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Associate Professor Mariusz Skwarczynski
Associate Professor

Mariusz Skwarczynski

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 334 69894

Overview

Background

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), and then Kyoto Pharmaceutical University (Japan). In 2008 he joined Professor Istvan Toth’s group at The University of Queensland (Australia) to work on new vaccine development strategies. Currently his group activity is mainly focused on nanotechnology-based peptide vaccine delivery approaches and adjuvants discovery. He is Regional Editor of Australia in Vaccines, and Associate Editor in Frontiers in Pharmacology. He has published over 190 peer-reviewed publications, including 18 book chapters and three books.

Availability

Associate Professor Mariusz Skwarczynski is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Qualifications

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

Research interests

  • Vaccines and Nanomedicine

    Vaccine Design, Adjuvants, Nanotechnology, Peptide Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Vaccine/Drug Delivery, Antimicrobial Agents, Macromolecules, Immunology

Research impacts

Mariusz Skwarczynski work focuses on nanotechnology-based approaches to vaccine adjuvants, with the potential for significant practical applications in developing novel vaccines. He has co-developed unique peptide, polymer, and liposomes-based adjuvanting systems used in vaccine development against malaria, hookworm, Group A Streptococcus, cancer and fertility vaccines.

As per January 2026:

He has published 3 books, 18 book chapters, and over 170 journal papers (~ 40 first and ~ 40 as last author, h index = 55, citations >9000), with a Field-Weighted Citation Impact of 2.14 (twice higher than the average researcher), and 29.9% of publications in last 5-years are in the top 10% of journals by CiteScore. Ranked 5th (Top 0.027% of 18,422) in the world in Subunit Vaccines (2012-2022; ExpertScape) and listed in World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University in 2024, inside the top 0.35% in medicinal & biomolecular chemistry. His publications have received > 150 patent cites.

In the past 10 years, he secured $33.8M in grant funding, including $3.0M as the principle CI, $10.1M as a CI and $20.7M as the AI. He currently holds five grants as a CI: 2xNHMRC Ideas (CIA, 2024-27, $608K; CIA, 2024-27, $856K), CRE NHMRC (CIF, 2026-31, $3,000K), Synergy NHMRC (CIF, 2026-31, $5,000K), and ARC DP (CIA, 2026-30, $1,073K).

He has been invited 21 times in the last 5 years to present at international seminars and conferences,including invited lectures at National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC) (Bangkok, Thailand), Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno (Campania, Italy), University of Opole, (Opole, Poland), and 5th International Symposium on Synthetic Peptide as Human and Veterinary Pharmaceutical Products, (Varadero, Cuba). His work has received over 39 news articles from national and international agencies, including 11 interviews and articles in 2021 from Australia, India, Pakistan, Hungary, Kenya and New Zealand for his work on the oral hookworm vaccine.

He is the Regional Editor of Australia for Vaccines and Associate Editor for Frontiers in Pharmacology. He has organised 9 special issues in the last 5 years for journals such as Vaccines, Molecules and Frontiers in Pharmacology. Furthermore, he organised and chaired “Micro and Nanoparticles in Drug and Vaccine Delivery Symposium”, St Lucia, QLD, 3rd December 2021. He regularly reviews domestic grants, for example, 13 NHMRC Ideas grants in 2024, as well as international, for example, Austrian Science Fund, Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, The Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council (UK). Peer reviews >10/year for top international journals (e.g. Nat. Commun.; Adv. Sci.; Adv. Mater.; Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev; Acta Biomater.).

He was/is co/supervisor of 33 PhD students (graduated and ongoing), and co/supervisor of over 30 research students. In the years 2019-2025, his supervised students received eleven awards, including the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Higher Degree by Research Theses, and awards at international conferences (travel, best poster, best oral presentations).

