Mariusz Skwarczynski 12th Australian Peptide Conference 2017

Mariusz Skwarczynski

Mariusz Skwarczynski completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1999 at Wroclaw University of Technology (Poland) under guidance of Prof. Barbara Lejczak (and Prof. Pawel Kafarski). His postdoctoral training began at Tokushima Bunri University (Japan) under the direction of 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 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 drug, gene and 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. He has published over 120 peer-reviewed publications, including several book chapters and two books.