Associate Professor Richard Clark
Associate Professor

Richard Clark

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 336 51527

Background

Dr Clark is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Biomedical Sciences where he is Head of the Peptide Chemical Biology Lab. He completed his PhD in 2000 at the UQ Chemistry Department studying marine natural products chemistry and chemical ecology with Prof. Mary Garson. He then shifted his research focus towards peptide chemistry, structural biology and drug design when he was recruited to the lab of Prof. David Craik at the IMB. His current research focus is the development of technologies to stabilise peptide therapeutics and the elucidation of the structure/function activity of bioactive peptides.

Availability

Associate Professor Richard Clark is:
Available for supervision

Fields of research

Biological Sciences Medicinal and biomolecular chemistry Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences

Qualifications

  • Bachelor (Honours) of Science (Advanced), University of Tasmania
  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland

Search Professor Richard Clark’s works on UQ eSpace

163 works between 1998 and 2024
All (163) Journal Article (121) Book Chapter (5) Conference Publication (36) Other Outputs (1)

21 - 40 of 163 works

2021

Journal Article

Development of synthetic human and mouse C5a: application to binding and functional assays in vitro and in vivo

Gorman, Declan M., Li, Xaria X., Payne, Colton D., Cui, Cedric S., Lee, John D., Rosengren, K. Johan, Woodruff, Trent M. and Clark, Richard J. (2021). Development of synthetic human and mouse C5a: application to binding and functional assays in vitro and in vivo. ACS Pharmacology and Translational Science, 4 (6) acsptsci.1c00199, 1808-1817. doi: 10.1021/acsptsci.1c00199

Development of synthetic human and mouse C5a: application to binding and functional assays in vitro and in vivo

2021

Journal Article

Development of Potent and Selective Agonists for Complement C5a Receptor 1 with In Vivo Activity

Gorman, Declan M., Li, Xaria X., Lee, John D., Fung, Jenny N., Cui, Cedric S., Lee, Han Siean, Rolfe, Barbara E., Woodruff, Trent M. and Clark, Richard J. (2021). Development of Potent and Selective Agonists for Complement C5a Receptor 1 with In Vivo Activity. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 64 (22) acs.jmedchem.1c01174, 16598-16608. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01174

Development of Potent and Selective Agonists for Complement C5a Receptor 1 with In Vivo Activity

2021

Journal Article

Anaphylatoxin receptor promiscuity for commonly used complement C5a peptide agonists

Li, Xaria X., Clark, Richard J. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2021). Anaphylatoxin receptor promiscuity for commonly used complement C5a peptide agonists. International Immunopharmacology, 100 108074, 108074. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2021.108074

Anaphylatoxin receptor promiscuity for commonly used complement C5a peptide agonists

2021

Journal Article

LEAP-2: an emerging endogenous ghrelin receptor antagonist in the pathophysiology of obesity

Lu, Xuehan, Huang, Lili, Huang, Zhengxiang, Feng, Dandan, Clark, Richard J. and Chen, Chen (2021). LEAP-2: an emerging endogenous ghrelin receptor antagonist in the pathophysiology of obesity. Frontiers in Endocrinology, 12 717544, 717544. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2021.717544

LEAP-2: an emerging endogenous ghrelin receptor antagonist in the pathophysiology of obesity

2021

Journal Article

Synthetic hookworm-derived peptides are potent modulators of primary human immune cell function that protect against experimental colitis in vivo

Smallwood, Taylor B., Navarro, Severine, Cristofori-Armstrong, Ben, Watkins, Thomas S., Tungatt, Katie, Ryan, Rachael Y.M., Haigh, Oscar L., Lutzky, Viviana P., Mulvenna, Jason P., Rosengren, K. Johan, Loukas, Alex, Miles, John J. and Clark, Richard J. (2021). Synthetic hookworm-derived peptides are potent modulators of primary human immune cell function that protect against experimental colitis in vivo. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 297 (1) 100834, 1-14. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2021.100834

Synthetic hookworm-derived peptides are potent modulators of primary human immune cell function that protect against experimental colitis in vivo

2021

Journal Article

Design of a stable cyclic peptide analgesic derived from sunflower seeds that targets the κ-opioid receptor for the treatment of chronic abdominal pain

Muratspahić, Edin, Tomašević, Nataša, Koehbach, Johannes, Duerrauer, Leopold, Hadžić, Seid, Castro, Joel, Schober, Gudrun, Sideromenos, Spyridon, Clark, Richard J., Brierley, Stuart M., Craik, David J. and Gruber, Christian W. (2021). Design of a stable cyclic peptide analgesic derived from sunflower seeds that targets the κ-opioid receptor for the treatment of chronic abdominal pain. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 64 (13) acs.jmedchem.1c00158, 9042-9055. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c00158