Works

Search Professor Mariusz Skwarczynski’s works on UQ eSpace

212 works between 1995 and 2026

81 - 100 of 212 works

2019

Book

Peptide synthesis: methods and protocols

Waleed Hussein, Mariusz Skwarczynski and Istvan Toth eds. (2019). Peptide synthesis: methods and protocols. New York, NY USA: Humana New York. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0227-0

Peptide synthesis: methods and protocols

2019

Journal Article

Mannosylated liposomes formulated with whole parasite P. falciparum blood-stage antigens are highly immunogenic in mice

Ssemaganda, Aloysious, Giddam, Ashwini Kumar, Low, Leanne M., Liu, Xue Q., Ho, Mei-Fong, Zaman, Mehfuz, Hussein, Waleed M., Skwarczynski, Mariusz, Toth, Istvan, Stanisic, Danielle I. and Good, Michael F. (2019). Mannosylated liposomes formulated with whole parasite P. falciparum blood-stage antigens are highly immunogenic in mice. Vaccine, 38 (6), 1494-1504. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2019.11.063

Mannosylated liposomes formulated with whole parasite P. falciparum blood-stage antigens are highly immunogenic in mice

2019

Journal Article

Polyelectrolyte-based platforms for the delivery of peptides and proteins

Zhao, Lili, Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2019). Polyelectrolyte-based platforms for the delivery of peptides and proteins. ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 5 (10) acsbiomaterials.9b01135, 4937-4950. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.9b01135

Polyelectrolyte-based platforms for the delivery of peptides and proteins

2019

Journal Article

Meet our editorial board member

Skwarczynski, Mariusz (2019). Meet our editorial board member. Medicinal Chemistry, 15 (6), 571-571. doi: 10.2174/157340641506190619105911

Meet our editorial board member

2019

Journal Article

Cell-penetrating peptides in vaccine delivery: facts, challenges and perspectives

Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2019). Cell-penetrating peptides in vaccine delivery: facts, challenges and perspectives. Therapeutic Delivery, 10 (8), 465-467. doi: 10.4155/tde-2019-0042

Cell-penetrating peptides in vaccine delivery: facts, challenges and perspectives

2019

Journal Article

Cholic acid-based delivery system for vaccine candidates against Group A Streptococcus

Azuar, Armira, Zhao, Lili, Hei, Tsui Ting, Nevagi, Reshma J., Bartlett, Stacey, Hussein, Waleed M., Khalil, Zeinab G., Capon, Robert J., Toth, Istvan and Skwarczynski, Mariusz (2019). Cholic acid-based delivery system for vaccine candidates against Group A Streptococcus. ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 10 (9) acsmedchemlett.9b00239, 1253-1259. doi: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.9b00239

Cholic acid-based delivery system for vaccine candidates against Group A Streptococcus

2019

Journal Article

Self-assembly of trimethyl chitosan and poly(anionic amino acid)-peptide antigen conjugate to produce a potent self-adjuvanting nanovaccine delivery system

Nevagi, Reshma J., Dai, Wei, Khalil, Zeinab G., Hussein, Waleed M., Capon, Robert J., Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2019). Self-assembly of trimethyl chitosan and poly(anionic amino acid)-peptide antigen conjugate to produce a potent self-adjuvanting nanovaccine delivery system. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, 27 (14), 3082-3088. doi: 10.1016/j.bmc.2019.05.033

Self-assembly of trimethyl chitosan and poly(anionic amino acid)-peptide antigen conjugate to produce a potent self-adjuvanting nanovaccine delivery system

2019

Journal Article

Recent advances in the development of peptide vaccines and their delivery systems against Group A Streptococcus

Azuar, Armira, Jin, Wanli , Mukaida, Saori, Hussein, Waleed , Toth, Istvan and Skwarczynski, Mariusz (2019). Recent advances in the development of peptide vaccines and their delivery systems against Group A Streptococcus. Vaccines, 7 (3) 58, 58. doi: 10.3390/vaccines7030058

Recent advances in the development of peptide vaccines and their delivery systems against Group A Streptococcus

2019

Journal Article

Structure-activity relationship of group A streptococcus lipopeptide vaccine candidates in trimethyl chitosan-based self-adjuvanting delivery system

Nevagi, Reshma J., Dai, Wei, Khalil, Zeinab G., Hussein, Waleed M., Capon, Robert J., Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2019). Structure-activity relationship of group A streptococcus lipopeptide vaccine candidates in trimethyl chitosan-based self-adjuvanting delivery system. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 179, 100-108. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2019.06.047

Structure-activity relationship of group A streptococcus lipopeptide vaccine candidates in trimethyl chitosan-based self-adjuvanting delivery system

2019

Journal Article

Polymers for subunit vaccine delivery

Nevagi, Reshma J., Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2019). Polymers for subunit vaccine delivery. European Polymer Journal, 114, 397-410. doi: 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2019.03.009

