Mark Schofield

Biography

I grew up in Needham, Massachusetts and after graduating from UMass Amherst (B.S., Chemistry and Biochemistry), I went to MIT, where I worked in synthetic inorganic chemistry and homogeneous catalysis with Richard Schrock (Nobel Prize, 2005). I then moved to the University of Chicago and worked with Jack Halpern on model compounds for methylcoenzyme M reductase and the use of kinetics to determine nickel-carbon bond dissociation energies.  After Chicago (where I also taught organic chemistry), I taught at a variety of research universities and liberal arts colleges including Loyola University Chicago, Williams College, Haverford College (from 2005-2007) and Polytechnic Institute of New York University.

Research

My research interests span synthetic organometallic, bioinorganic and materials chemistry, computational chemistry, and the development of novel anti-cancer drugs.  Several of my projects - ongoing at Haverford - are synthetic in nature.  For example, students in my lab have synthesized novel two-fold asymmetric platinum complexes that we hope will develop into effective anti-cancer drugs.  We have demonstrated that, like Cisplatin, they bind DNA and have begun experiments in cell culture to test them.  But platinum is also an important metal in homogeneous catalysis and, with asymmetric complexes in hand, we are pursuing the use of these compounds in stereoselective organic synthesis.  Finally, through my recent affiliation with the National Science Foundation/Industry University Cooperative Research Center at the Polytechnic Institute of NYU, I became interested in the development of green routes to new materials.  Chemists are extremely clever about devising and synthesizing new molecules for a range of applications, but I think the use of fermentative and enzymatic modification of biomaterials - that largely avoid the oil supply - is notably undeveloped.  One area of particular interest to me is the chemical and enzymatic modification of sophorolipids, which are derived from sugar and fatty acids (like those found in olive oil).

Student collaborators

Michael Dahle '13

Danny Himelstein '13

Gabrielle Sapienza '13

Greg Whitehill '13

Recent Haverford Students from my lab

Kayla Feldman '12, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine

Jennifer Schmidt '12, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Janine Morton ’08 Chemistry Teacher, Friends Central School

Candice Joe ‘08 Ph.D. Program in Chemistry, Boston College

Peter Blessington ’07, Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry

Anil Magge ’07, University of Connecticut School of Medicine

Chioma Nwaneshiudu '07

Bibhav Acharya ’06, Yale Medical School

Danit Brahver ’06, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Josh Kim ’06, Thomas Jefferson School of Dentistry

Mee Jean Kim ’06, Ph.D. Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics, UCSF

Courses: Fall 2013, Haverford

Courses: Spring 2014, Haverford