Design of a stable cyclic peptide analgesic derived from sunflower seeds that targets the κ-opioid receptor for the treatment of chronic abdominal pain

2021

Journal Article

Effects of backbone cyclization on the pharmacokinetics and drug efficiency of the orally active analgesic conotoxin cVc1.1

Poth, Aaron G., Chiu, Francis C.K., Stalmans, Sofie, Hamilton, Brett R., Huang, Yen-Hua, Shackleford, David M., Patil, Rahul, Le, Thao T., Kan, Meng-Wei, Durek, Thomas, Wynendaele, Evelien, De Spiegeleer, Bart, Powell, Andrew K., Venter, Deon J., Clark, Richard J., Charman, Susan A. and Craik, David J. (2021). Effects of backbone cyclization on the pharmacokinetics and drug efficiency of the orally active analgesic conotoxin cVc1.1. Medicine in Drug Discovery, 10 100087, 1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.medidd.2021.100087

Effects of backbone cyclization on the pharmacokinetics and drug efficiency of the orally active analgesic conotoxin cVc1.1

2021

Journal Article

Advances in venom peptide drug discovery: where are we at and where are we heading?

Smallwood, Taylor B. and Clark, Richard J. (2021). Advances in venom peptide drug discovery: where are we at and where are we heading?. Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery, 16 (10) 17460441.2021.1922386, 1-11. doi: 10.1080/17460441.2021.1922386

Advances in venom peptide drug discovery: where are we at and where are we heading?

2021

Journal Article

A chameleonic macrocyclic peptide with drug delivery applications

Payne, Colton D., Franke, Bastian, Fisher, Mark F., Hajiaghaalipour, Fatemeh, McAleese, Courtney E., Song, Angela, Eliasson, Carl, Zhang, Jingjing, Jayasena, Achala S., Vadlamani, Grishma, Clark, Richard J., Minchin, Rodney F., Mylne, Joshua S. and Rosengren, K. Johan (2021). A chameleonic macrocyclic peptide with drug delivery applications. Chemical Science, 12 (19), 6670-6683. doi: 10.1039/d1sc00692d

A chameleonic macrocyclic peptide with drug delivery applications

2021

Journal Article

ERK and mTORC1 inhibitors enhance the anti-cancer capacity of the octpep-1 venom-derived peptide in melanoma BRAF(V600E) mutations

Moral-Sanz, Javier, Fernandez-Rojo, Manuel A., Potriquet, Jeremy, Mukhopadhyay, Pamela, Brust, Andreas, Wilhelm, Patrick, Smallwood, Taylor B., Clark, Richard J., Fry, Bryan G., Alewood, Paul F., Waddell, Nicola, Miles, John J., Mulvenna, Jason P. and Ikonomopoulou, Maria P. (2021). ERK and mTORC1 inhibitors enhance the anti-cancer capacity of the octpep-1 venom-derived peptide in melanoma BRAF(V600E) mutations. Toxins, 13 (2) 146, 1-19. doi: 10.3390/toxins13020146

ERK and mTORC1 inhibitors enhance the anti-cancer capacity of the octpep-1 venom-derived peptide in melanoma BRAF(V600E) mutations

2021

Journal Article

Pursuing orally bioavailable hepcidin analogues via cyclic N-methylated mini-hepcidins

Goncalves Monteiro, Daniela, van Dijk, Johannes W. A., Aliyanto, Randy, Fung, Eileen, Nemeth, Elizabeta, Ganz, Tomas, Rosengren, Johan and Clark, Richard J. (2021). Pursuing orally bioavailable hepcidin analogues via cyclic N-methylated mini-hepcidins. Biomedicines, 9 (2) 164, 1-14. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines9020164

Pursuing orally bioavailable hepcidin analogues via cyclic N-methylated mini-hepcidins

2021

Journal Article

The “C3aR Antagonist” SB290157 is a partial C5aR2 agonist

Li, Xaria X., Kumar, Vinod, Clark, Richard J., Lee, John D. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2021). The “C3aR Antagonist” SB290157 is a partial C5aR2 agonist. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 11 591398, 591398. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.591398

The “C3aR Antagonist” SB290157 is a partial C5aR2 agonist

2021

Journal Article

Chemical synthesis and characterisation of the complement C5 inhibitory peptide zilucoplan

Gorman, Declan M., Lee, John, Payne, Colton D., Woodruff, Trent M. and Clark, Richard J. (2021). Chemical synthesis and characterisation of the complement C5 inhibitory peptide zilucoplan. Amino Acids, 53 (1), 143-147. doi: 10.1007/s00726-020-02921-5

Chemical synthesis and characterisation of the complement C5 inhibitory peptide zilucoplan