Polymers for subunit vaccine delivery

2019

Journal Article

Induction of Plasmodium-specific immune responses using liposome-based vaccines

Ssemaganda, Aloysious, Giddam, Ashwini Kumar, Zaman, Mehfuz, Skwarczynski, Mariusz, Toth, Istvan, Stanisic, Danielle I. and Good, Michael F. (2019). Induction of Plasmodium-specific immune responses using liposome-based vaccines. Frontiers in Immunology, 10 135, 135. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.00135

Induction of Plasmodium-specific immune responses using liposome-based vaccines

2019

Journal Article

Cell-penetrating peptides: efficient vectors for vaccine delivery

Yang, Jieru, Luo, Yacheng, Shibu, Mohini Anjna, Toth, Istvan and Skwarczynski, Mariusz (2019). Cell-penetrating peptides: efficient vectors for vaccine delivery. Current Drug Delivery, 16 (5), 430-443. doi: 10.2174/1567201816666190123120915

Cell-penetrating peptides: efficient vectors for vaccine delivery

2019

Conference Publication

Development of polymer-based nanoparticulate intranasal lipopeptide vaccine constructs against group A streptococcus

Nevagi, Reshma Jayprakash, Dai, Wei, Khalil, Zeinab, Hussein, Waleed, Capon, Robert, Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2019). Development of polymer-based nanoparticulate intranasal lipopeptide vaccine constructs against group A streptococcus. National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), Orlando, FL, United States, 31 March - 4 April, 2019. Washington, DC, United States: American Chemical Society.

Development of polymer-based nanoparticulate intranasal lipopeptide vaccine constructs against group A streptococcus

2019

Journal Article

Drug delivery Asia

Toth, Istvan and Skwarczynski, Mariusz (2019). Drug delivery Asia. Current Drug Delivery, 16 (7), 586-587. doi: 10.2174/156720181607190917091556

Drug delivery Asia

2018

Journal Article

Liposomal formulation of polyacrylate-peptide conjugate as a new vaccine candidate against cervical cancer

Khongkow, Mattaka, Liu, Tzu-yu, Bartlett, Stacey, Hussein, Waleed M., Nevagi, Reshma, Jia, Zhongfan, Monteiro, Michael J., Wells, James, Ruktanonchai, Uracha Rungsardthong, Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2018). Liposomal formulation of polyacrylate-peptide conjugate as a new vaccine candidate against cervical cancer. Precision Nanomedicine, 1 (3), 183-193. doi: 10.33218/prnano1(3).181003.1

Liposomal formulation of polyacrylate-peptide conjugate as a new vaccine candidate against cervical cancer

2018

Journal Article

Polyglutamic acid-trimethyl chitosan-based intranasal peptide nano-vaccine induces potent immune responses against group A streptococcus

Nevagi, Reshma J., Khalil, Zeinab G., Hussein, Waleed M., Powell, Jessica, Batzloff, Michael R., Capon, Robert J., Good, Michael F., Skwarczynski, Mariusz and Toth, Istvan (2018). Polyglutamic acid-trimethyl chitosan-based intranasal peptide nano-vaccine induces potent immune responses against group A streptococcus. Acta Biomaterialia, 80, 278-287. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2018.09.037

Polyglutamic acid-trimethyl chitosan-based intranasal peptide nano-vaccine induces potent immune responses against group A streptococcus

2018

Journal Article

Investigating the affinity of poly tert-butyl acrylate toward Toll-Like Receptor 2

Hussein, Waleed M., Choi, Phil M., Zhang, Cheng, Sierecki, Emma, Johnston, Wayne, Jia, Zhongfan, Monteiro, Michael J., Skwarczynski, Mariusz, Gambin, Yann and Toth, Istvan (2018). Investigating the affinity of poly tert-butyl acrylate toward Toll-Like Receptor 2. AIMS Allergy and Immunology, 2 (3), 141-147. doi: 10.3934/allergy.2018.3.141

Investigating the affinity of poly tert-butyl acrylate toward Toll-Like Receptor 2

2018

Book Chapter

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

Peptide-based vaccines

2017

Journal Article

Induction of high titred, non-neutralising antibodies by self-adjuvanting peptide epitopes derived from the respiratory syncytial virus fusion protein

