Primary research interest

Novel drug/vaccine delivery systems

Additional roles

  • Chair in Biological Chemistry
  • Group Leader, IMB Division of Structural Biology

About me

I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Carleton University, Ottawa Canada (1974-76, Prof J.W. ApSimon). I then returned to Hungary to work as a Research Associate (1977-82), then Scientific Group Leader (1982-1987) at the Central Research Institute for Chemistry, Hungarian Academy of Science. I joined the School of Pharmacy at the University of London in 1987 as a Senior Lecturer and Royal Society sponsored Senior Research Fellow. I became a Reader in Medicinal Organic Chemistry in 1994, before relocating to The University of Queensland in 1998. I have since been appointed as a Fellow of both the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (2008) and the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences (2009). I am an elected Member (external) of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2016). I was awarded Doctor Honoris Causa Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary. I have more than 460 publications and 45 patents.

Research focus and collaborations

My major research interests are drug delivery, immunoadjuvants, carbohydrates, lipids, peptides, nucleosides and nucleotides. New developments in drug/vaccine delivery will clearly have a strong economic impact on the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. At the School of Pharmacy, University of London, and at The University of Queensland, I have built up a strong, very productive research group, where the research orientation is well suited to the direction of modern multidisciplinary pharmaceutical sciences. I also have a keen interest in research commercialisation. I am one of the founding members of Alchemia (listed on the Australian Stock Exchange), Implicit Biosciences Pty Ltd and Neurotide. I am also a key partner in the Queensland Preclinical Drug Development Facility (TetraQ), established in 2005 as a world-class facility to provide integrated preclinical drug development services to Queensland and Australian biotechnology companies engaged in human therapeutics development. My primary research goal is to develop versatile delivery mechanisms that can be adapted to suit a broad range of drug and vaccine candidates.

Group members

Postdoctoral research fellows:

  • Dr Rachel Stephenson
  • Dr Mariusz Skwarczynski 
  • Dr Sahra Bashiri
  • Dr Ahmed Shalash
  • Dr Imtiaz Randhawa

PhD Students:

  • Lantian Lu
  • Wenbin Huang
  • Asmaa Mahmoud
  • Jingyi Fan
  • Jingwen Wang
  • Jiahui Zhang

Visiting:

  • Mattika Thaweesuvannasak

Masters students:

  • Liaoshuang Ye
  • Yiru Cui
  • Christopher Eugenio Williem
     

Funded projects

  • NHMRC Ideas Grant 2024-2027, A nanovaccine against Invasive Group A Streptococcus and Rheumatic Heart Disease, Total value of grant $608,061
  • NHRMC Ideas Grant 2024-2027, Paving the way for a Clinical Vaccine Candidate against Hookworm Infection, Total value of the grant $855,524
  • Australia's Economic Accelerator (AEA) 2024-2025, Single-shot anti-fertility vaccine in pigs, Total value of the grant: $471,683
  • Meat and Livestock Australia 2021-2024, A single-shot fertility vaccine in cattle, Total value of the grant: $850,733
  • ARC Discovery Grant 2021-2023, Poly(aminio acids) as immune stimulators, Total value of the grant: $425,000
  • NHMRC Development Grant 2020-2022, Hookworm peptide therapeutic for oral treatment of IBD, Total value of the grant: $732,770
  • ARC Discovery Grant 2020-2022, Developing a multicomponent platform for targeted gene delivery, Total value of the grant: $514,000.
  • NHMRC Program Grant 2018-2022, Tropical diseases: Translating discoveries into better health, Total value of the grant: $19,800,000
  • NHMRC Project Grant 2017-2019, Understanding the myometrial transition at term and preterm labour to guide tocolysis, Total value of the grant: $808,447
  • NHMRC Program Grant 2013-2017, Tropical Disease – Immunity, pathogenesis and vaccine development: global translation, Total value of grant: $17,100,585
  • ARC Discovery Grant 2011-2015, Liposaccharide based peptide and vaccine delivery systems: improving the bioavailability and immunogenicity of LHRH, Total value of grant: $1, 030, 000
  • NHMRC Program Grant 2004-2012, Tropical Infectious Diseases – Pathogenesis and vaccine research, Total value of grant: $22, 000, 000
  • ARC Discovery Project Grant 2010-2012, Lipid and carbohydrate based systems to target and deliver peptide drug candidates to specific cells, Total value of grant: $750, 000

Teaching interests

  • Chemistry, medicinal chemistry and drug delivery.

Achievements and awards

  • Elected Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2016).
  • Doctor Honoris Causa Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary (2019)
  • Editor in Chief: Current Drug Deliver
  • Editor in Chief: Drug Delivery letters
  • Associate Editor: Medicinal Chemistry
  • Board Member: Mini Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry, Drug Design and Reviews Online
  • Scientific Advisory Board Member: Implicit Bioscience Pty Ltd.
  • Member ARC College of Experts 2008-2010
  • Business/Higher Education Round Table (BHERT) Award: Outstanding Achievement in International Collaborative R&D 2005
  • Adrian Albert Award RACI Biomolecular Chemistry Division

Featured publications

Researcher biography

Professor István Tóth is Chair in Biological Chemistry at The University of Queensland (UQ), Brisbane, Australia, and Affiliated Professorial Research Fellow at the Institute of Molecular Biosciences, UQ. He graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University, Budapest, Hungary and was awarded his PhD for his Alkaloid Chemistry research. Professor Tóth undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at Carleton University, Ottawa Canada before returning to Hungary to work as a Research Associate, then Scientific Group Leader at the Central Research Institute for Chemistry, Hungarian Academy of Science. He joined the School of Pharmacy at the University of London in 1987 as a Senior Lecturer and Royal Society sponsored Senior Research Fellow. He became a Reader in Medicinal Organic Chemistry in 1994 and was awarded a Doctor of Science degree (DSc 1994) for his work in Drug Delivery (Hungarian Academy of Sciences), before relocating to the University of Queensland in 1998 where he has built a productive research group. Professor Tóth was a visiting professor at the School of Pharmacy, University of London (1994-2004) and at the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Science, University of California, San Francisco (2011-2013). Professor Tóth's major research interests are: drug delivery, immunoadjuvants, carbohydrates, lipids, peptides, nucleosides, and nucleotides. This research has attracted over $85 million in competitive grants, research contracts and investment funds in the past 10 years. Professor Tóth has over 500 peer-reviewed publications, 45 patents, and an excellent track record in research commercialisation. He is a one of key founders of Alchemia, Implicit Bioscience Pty Ltd, Neurotide Pty Ltd and TetraQ (the commercial arm of Centre of Integrated Preclinical Drug Development). Professor Tóth is an elected RACI Fellow and Fellow of the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences. and Feklloiw of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (since 2016) In 2009 he was awarded the Adrian Albert award for sustained and outstanding research in medicinal biochemistry, and a Business/Higher Education Round Table (BHERT) Award for Outstanding Achievement in International Collaborative Research and Development he obtained the Doctor Honoris Causa degree at Semmelweis university budapest Hungary (2019). Professor Tóth was appointed as a member of the ARC College of Experts (2008-2010). He was the founding (2007) then the elected (2008-2009) President of the Australian Chapter of Controlled Release Society.