Dr Brendan Wilkinson

Senior Lecturer in Organic Chemistry - School of Science and Technology

Brendan Wilkinson

Phone: +61 2 6773 5653

Email: brendan.wilkinson@une.edu.au

Twitter: @WilkinsonCHEM

Biography

I obtained my PhD from the Griffith University in 2007 under the supervision of Dr Todd Houston and Prof. Sally-Ann Poulsen. My PhD thesis led to the discovery of a new class of carbohydrate-based carbonic anhydrase inhibitor as promising anti-cancer drug leads. Later that year, I took up a post-doctoral appointment working with Prof. Antony Fairbanks at the University of Oxford on the development of novel anti-tuberculosis agents and glycosylation strategies.

In 2009, I returned to Australia to join Prof. Richard Payne’s group at The University of Sydney, where I worked on the development of new strategies for the synthesis of Mucin-type glycoproteins, the total synthesis of homogeneous antifreeze glycoproteins, and the discovery of glycopeptide-based cancer vaccines.

In 2013, I was awarded the prestigious ARC DECRA fellowship which I undertook at Monash University. Whilst at Monash, my research was focused on supramolecular chemistry and biomimetic self-assembly.

In 2016, I was appointed as a lecturer in Chemistry at UNE, and as senior lecturer in 2019.

Qualifications

  • BSc (Hons) Griffith University 2003
  • PhD Griffith University 2007

Awards

Discovery Early Career Research Award (2013)

RACI Athel Beckwith lectureship (2017)

Teaching Areas

Organic chemistry, bioorganic and medicinal chemistry

Research Interests

1. Carbohydrate biomaterials

  • 1D glycopeptide materials
  • Bioactive supramolular dye stacks
  • Glycopeptide-polymer conjugates and glycodendrimers

2. Organic synthesis and functional supramolecular materials

  • Dynamic combinatorial chemistry as a tool for the discovery of new supramolecular hosts
  • Development of carbohydrate surfactants from biomass
  • Template-directed synthesis of cyclodextrin mimics for drug delivery

3. Bioorganic and medicinal chemistry

  • Carbohydrate-based cryoprotectants
  • Chemical biology of glycolipids
  • Glycopeptide immunotherapuetics and vaccines

Our group works at the interface of chemistry, biology and physics to develop new bioactive soft materials, ice growth inhibitors, and drug leads. Current areas of research include the rational development of carbohydrate-based cryoprotectants from naturally occurring sugars, mucin-polymer conjugates as potential cancer vaccines, and 1D supramolecular dye stacks as possible delivery agents and ice growth inhibitors. We are also interested in developing adaptable carbohydrate and glycopeptide macrocycles as potential drug carriers. Our group collaborates with a number of prominent researchers, including Prof. Robert Ben (Ottawa), Prof. Gary Bryant (RMIT), Prof. Charl Faul (Bristol), and Prof. Vipul Bansal (RMIT).

Recent grants

ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA, DE130101673) “Synthesis of biomimetic carbohydrate receptors using dynamic combinatorial chemistry”

ARC Discovery project (DP190101010): "Rational development of carbohydrate-based cryoprotectants."

ARC linkage project (LP180100752):  "Sustainable Surfactants from Australian oilseeds."

Research Supervision Experience

Currently supervising three PhD students.

Publications

Selected Recent Publications:

