Rate My Professor Brendan Wilkinson

Dr. Brendan Wilkinson is a Senior Lecturer in Organic Chemistry in the School of Science and Technology at the University of New England. He earned a BSc (Hons) from Griffith University in 2003 and a PhD in 2007. His doctoral thesis under Dr. Todd Houston and Prof. Sally-Ann Poulsen resulted in the discovery of a new class of carbohydrate-based carbonic anhydrase inhibitors as promising anti-cancer drug leads. Following his PhD, Wilkinson held a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Oxford with Prof. Antony Fairbanks, focusing on novel anti-tuberculosis agents and glycosylation strategies. In 2009, he joined Prof. Richard Payne’s group at the University of Sydney, developing strategies for mucin-type glycoprotein synthesis, homogeneous antifreeze glycoproteins, and glycopeptide-based cancer vaccines. He was awarded the prestigious ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) fellowship in 2013 at Monash University, where his research centered on supramolecular chemistry and biomimetic self-assembly. Wilkinson joined the University of New England as a Lecturer in Chemistry in 2016 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2019. He currently serves as Discipline Convenor for Chemistry and Physics and supervises three PhD students, including one industry-sponsored project.

Wilkinson’s research operates at the interface of chemistry, biology, and physics, with specializations in carbohydrate biomaterials such as 1D glycopeptide materials and glycodendrimers; organic synthesis and functional supramolecular materials including carbohydrate surfactants from biomass and cyclodextrin mimics for drug delivery; and bioorganic and medicinal chemistry encompassing carbohydrate-based cryoprotectants, glycolipid chemical biology, and glycopeptide immunotherapeutics. Current projects include rational development of cryoprotectants from natural sugars, mucin-polymer conjugates as cancer vaccines, and 1D supramolecular dye stacks for drug delivery and ice growth inhibition. He collaborates with prominent researchers including Prof. Robert Ben (University of Ottawa), Prof. Gary Bryant (RMIT University), Prof. Charl Faul (University of Bristol), and Prof. Vipul Bansal (RMIT). Key publications include “The Need for Novel Cryoprotectants and Cryopreservation Protocols: Insights into the Importance of Biophysical Investigation and Cell Permeability” (Biochim. Biophys. Acta Gen. Subj., 2020, with S.J. Bryant et al.); “n-Octyl (Thio)glycosides as Potential Cryoprotectants” (Aust. J. Chem., 2019); “1D Self-Assembly and Ice Recrystallization Inhibition Activity of Antifreeze Glycopeptide-Functionalized Perylene Bisimides” (Chem. Eur. J., 2018); “Bis-Aryl Triazole Trehalolipids are Mincle Agonists” (ACS Med. Chem. Lett., 2024); and contributions to Australian Patent 2010905492 for glycopeptide cancer vaccine candidates (2011). Awards include the ARC DECRA (2013) and RACI Athel Beckwith Lectureship (2017). He teaches organic chemistry, bioorganic chemistry, and medicinal chemistry.