
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
2022
Journal Article
Antimicrobial activity enhancers: towards smart delivery of antimicrobial agents
Skwarczynski, Mariusz, Bashiri, Sahra, Yuan, Ye, Ziora, Zyta M., Nabil, Osama, Masuda, Keita, Khongkow, Mattaka, Rimsueb, Natchanon, Cabral, Horacio, Ruktanonchai, Uracha, Blaskovich, Mark A. T. and Toth, Istvan (2022). Antimicrobial activity enhancers: towards smart delivery of antimicrobial agents. Antibiotics, 11 (3) 412, 412. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics11030412
2022
Journal Article
Booster for antibiotics
Blaskovich, Mark (2022). Booster for antibiotics. Chemistry and Industry, 86 (3), 30-33. doi: 10.1002/cind.863_9.x
2022
Journal Article
Featured article editorial: discovery of a tricyclic β-lactam active against carbapenem-resistant enterobacterales
Blaskovich, Mark (2022). Featured article editorial: discovery of a tricyclic β-lactam active against carbapenem-resistant enterobacterales. ACS Infectious Diseases, 8 (3) acsinfecdis.2c00088, 398-398. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.2c00088
2022
Journal Article
Rescuing Tetracycline Class Antibiotics for the Treatment of Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Pulmonary Infection
De Oliveira, David M. P., Forde, Brian M., Phan, Minh-Duy, Steiner, Bernhard, Zhang, Bing, Zuegg, Johannes, El-deeb, Ibrahim M., Li, Gen, Keller, Nadia, Brouwer, Stephan, Harbison-Price, Nichaela, Cork, Amanda J., Bauer, Michelle J., Alquethamy, Saleh F., Beatson, Scott A., Roberts, Jason A., Paterson, David L., McEwan, Alastair G., Blaskovich, Mark A. T., Schembri, Mark A., McDevitt, Christopher A., von Itzstein, Mark and Walker, Mark J. (2022). Rescuing Tetracycline Class Antibiotics for the Treatment of Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii Pulmonary Infection. mBio, 13 (1) e03517, e0351721. doi: 10.1128/mbio.03517-21
2022
Book Chapter
Application of antibiotic-derived fluorescent probes to bacterial studies
Zhang, Bing, Stone, M. Rhia L., Kc, Sanjaya, Łapińska, Urszula, Pagliara, Stefano and Blaskovich, Mark A.T. (2022). Application of antibiotic-derived fluorescent probes to bacterial studies. Methods in enzymology. (pp. 1-28) edited by Erin E. Carlson. San Diego, CA United States: Academic Press. doi: 10.1016/bs.mie.2021.11.010
2021
Journal Article
Loss of YhcB results in dysregulation of coordinated peptidoglycan, LPS and phospholipid synthesis during Escherichia coli cell growth
Goodall, Emily C. A., Isom, Georgia L., Rooke, Jessica L., Pullela, Karthik, Icke, Christopher, Yang, Zihao, Boelter, Gabriela, Jones, Alun, Warner, Isabel, Da Costa, Rochelle, Zhang, Bing, Rae, James, Tan, Wee Boon, Winkle, Matthias, Delhaye, Antoine, Heinz, Eva, Collet, Jean-Francois, Cunningham, Adam F., Blaskovich, Mark A., Parton, Robert G., Cole, Jeff A., Banzhaf, Manuel, Chng, Shu-Sin, Vollmer, Waldemar, Bryant, Jack A. and Henderson, Ian R. (2021). Loss of YhcB results in dysregulation of coordinated peptidoglycan, LPS and phospholipid synthesis during Escherichia coli cell growth. PLoS Genetics, 17 (12) e1009586, 1-40. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009586
2021
Journal Article
Biostimulation of bacteria in liquid culture for identification of new antimicrobial compounds
Mirzaee, Hooman, Ariens, Emily, Blaskovich, Mark A. T., Clark, Richard J. and Schenk, Peer M. (2021). Biostimulation of bacteria in liquid culture for identification of new antimicrobial compounds. Pharmaceuticals, 14 (12) 1232, 1232. doi: 10.3390/ph14121232
2021
Journal Article
CryoEM structure of the outer membrane secretin channel pIV from the f1 filamentous bacteriophage
Conners, Rebecca, McLaren, Mathew, Łapińska, Urszula, Sanders, Kelly, Stone, M. Rhia L., Blaskovich, Mark A. T., Pagliara, Stefano, Daum, Bertram, Rakonjac, Jasna and Gold, Vicki A. M. (2021). CryoEM structure of the outer membrane secretin channel pIV from the f1 filamentous bacteriophage. Nature Communications, 12 (1) 6316, 6316. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26610-3
2021
Journal Article
Instructive analysis of engineered carbon materials for potential application in water and wastewater treatment
Jain, Marut, Khan, Sadaf Aiman, Pandey, Ashish, Pant, Kamal Kishore, Ziora, Zyta Maria and Blaskovich, Mark A.T. (2021). Instructive analysis of engineered carbon materials for potential application in water and wastewater treatment. Science of The Total Environment, 793 148583, 1-19. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148583
2021
Journal Article
Design, synthesis and screening of a drug discovery library based on an Eremophila-derived serrulatane scaffold
Zhang, Chen, Lum, Kah Yean, Taki, Aya C., Gasser, Robin B., Byrne, Joseph J., Wang, Tao, Blaskovich, Mark A.T., Register, Emery T., Montaner, Luis J., Tietjen, Ian and Davis, Rohan A. (2021). Design, synthesis and screening of a drug discovery library based on an Eremophila-derived serrulatane scaffold. Phytochemistry, 190 112887, 1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2021.112887
2021
Other Outputs
Antibacterial Agents
Cooper, Matthew and Blaskovich, Mark (2021). Antibacterial Agents. CN107027309.
