Rachel Stephenson

Dr. Rachel Stephenson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences at the University of Queensland. She began her scientific career with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Chemistry, followed by a Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours in Chemistry from Massey University, New Zealand. Her honours project focused on developing hydrogels for controlled peptide release in the gut. She then pursued a PhD at Massey University, working on synthetic anti-cancer drugs based on cyclodextrins. After completing her PhD, she worked as a Research Officer at the New Zealand Veterinary Pathology Epicentre, refining her diagnostic research skills. She continued as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Kansas State University, contributing to the detection and surveillance of zoonotic diseases in the swine industry. Her early research involved synthetic strategies for multi-functional peptide-sulfonamide drug candidates using solid-phase peptide synthesis and chemical conjugation, transitioning to virology and immunology for protein-based multiplex diagnostic assays for swine diseases such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, bovine viral diarrhea, and African swine fever.

Currently at the University of Queensland, Dr. Stephenson integrates her expertise in synthetic peptides with vaccine development, bridging medical and agricultural biotechnology. Her research focuses on innovative adjuvants and vaccines spanning medicinal chemistry, nanotechnology, and immunology to enhance health outcomes and agricultural practices. She has received funding for projects including New vaccine technology for long-term flystrike prevention (Australia's Economic Accelerator Ignite Grants, 2026-2027), Single-shot anti-fertility vaccine in pigs (Australia's Economic Accelerator Seed Grants, 2024-2025), A single-shot anti-fertility vaccine in female cattle (Meat & Livestock Australia, 2021-2025), and Developing an effective glycoconjugate vaccine against Group A Streptococcus causing rheumatic fever/heart disease (NHMRC Project Grant, 2019-2023). Key publications include "Development of a novel polyleucine-based immunopotentiator for subunit vaccines against Group A Streptococcus" (2026), "Investigation of physical mixtures versus disulfide crosslinking self-adjuvanting peptide-based subunit vaccines against Group A Streptococcus" (2026), "Anti-cocaine vaccine development: where are we now and where are we going?" (2023), "Developing an effective glycan-based vaccine for Streptococcus pyogenes" (2022), "Advances in infectious disease vaccine adjuvants" (2022), and "Structure–activity analysis of cyclic multicomponent lipopeptide self-adjuvanting vaccine candidates presenting Group A Streptococcus antigens" (2020). She also contributed editorially to "Recent advances in drug delivery technology" (2016). Her work targets subunit vaccines for human diseases like Group A Streptococcus infection, schistosomiasis, cocaine addiction, and cancer.

Professional Email: r.stephenson@uq.edu.au