2020

Journal Article

Defining the familial fold of the vicilin-buried peptide family

Payne, Colton D., Vadlamani, Grishma, Fisher, Mark F., Zhang, Jingjing, Clark, Richard J., Mylne, Joshua S. and Rosengren, K. Johan (2020). Defining the familial fold of the vicilin-buried peptide family. Journal of Natural Products, 83 (10), 3030-3040. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.0c00594

Defining the familial fold of the vicilin-buried peptide family

2020

Journal Article

Exploring the use of helicogenic amino acids for optimising single chain relaxin-3 peptide agonists

Lee, Han Siean, Wang, Shu Hui, Daniel, James T., Hossain, Mohammed Akhter, Clark, Richard J., Bathgate, Ross A. D. and Rosengren, K. Johan (2020). Exploring the use of helicogenic amino acids for optimising single chain relaxin-3 peptide agonists. Biomedicines, 8 (10) 415, 1-16. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines8100415

Exploring the use of helicogenic amino acids for optimising single chain relaxin-3 peptide agonists

2020

Journal Article

Pharmacological characterisation of small molecule C5aR1 inhibitors in human cells reveals biased activities for signalling and function

Li, Xaria X., Lee, John D., Massey, Nicholas L., Guan, Carolyn, Robertson, Avril A. B., Clark, Richard J. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2020). Pharmacological characterisation of small molecule C5aR1 inhibitors in human cells reveals biased activities for signalling and function. Biochemical Pharmacology, 180 114156, 114156. doi: 10.1016/j.bcp.2020.114156

Pharmacological characterisation of small molecule C5aR1 inhibitors in human cells reveals biased activities for signalling and function

2020

Journal Article

C5aR2 activation broadly modulates the signaling and function of primary human macrophages

Li, Xaria X., Clark, Richard J. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2020). C5aR2 activation broadly modulates the signaling and function of primary human macrophages. Journal of Immunology, 205 (4), 1-11. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2000407

C5aR2 activation broadly modulates the signaling and function of primary human macrophages

2020

Journal Article

Development of relaxin-3 agonists and antagonists based on grafted disulfide-stabilized scaffolds

Lee, Han Siean, Postan, Michael, Song, Angela, Clark, Richard J., Bathgate, Ross A. D., Haugaard-Kedström, Linda M. and Rosengren, K. Johan (2020). Development of relaxin-3 agonists and antagonists based on grafted disulfide-stabilized scaffolds. Frontiers in Chemistry, 8 87, 87. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2020.00087

Development of relaxin-3 agonists and antagonists based on grafted disulfide-stabilized scaffolds

2020

Journal Article

Preclinical pharmacokinetics of complement C5a receptor antagonists PMX53 and PMX205 in mice

Kumar, Vinod, Lee, John D., Clark, Richard J., Noakes, Peter G., Taylor, Stephen M. and Woodruff, Trent M. (2020). Preclinical pharmacokinetics of complement C5a receptor antagonists PMX53 and PMX205 in mice. ACS Omega, 5 (5) acsomega.9b03735, 2345-2354. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.9b03735

Preclinical pharmacokinetics of complement C5a receptor antagonists PMX53 and PMX205 in mice

2020

Conference Publication

The antiproliferative profile of a linear octopus-derived peptide in melanoma of BRAF-mutation

Fernandez-Rojo, Manuel A., Brust, Andreas, Potriquet, Jeremy, Daley, Joshua, Ragnarsson, Lotten, Andersson, Asa, Mukhopadhyay, Pamela, Wilhelm, Patrick, Chin, Yanni, Smallwood, Taylor, Clark, Richard, King, Glenn, Ramm, Grant, Waddell, Nic, Lewis, Richard, Boyle, Glen, Fry, Bryan, Alewood, Paul, Mulvenna, Jason, Miles, John and Ikonomopoulou, Maria P. (2020). The antiproliferative profile of a linear octopus-derived peptide in melanoma of BRAF-mutation. 20th World Congress of the International Society on Toxinology, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 8-13 September 2019. Oxford, United Kingdom: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2019.10.014

The antiproliferative profile of a linear octopus-derived peptide in melanoma of BRAF-mutation