2021
Journal Article
Serum complement activation by C4BP-IgM fusion protein can restore susceptibility to antibiotics in Neisseria gonorrhoeae
Bettoni, Serena, Maziarz, Karolina, Stone, M. Rhia L., Blaskovich, Mark A. T., Potempa, Jan, Bazzo, Maria Luiza, Unemo, Magnus, Ram, Sanjay and Blom, Anna M. (2021). Serum complement activation by C4BP-IgM fusion protein can restore susceptibility to antibiotics in Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Frontiers in Immunology, 12 726801, 1-15. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.726801
2021
Journal Article
Mesoporous silica nanoparticles improve oral delivery of antitubercular bicyclic nitroimidazoles
Ang, Chee Wei, Tan, Lendl, Qu, Zhi, West, Nicholas P., Cooper, Matthew A., Popat, Amirali and Blaskovich, Mark A.T. (2021). Mesoporous silica nanoparticles improve oral delivery of antitubercular bicyclic nitroimidazoles. ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering, 8 (10) acsbiomaterials.1c00807, 4196-4206. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.1c00807
2021
Journal Article
Antibiotic alternatives special issue
Blaskovich, Mark A. T. (2021). Antibiotic alternatives special issue. ACS Infectious Diseases, 7 (8), 2025-2026. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.1c00388
2021
Journal Article
Targeted protein degradation: the new frontier of antimicrobial discovery?
Powell, Matthew, Blaskovich, Mark A. T. and Hansford, Karl A. (2021). Targeted protein degradation: the new frontier of antimicrobial discovery?. ACS Infectious Diseases, 7 (8) acsinfecdis.1c00203, 2050-2067. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.1c00203
2021
Journal Article
Antimicrobial screening of a historical collection of over 140 000 small molecules
Semenov, Victor V., Raihstat, Mikhail M., Konyushkin, Leonid D., Semenov, Roman V., Blaskovich, Mark A. T., Zuegg, Johannes, Elliott, Alysha G., Hansford, Karl A. and Cooper, Matthew A. (2021). Antimicrobial screening of a historical collection of over 140 000 small molecules. Mendeleev Communications, 31 (4), 484-487. doi: 10.1016/j.mencom.2021.07.015
2021
Journal Article
The antimicrobial resistance crisis: an inadvertent, unfortunate but nevertheless informative experiment in evolutionary biology
Michael, Carolyn A., Gillings, Michael R., Blaskovich, Mark A. T. and Franks, Ashley E. (2021). The antimicrobial resistance crisis: an inadvertent, unfortunate but nevertheless informative experiment in evolutionary biology. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9 692674. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2021.692674
2021
Journal Article
Chemical synthesis of TFF3 reveals novel mechanistic insights and a gut-stable metabolite
Braga Emidio, Nayara, Meli, Rajeshwari, Tran, Hue N. T., Baik, Hayeon, Morisset-Lopez, Séverine, Elliott, Alysha G., Blaskovich, Mark A. T., Spiller, Sabrina, Beck-Sickinger, Annette G., Schroeder, Christina I. and Muttenthaler, Markus (2021). Chemical synthesis of TFF3 reveals novel mechanistic insights and a gut-stable metabolite. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 64 (13) acs.jmedchem.1c00767, 9484-9495. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c00767
2021
Journal Article
There is no market for new antibiotics: this allows an open approach to research and development
Klug, Dana M., Idiris, Fahima I. M., Blaskovich, Mark A. T., von Delft, Frank, Dowson, Christopher G., Kirchhelle, Claas, Roberts, Adam P., Singer, Andrew C. and Todd, Matthew H. (2021). There is no market for new antibiotics: this allows an open approach to research and development. Wellcome Open Research, 6 146, 146. doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16847.1
2021
Journal Article
Virtual Issue: Anti-infective Discovery Down Under
Blaskovich, Mark (2021). Virtual Issue: Anti-infective Discovery Down Under. ACS Infectious Diseases, 7 (6), 1555-1557. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.1c00196
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
Conotoxins - advanced probes for studying pain pathways
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Joanne Blanchfield
-
Doctor Philosophy
Disrupting Bacterial Proteostasis through ClpP Activation
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
-
Doctor Philosophy
Clicking Conjugates into Place for the Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Joanne Blanchfield, Dr Anthony Verderosa
-
Doctor Philosophy
Bio-evaluation of Human Tyrosinase Inhibitors as Potential Anti-melanoma Agents and Novel Treatment for Parkinson's Disease
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Zyta M Ziora