  1. Bryant, S. J., Raju, R., Wilkinson, B. L., Bryant, G. The Need for Novel Cryoprotectants and Cryopreservation Protocols: Insights into the Importance of Biophysical Investigation and Cell Permeability. Biochim Biophys Acta – Gen. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbagen.2020.129749.
  2. Rekha Raju, R., Merl, T., Adam, M., Bryant, G., Ben, R. N., Bryant, G., Wilkinson, B. L. n-Octyl (Thio) glycosides as Potential Cryoprotectants: Glass Transition Behaviour, Membrane Permeability, and Ice Recrystallization Inhibition Studies, Aust. J. Chem. 2019, 72, 637–643.
  3. Moore, J. E, McCoy, T. M., Marlow, J. B., Pottage, M. J., Mudie, S. T., Pearson, G. R., Wilkinson, B. L., Tabor, R. F. Rich liquid crystal phase behaviour of novel alkyl-tri(ethylene glycol)-glucoside carbohydrate surfactants. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 2019, 510, 410–419.
  4. Moore, J. E, McCoy, T. M., Marlow, J. B., Pottage, M. J., Mudie, S. T., Pearson, G. R., Wilkinson, B. L., Tabor, R. F. Rich liquid crystal phase behaviour of novel alkyl-tri(ethylene glycol)-glucoside carbohydrate surfactants. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 2019, 510, 410–419.
  5. Moore, J. E.; McCoy, T. M.; de Campo, L.; Sokolova, A.; Garvey, C. J.; Pearson, G.; Wilkinson, B. L.; Tabor, R. F. Wormlike micelle formation of novel alkyl-tri(ethylene glycol)-glucoside carbohydrate surfactants: Structure-function relationships and rheology. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 2018, 529 (1), 464-475.
  6. Tabor, R. F.; McCoy, T.; Hu, Y.; Wilkinson, B. L. Physicochemical and Biological Characterisation of Azobenzene-containing Photoswitchable Surfactants, Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn., 2018, 91 (6), 932-939.
  7. Kelleppan, V. T.; Moore, J. E.; McCoy, T. M.; Sokolova, A. V.; de Campo, L.; Wilkinson, B. L.; Tabor, R. F. Self-Assembly of Long-Chain Betaine Surfactants: Effect of Tailgroup Structure on Wormlike Micelle Formation, Langmuir, 2018, 34 (3), 970–977.
  8. Adam, M. K.; Jarrett-Wilkins, C.; Bears, M.; Staykov, E.; MacFarlane, L. R.; Bell, T. D. M.; Matthews, J. M.; Manners, I.; Faul, C. F.; Moens, P. D. J.; Ben, R. N.; Wilkinson, B. L. 1D Self‐assembly and Ice Recrystallization Inhibition Activity of Antifreeze Glycopeptide‐functionalized Perylene bisimides, Chem. Eur. J. 2018, 24 (31), 7834-7839.
  9. Hu Y.; Beshr G.; Garvey  C. J.; Tabor  R.F.; Titz, A.; Wilkinson B. L. Photoswitchable Janus glycodendrimer micelles as multivalent inhibitors of LecA and LecB from Pseudomonas aeruginosa Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, 2017, v.159, pgs.605-612 -- issn:0927-7765 -- doi:10.1016/j.colsurfb.2017.08.016.
  10. Adam, M. K.; Hu, Y.; Poisson, G. S.; Pottage, M. J.; Ben, R. N.; Wilkinson, B. L. Photoswitchable carbohydrate-based fluorosurfactants as tuneable ice recrystallization inhibitors, Carbohydr. Res. 2017, 439, 1-8.
  11. Hu, Y.; Zou, W.; Julita, V.; Ramanathan, R.; Tabor, R. F.; Nixon-Luke, R.; Bryant, G.; Bansal, V.; Wilkinson, B. L. Photomodulation of bacterial growth and biofilm formation using carbohydrate-based surfactants, Chem. Sci. 2016, 7, 6628-6634.
  12. Adam, M. K.; Poisson, J.; Hu, Y.; Prasannakumar, G.; Pottage, M. J.; Ben, R. N.; Wilkinson, B. L. Carbohydrate based surfactants as photocontrollable inhibitors of ice recrystallization, RSC Adv. 2016, 6, 39240-39244.
  13. Hu, Y.; Marlow, J. B.; Ramanathan, R.; Zou, W.; Tiew, H. G.; Pottage, M. J.; Bansal, V.; Tabor, R. F.; Wilkinson, B. L. Synthesis and Properties of Photoswitchable Carbohydrate Fluorosurfactants, Aust. J. Chem. 2015, 68, 1880-1884.
  14. Suthagar, K.; Watson, J. A.; Wilkinson, B. L.; Fairbanks, A. J. Synthesis of arabinose glycosyl sulfamides as potential inhibitors of mycobacterial cell wall biosynthesis, Eur. J. Med. Chem. 2015, 102, 153-166.
  15. Reeks, T.; Jones, A., Brust, A., Sridharan, S., Corcilius, L., Wilkinson, B. L., Thaysen-Andersen, M., Payne, P. J., Kini, R. M., Daly, N. L., Alewood, P. F. A bifunctional O-glycosylated natriuretic peptide, TcNP-a, from the venom of Tropidechis carinatus has a defined alpha helix, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 4828-4831.
  16. Hu, Y., Tabor, R. F., Wilkinson, B. L. Sweetness and Light – design and application of photoswitchable glycoconjugates, Org. Biomol. Chem. 2015, 13, 2216-2225.
  17. Ludeman, J. P., Nazari-Robati, M., Wilkinson, B. L., Huang, C., Payne, R. J., Stone, M. J., Phosphate Modulates Receptor Sulfotyrosine Recognition by the Chemokine Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 (MCP-1/CCL2), Org. Biomol. Chem. 2015, 13, 2162-2169.
  18. Tabor, R. F., Pottage, M. J., Garvey, C. J., Wilkinson, B. L. Light-induced structural evolution of carbohydrate-based surfactant micelles, Chem. Commun. 2015, 51, 5509-5512.
  19. Tabor, R. F., Tan, D. D., Han, S. S., Young, S. A., Seeger, Z. L. E., Pottage, M. J., Garvey, C. J., Wilkinson, B. L. Reversible pH- and photo-controllable carbohydrate-based surfactants, Chem. Eur. J. 2014, 20, 13881-13884.

    20. Further Publications

Patents and book chapters:

  1. Wilkinson, B. L.; Day, S.; Apostolopoulos, V.; Payne, R. J. “Glycopeptide cancer vaccine candidates”, 2011, Australian Patent no. 2010905492.
  2. Wilkinson, B. L.; Bornaghi, L. F.; Poulsen S. –A.; Click Chemistry in Carbohydrate Based Drug Development and Glycobiology. Glycobiology Research Trends, 2009, Kaplan, S. P. (Ed.) Nova Science publishers, New York, 127-172.
  3. Wilkinson, B. L.; Bornaghi, L. F.; Poulsen S. –A.; Chapter IV - Click Chemistry in Carbohydrate Based Drug Development and Glycobiology, in Drug Design Research Perspectives, 2007, Kaplan, S. P. (Ed.) Nova Science publishers, New York, 57-102.

Memberships

Royal Australian Chemical Society (MRACI, CCHEM)

Consultancy Interests

I am strongly committed to industry engagement. We have active collaborations within Axieo Australia toward the development of renewable surfactants for food and mining. Supervision of a industry sponsored PhD student is evidence of this commitment.