Current funding

  • 2024 - 2027
    Preclinical development of complement C5a receptor 2 modulators for motor neuron disease
    Cure for MND Foundation - Drug Development Grants
    Open grant
  • 2022 - 2025
    Making peptides orally bioavailable
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2022 - 2025
    Making peptide drugs orally bioavailable
    NHMRC IDEAS Grants
    Open grant
  • 2022 - 2025
    Novel long-acting and orally delivered conotoxin-based peptides with both analgesic efficacy and disease modifying potential
    NHMRC Development Grant
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2022 - 2024
    Developing novel acid-sensing ion channel inhibitors as neuroprotective leads and diagnostic agents for multiple sclerosis
    Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia - Targeted Grant - Neurodegeneration
    Open grant
  • 2021 - 2023
    Complement C5aR1: A novel therapeutic target for brain cancer
    Brain Cancer Innovation Project Grants
    Open grant
  • 2020 - 2022
    Neuroprotective role of novel acid-sensing ion channel inhibitor in Multiple sclerosis (MS) disease
    Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia
    Open grant
  • 2020 - 2024
    Preclinical development of centrally active complement C3a receptor modulators as disease-modifying drugs for motor neuron disease
    Cure for MND Foundation - Drug Development Grants
    Open grant
  • 2019
    A versatile accurate mass, high resolution QTOF mass spectrometer for chemistry and proteomic applications
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2019
    Chemical Purification Network
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2018
    Multichannel peptide synthesiser to accelerate UQ's biodiscovery pipeline and peptide drug development programs
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2017 - 2018
    A Pharmacology Screening Facility to Accelerate Drug Discovery and Development
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2017 - 2019
    Hormone transplant by alpha-2-macroglubulin: Novel roles in regulating hormone activity (NHMRC Project Grant led by the University of Sydney)
    University of Sydney
    Open grant
  • 2017 - 2021
    Preclinical Development of Complement C5aR Antagonists for the Treatment of Motor Neuron Disease
    NHMRC Development Grant
    Open grant
  • 2016 - 2017
    Development of complement C5aR1 antagonists for the treatment of motor neuron disease
    UQ Collaboration and Industry Engagement Fund - FirstLink
    Open grant
  • 2016
    Integrative blood coagulation research core facility
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2016
    Patch-clamp electrophysiology platform for drug and insecticide discovery
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2014 - 2016
    Better treatments for chronic pain
    NHMRC Development Grant
    Open grant
  • 2012 - 2015
    Elucidating the mechanisms of alpha-conotoxin-induced calcium channel inhibition via G protein-coupled receptors (NHMRC project grant administered by Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology)
    Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2012
    Elucidating the neuroprotective properties of alpha-conotoxins
    UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2015
    Development of effective peptide-based drugs
    ARC Future Fellowships
    Open grant
  • 2011
    A Multi-Channel Fluorescence Plate Reader for Studying Receptor-Ligand Interactions
    NHMRC Equipment Grant
    Open grant
  • 2011
    Building UQ's analytical capacity in biomedical sciences
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2011 - 2014
    Understanding the structure/function relationships of the iron regulatory peptide hepcidin
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2010 - 2012
    A new G-protein coupled receptor target for conotoxins
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2010 - 2012
    New peptide-based drugs for the treatment of neuropathic pain
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2010
    The development of peptides (mini-proteins) as drugs: improved purification capability
    UQ Major Equipment and Infrastructure
    Open grant
  • 2009 - 2021
    Cone Shell snail venom research
    The Simon Axelsen Memorial Fund
    Open grant
  • 2008 - 2011
    NHMRC Career Development Award (Biomedical - Level 1): Development of effective peptide-based drugs
    NHMRC Career Development Award
    Open grant
  • 2008 - 2010
    Development of a novel orally active peptide for the treatment of pain
    NHMRC Development Grant
    Open grant
  • 2008 - 2010
    Discovery of novel cyclotides.
    Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research
    Open grant
  • 2007
    Exploring the therapeutic potential of a novel family of proteins
    Australian Academy of Science
    Open grant
  • 2007 - 2010
    Development of a generic strategy for the stabilisation of peptide-based therapeutics
    NHMRC Project Grant
    Open grant
  • 2007 - 2008
    Development of stable peptide-based drugs for the treatment of iron disorders
    UQ Early Career Researcher
    Open grant
  • 2007
    Molecular imprinting of circular proteins
    UQ Travel Grants Scheme
    Open grant

Availability

Associate Professor Richard Clark is:
Available for supervision

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Available projects

  • Designing novel conotoxins with therapeutic potential

    Conotoxins, with their exquisite specificity and potency have recently created much excitement as drug leads for the treatment of chronic pain. For example, the conotoxin MVIIA (also known as Ziconotide or Prialt) has been approved for use in the U.S. and Europe for the treatment of pain and several other conotoxins have entered clinical trials. In addition, a number of conotoxins have played a critical role in dissecting the molecular mechanisms of ion channel and transporter functions in the nervous system.

    There are projects available in the design of novel conotoxins that target specific receptors involved in pain.

  • Development of stable peptide-based drugs for the treatment of iron disorders

    Hepcidin is the principal iron-regulatory hormone and the key mediator of iron overload (haemochromatosis) and anaemia of inflammation. This research project involves two development streams of peptide design, synthesis and structure/function analysis. The first stream will focus on the specific residues important for biological activity of hepcidin and the mutation of these residues to improve activity. The second stream will involve the development of stabilised analogues of native hepcidin. The two streams will coalesce during the final round of development to produce a series of novel cyclic hepcidin drug leads.

Supervision history

Current supervision

Completed supervision

Enquiries

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