One of the most outstanding accomplishments of modern medicine was the development of antibiotics for treatment of bacterial infections that were widely fatal. However, due to a marked decline in discovery of new antibiotics over the past few decades, the world is now facing an enormous threat from the emergence of bacteria that are resistant to all available antibiotics. A/Prof Velkov is a world leading expert in several aspects of antibiotic pharmacology, including their mode of action, chemistry, structure-activity relationships and toxicity.  His advocacy for commercialization and stewardship of antibiotics is commendable, together with Professor Jian Li he established and co-leads The Victorian Antimicrobial Discovery Group; and co-founded the Global Initiative on Antimicrobial Computational Pharmacology. He has extensive international industry experience, having been awarded two NHMRC industry fellowships and a REDI MPTConnect Industry Fellowship. He was recognised by the NHMRC with Excellence Awards in 2011 and again in 2015. The significant impact of his anti-infective research was highlighted by the NHMRC through a ‘Ten of the Best’ award for his novel lipopeptide discovery project grant. He has a unique setup in his laboratory for developing novel lipopeptide and depsi-pepetide antibiotics targeting multi-resistant superbugs (from drug design, chemistry synthesis, in vitro models to in vivo safety and efficacy evaluations). A/Prof Velkov has published >240 papers on antibiotic drug discovery, PK/PD, pharmacology and resistance. He is a key opinion leader in my field ranked first among 14,673 experts in polymyxin chemistry research globally expertscape.com/ex/polymyxin. A/Velkov serves on Editorial boards (Br J Pharmacol, Molecules, Vaccine, J Adv Science) and a regular invited reviewer for prominent international journals (e.g. Nat Med). He is a serving member of several professional societies, including American Society for Microbiology, Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Australian Pharmaceutical Science Association, Australian Thoracic Society. A/Prof Velkov serves as a regular reviewer of grant applications for various government bodies including the National Institute of Health (US), National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council, New Zealand Marsden Fund, the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Wellcome Trust (UK), Research Councils UK (RCUK), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, French National Research Agency and Israel Science Foundation. His internationally leading research is underpinned by an exceptional track record in advancing projects to clinical development and commercialisation of intellectual property through his extensive academic-industry partnerships. A/Prof Velkov’s international leadership is also demonstrated by significant continuous funding support from major Australian and international granting bodies. Since 2004 he has been awarded 25 grants (14 as lead) by the USA NIH ($17M, 6 R01 projects), USA Department of Defence ($2M), and Australian NHMRC/ARC ($8.2M). As NIH funds are extremely competitive, the multiple R01 awards to Australian researcher are an exceptional accomplishment and have immensely enhanced Australia’s reputation and international standing. His innovative research is encompassed by complementary and integrated streams that encompass the ‘lab bench to bedside’ doctrine and efficiently translate his multidisciplinary research to clinical practice and pharmaceutical products.

The need for innovation and new antimicrobials to address antibiotic resistance is recognised as an urgent global health issue. A/Prof Velkov’s group has made a significant and engaged contribution to understanding the pharmacology, chemistry and activity of antimicrobial lipopeptides and depsipeptides, including mechanisms of antibacterial activity and resistance, neurotoxicity and structural biology. Specifically, A/Prof Velkov’s team has been highly engaged in research across the following fields:

(1) Pharmacology, chemical biology and structure-activity relationships (SAR) of lipopeptide and teixobactin antibiotics;

(2) Novel antibiotic resistance mechanisms;

(3) Pharmacology and neurotoxicology of polymyxin antibiotics;

(4 Development of novel resistance-resistant teixobactin depsi-peptide antibiotics as dry powder and hydrogels formulations for the treatment of multi-drug resistant lung and wound infections;

(5) Systems pharmacology and chemical biology of novel Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) modulator/corrector drugs;

(6) Development of synergistic polymyxin-nonantibiotic combinations against Gram-negative ‘superbugs’.

• Supervisor of PhD, Masters and Honours students.

  2022- present: Department of Pharmacology, Monash University (Clayton)

  • PHA3042 (Pharmacology 3rd year) 1 lecture per year, Modern Drug Development.