-
Doctor Philosophy
Novel antibiotics containing tyrosinase inhibitors
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Zyta M Ziora
-
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 the interactions between fluorescent antibiotics and bacteria
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Sanjaya Kc, Dr Anthony Verderosa
-
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
Selenium - The SuperElement against Superbugs
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Joanne Blanchfield
-
Doctor Philosophy
Understanding Molecular Accumulation in antimicrobial resistant microbes
Principal Advisor
-
Master Philosophy
The antibacterial mechanism of action of cannabidiol
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Johannes Zuegg, Dr Tanuka Sen
-
Doctor Philosophy
Understanding Molecular Accumulation in antimicrobial resistant microbes
Principal Advisor
-
Doctor Philosophy
Antibiotic Conjugates: Joining Together to Fight Antimicrobial Resistance
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Vito Ferro
-
Doctor Philosophy
Antibiotic Conjugates: Joining Together to Fight Antimicrobial Resistance
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Vito Ferro, Dr Anthony Verderosa
-
Doctor Philosophy
Sustainable antimicrobial coating materials for potential face mask application
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Alan Rowan, Dr Nasim Amiralian
-
Doctor Philosophy
Mechanism of action of MgO
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Conny Turni, Professor Ian Henderson
-
Doctor Philosophy
Targeting the Biogenesis of Resistance Enzymes to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Ulrike Kappler, Professor Ian Henderson, Dr Anthony Verderosa
-
Doctor Philosophy
Sustainable Antimicrobial Coating Materials for Potential Face Mask Applications
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Alan Rowan, Dr Nasim Amiralian
-
Doctor Philosophy
Mechanism of action of MgO
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Conny Turni, Professor Ian Henderson
-
Doctor Philosophy
Development of Metal Organic Frameworks for targeted oral drug delivery
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Amirali Popat
-
Doctor Philosophy
Seeing the Unseen: Imaging Bacterial Infections
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Kristofer Thurecht, Dr Rhia Stone
-
Doctor Philosophy
Development of Biobased Silver Nano-Particles for Application as Wastewater Disinfectant
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Zyta M Ziora
-
Doctor Philosophy
Sustainable antimicrobial coating materials for potential face mask application
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Alan Rowan, Dr Nasim Amiralian
-
Doctor Philosophy
Seeing the Unseen: Imaging Bacterial Infections
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Kristofer Thurecht, Dr Rhia Stone
-
Doctor Philosophy
A global quantitative genetic network for Escherichia coli
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Ian Henderson
-
Doctor Philosophy
Targeting bacterial biofilms in patients 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
A global quantitative genetic network for Escherichia coli
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Ian Henderson
-
Doctor Philosophy
Synthesis and Physico-chemical characterization of waste derived carbon adsorbents for wastewater treatment
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Zyta M Ziora
-
Doctor Philosophy
How does cannabidiol kill bacteria?
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Johannes Zuegg
-
Doctor Philosophy
Mechanism of action of MgO
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Conny Turni, Dr Sean Bisset, Professor Ian Henderson
-
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 Metal Organic Frameworks for targeted oral drug delivery
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Anjana Jayasree, Professor Amirali Popat
Completed supervision
-
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
Genotypic and phenotypic characterisation of Gram-positive antibiotics
Principal Advisor
-
2020
Doctor Philosophy
Development of new bicyclic nitroimidazoles as antimicrobial agents
Principal Advisor
-
2020
Doctor Philosophy
Tagged Antibiotics for Examination of Bacterial Resistance and Infection
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Joanne Blanchfield
-
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
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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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