Jaberolansar, Noushin, Chappell, Keith J., Watterson, Daniel, Bermingham, Imogen M., Toth, Istvan, Young, Paul R. and Skwarczynski, Mariusz (2017). Induction of high titred, non-neutralising antibodies by self-adjuvanting peptide epitopes derived from the respiratory syncytial virus fusion protein. Scientific Reports, 7 (1) 11130, 11130. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-10415-w

Induction of high titred, non-neutralising antibodies by self-adjuvanting peptide epitopes derived from the respiratory syncytial virus fusion protein

2017

Journal Article

Bivalent mucosal peptide vaccines administered using the LCP carrier system stimulate protective immune responses against Streptococcus pyogenes infection

Schulze, Kai, Ebensen, Thomas, Chandrudu, Saranya, Skwarczynski, Mariusz, Toth, Istvan, Olive, Colleen and Guzman, Carlos A (2017). Bivalent mucosal peptide vaccines administered using the LCP carrier system stimulate protective immune responses against Streptococcus pyogenes infection. Nanomedicine : nanotechnology, biology, and medicine, 13 (8), 2463-2474. doi: 10.1016/j.nano.2017.08.015

Bivalent mucosal peptide vaccines administered using the LCP carrier system stimulate protective immune responses against Streptococcus pyogenes infection

Funding

Current funding

  • 2026 - 2030
    Oral anti-fertility vaccine for population control of invasive rabbits
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2024 - 2027
    A nanovaccine against Invasive Group A Streptococcus and Rheumatic Heart Disease
    NHMRC IDEAS Grants
    Open grant
  • 2024 - 2027
    Paving the way for a Clinical Vaccine Candidate against Hookworm Infection
    NHMRC IDEAS Grants
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2024 - 2025
    Single-shot anti-fertility vaccine in pigs
    Australia's Economic Accelerator Seed Grants
    Open grant
  • 2021 - 2024
    Poly(amino acids) as immune stimulators
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2021 - 2025
    A single-shot anti-fertility vaccine in female cattle
    Meat & Livestock Australia
    Open grant
  • 2020 - 2021
    Hookworm peptide therapeutic for oral treatment of IBD (NHMRC Development Grant administered by James Cook University)
    James Cook University
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2014
    A Self-assembling and Self-adjuvanting Nanoparticular Therapeutic Vaccine Against Cervical Cancer
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant

Supervision

Availability

Associate Professor Mariusz Skwarczynski is:
Available for supervision

Looking for a supervisor? Read our advice on how to choose a supervisor.

Available projects

  • A nanonaccine against Invasive Group A Streptococcus and Rheumatic Heart Disease

    The major challenge in any vaccine development is its formulation/delivery once the target antigens are identified. The main aim of this project is to adopt and further develop our immune-stimulating delivery systems to produce a multicomponent synthetic (poly)peptide vaccine candidate against Group A Streptococcus (GAS), the major causative agent of deadly diseases such as rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and invasive GAS infection. Notably, a variety of vaccines against GAS infection have reached clinical trials in the past decades; however, these vaccines have limited efficacy due to the high variability of GAS strains. We hypothesise that the incorporation of three conserved peptide antigens from GAS proteins into our newly developed nanoparticles-based vaccine delivery systems will overcome the above obstacles and produce an efficient and universal vaccine candidate against GAS. The project will deliver preclinical vaccine candidates against Group A Streptococcus, which, after oral dosing, will be able to induce robust opsonic antibody production against a wide range of GAS strains without triggering adverse effects and off-target immune responses. We will employ peptide antigens from the highly conserved region of M-protein, cell envelope proteinase, and fibronectin-binding protein 1. The optimized vaccine delivery system will be easily adaptable for the development of vaccines against other diseases.

  • Oral anti-fertility vaccine for rabbits

    Develop the first oral vaccines that suppress fertility in rabbits and enable responsible and ethical landscape population control. Expected outcomes of this project include the creation of a commercially attractive oral immunization platform.

    Who can apply: medicinal/peptide chemists with preferable knowledge in immunology and pharmaceutical formulations.

Supervision history

Current supervision

Completed supervision

Media

Enquiries

Contact Associate Professor Mariusz Skwarczynski directly for media enquiries about:

  • fertility control
  • group A streptococcus
  • hookworm
  • immune adjuvants
  • nanovaccines
  • peptide vaccines

Need help?

For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team:

communications@uq.edu.au