Mandë Holford is an associate professor in chemistry at Hunter College with scientific appointments at the American Museum of Natural History and

Weill Cornell Medical College The Joan & Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University is Cornell University's biomedical research unit and medical school located in Upper East Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Weill Cornell Medicine is affiliated with N ...

. Her interdisciplinary research covering 'mollusks to medicine' spans chemistry and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

and aims to discover, characterize, and deliver novel peptides from venomous marine snails as tools for manipulating cellular physiology in pain and cancer.

Education and career

Holford received her BS in mathematics and chemistry from

York College, City University of New York York College is a public senior college in Jamaica, Queens, New York City. It is a senior college in the City University of New York (CUNY) system. Founded in 1966, York was the first senior college founded under the newly formed CUNY system, ...

and her PhD in Synthetic Protein Chemistry from

The Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a private biomedical research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medical sciences and provides doctoral and postdoctoral education. It is classified ...

. She did her postdoctoral research at

The University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

in the lab of

Baldomero Olivera Baldomero Olivera (born 1941) is a Filipino chemist known for discovery of many cone snail toxins important for neuroscience. These molecules, called conotoxins, led to a breakthrough in the study of ion channels and neuromuscular synapses. He di ...

. She was also a Science & Technology Policy Fellow through the American Association for the Advancement of Science. During her fellowship she worked under

Kerri-Ann Jones Kerri-Ann Jones (born 1954) was vice president of research and science at The Pew Charitable Trusts. She is the former United States Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs at the U.S. State D ...

in the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

's Office of International Science and Engineering.

Research

Holford summarizes her research interests as moving "from mollusks to medicine" for drug discovery and delivery. She and her research team extract

peptide Peptides (, ) are short chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. Long chains of amino acids are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty amino acids are called oligopeptides, and include dipeptides, tripeptides, and tetrapeptides. ...

s from venomous snails to identify possible treatments for pain and cancer. Her work takes an interdisciplinary approach, leveraging

biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...

, genomics, proteomics,

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

, and cell biology to isolate, identify, and characterize novel venomous peptides and devise drug delivery strategies. Research projects in her lab takes advantage of inventive tools from chemistry and biology to: (1) investigate the evolution of venom in predatory marine snails, (2) discover disulfide-rich peptides from a venom source, (3) develop high-throughput methods for characterizing structure-function peptide interactions, and (4) deliver novel peptides to their site of action for therapeutic application.

Science diplomacy

Holford was first trained in

science diplomacy Science diplomacy is the use of scientific collaborations among nations to address common problems and to build constructive international partnerships. Science diplomacy is a form of new diplomacy and has become an umbrella term to describe a n ...

as an AAAS Science & Technology Policy fellow at the National Science Foundation. Since that time, she has worked on several projects and initiatives to encourage early career scientists to think globally about their research impacts. These efforts include the Hurford Science Diplomacy Initiative, which is a six-week long program taught at

by Jesse H. Ausubel, Rod Nichols, and Dr. Holford. She has also worked with the AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy on their programs to train scientists for global leadership and advocacy. Her writing on the importance of training young scientists to leverage their expertise to build global connections has been featured in the World Science Forum and ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it ...

.'' She has also written about the role scientists played in re-establishing connections with Cuba in 2015 for ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

'' magazine. Holford is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Public engagement

Holford is actively involved in science education and is the co-founder o
KillerSnails.com
a learning games company supported by the National Science Foundation and the

Small Business Innovation Research The Small Business Innovation Research (or SBIR) program is a U.S. government funding program, coordinated by the Small Business Administration, intended to help certain small businesses conduct research and development (R&D). Funding takes the f ...

Fund. They have produced games like ''Killer Snails: Assassins of the Sea'' and ''Biome Builder'', which won the International Serious Play Gold Medal. She has also appeared on

The Moth The Moth is a non-profit group based in New York City dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. Founded in 1997, the organization presents a wide range of theme-based storytelling events across the United States and abroad, often featuring ...

Science Friday ''Science Friday'' (known as ''SciFri'' for short) is a weekly call-in talk show that broadcasts each Friday on public radio stations, distributed by WNYC Studios, and carried on over 400 public radio stations. ''SciFri'' is hosted by award-wi ...

NBC Learn NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's vari ...

(where she was named a 21st Century Chemist in the NBC Lear
Chemistry Now
series), and You're the Expert, speaking about her research expertise and her experiences as a scientist. Holford and her lab have also participated in a NYC based program led by the non-profit organizatio
Ligo Project
calle
Art of Science
where her and her lab collaborated with NYC based artis
Jackie Lima
t
create new works
that explore the exchange between two seemingly disparate disciplines and seeks to provide new and unique perspectives on science to the NYC community.

Awards and honors

* NSF CAREER Award, 2012 * The New Champion Young Scientist Award,

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

, 2014 * Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, 2013 *Wings Worldquest Humanity Award, 2019 *

NIH Director's Pioneer Award National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award is a research initiative first announced in 2004 designed to support individual scientists' biomedical research. The focus is specifically on "pioneering" research that is highly innovative ...

, 2023

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holford, Mandë Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American chemists American women chemists Hunter College faculty Science communicators York College, City University of New York alumni York College, City University of New York faculty Rockefeller University alumni 21st-century American women