Mandë Holford is an associate professor in chemistry at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

with scientific appointments at the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

and

Weill Cornell Medical College Weill Cornell Medicine (; officially Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University), originally Cornell University Medical College, is the medical school of Cornell University, located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in Ne ...

. Her interdisciplinary research covering 'mollusks to medicine' spans

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

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, United States. 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 fo ...

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 classifi ...

. She did her postdoctoral research at The University of Utah 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 dis ...

. She was also a Science & Technology Policy Fellow through the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

. During her fellowship she worked under Kerri-Ann Jones in the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

'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. A polypeptide is a longer, continuous, unbranched peptide chain. Polypeptides that have a molecular mass of 10,000 Da or more are called proteins. Chains of fewer than twenty am ...

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, a ...

genomics Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of molecular biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, ...

proteomics Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins. Proteins are vital macromolecules of all living organisms, with many functions such as the formation of structural fibers of muscle tissue, enzymatic digestion of food, or synthesis and replicatio ...

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

, and

cell biology Cell biology (also cellular biology or cytology) is a branch of biology that studies the structure, function, and behavior of cells. All living organisms are made of cells. A cell is the basic unit of life that is responsible for the living an ...

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 describes how scientific exchanges and the cross-border collaboration of scientists or scientific organizations can perform diplomatic functions in the context of international relations. Most often this diplomacy happens as part o ...

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 scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

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

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'' magazine. Holford is a life member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

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 fo ...

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 nonprofit group based in New York City, dedicated to the 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 promine ...

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 500 public radio stations. ''SciFri'' is hosted by science ...

, NBC Learn (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 organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

, 2014 * Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, 2013 *Wings Worldquest Humanity Award, 2019 * NIH Director's Pioneer Award, 2023

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holford, Mandë Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American chemists American women chemists Hunter College faculty American 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