and Profiling Microbial Resistance with Novel Fluorescent Probes
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Ian Henderson
-
2020
Doctor Philosophy
Tagged Antibiotics for Examination of Bacterial Resistance and Infection
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Joanne Blanchfield
-
2020
Doctor Philosophy
Genotypic and phenotypic characterisation of Gram-positive antibiotics
Principal Advisor
-
2020
Doctor Philosophy
Development of new bicyclic nitroimidazoles as antimicrobial agents
Principal Advisor
-
2018
Doctor Philosophy
ß-hairpin antimicrobial peptides: structure, function and mode of action
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Mehdi Mobli
-
-
2025
Doctor Philosophy
Sustainable antimicrobial coating materials for potential face mask application
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Alan Rowan, Dr Nasim Amiralian
-
2024
Doctor Philosophy
Synthesis and Physico-chemical characterization of waste derived carbon adsorbents for wastewater treatment
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Zyta M Ziora
-
2024
Doctor Philosophy
Development of Biobased Silver Nano-Particles for Application as Wastewater Disinfectant
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Zyta M Ziora
-
2024
Doctor Philosophy
Characterising the Aat system for the acylation and secretion of CexE
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Ian Henderson
-
2022
Doctor Philosophy
Advanced Formulation Technologies for Oral Delivery of Antimicrobial Agents
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Amirali Popat, Dr James Robert Falconer
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2021
Doctor Philosophy
Investigating the Immunopharmacology of the Complement C5a Receptors, C5aR1 and C5aR2
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Richard Clark, Dr John Lee, Professor Trent Woodruff
-
2018
Doctor Philosophy
Evaluating Genotypic and Phenotypic Variability against Polymyxins and a Novel Lipopeptide, Octapeptin C4, in Antibiotic-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae
Associate Advisor
-
2016
Doctor Philosophy
Novel Nitroimidazole and Glycopeptide Antibiotics Targeting Enteric Pathogens
Associate Advisor
Media
Enquiries
Contact Professor Mark Blaskovich directly for media enquiries about:
- acne
- antibiotic resistance
- antibiotics
- antimicrobial resistance
- antimicrobial resistance antibiotics
- bacteria
- bacterial detection
- bacterial infection
- bacterial resistance
- drug design
- drug development
- drug discovery
- E. coli
- glycopeptide antibiotics
- golden staph
- gram negative bacteria
- gram positive bacteria
- microbiome
- octapeptin
- superbugs
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