EDUCATION

Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacognosy | October 2016
University of Illinois at Chicago
Dissertation title: “Antibiotics from Aquatic-Derived Actinomycete Bacteria that Inhibit M. tuberculosis”
Advisor: Professor Brian T. Murphy
Chemistry and Biology Post-Baccalaureate Studies | 2009–2012
DePaul University, Chicago, IL
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Intermedia | May 2002
Barrett Honors College, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

RESEARCH INTERESTS

I aim to combine multiple omics technologies toward the discovery of novel natural product chemistry, biosynthesis, and bioactivity from unique ecological niches.

PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS

See Publications Page

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

  • Senior Scientist | 2021–present
    Host-Microbe Metabolomics Facility, Duchossois Family Institute, University of Chicago
  • ** Designing and leading projects aimed toward the discovery of novel small molecules and their functions in the human microbiome.
  • ** Developing and implementing a metablomics-based clinical screen to evaluate patients for a clinical trial.
  • NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow | 2016–2021
    Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University
    Advisors: Professors Neil L. Kelleher and Regan J. Thomson
  • ** Provided empirical chemical evidence for the ability of the BiG-SCAPE/CORASON software platform to organize biosynthetic genes and facilitate targeted discovery of natural products from a large collection of microbes based on substructural features predicted from gene variations (Navarro-Muñoz*, Selem-Mojica*, Mullowney*, et al. Nat. Chem. Biol. 2020, 16, 60–68.)
  • ** Identified seven novel analogs of the detoxin class of natural products.
  • ** Composed an expansive >30 page review article for Natural Product Reports fully describing the thioester reductase-containing natural product biosynthetic chemical space. (Mullowney, at al. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2018, 35, 847–78).
  • ** Initiated a collaborative with microbiology labs at the University of New Mexico, Western Illinois University, and University of New Hampshire to explore bioactive natural products and their biosyntheses from the bat microbiome.
  • ** Trained in Orbitrap high-res mass spectrometry applications and maintenance, small molecule molecular networking, large-scale genome mining, and bioinformatics. Expanded expertise in microbiology, NMR, and HPLC operation and maintenance.
  • NIH and AFPE Predoctoral Fellow | 2012–2016
    Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, University of Illinois at Chicago
    Advisor: Professor Brian T. Murphy
  • ** Discovered the potent and selective anti-tuberculosis activity of the diazaquinomycins using NMR, HPLC, ELSD, LC-MS, semisynthesis, and microbiology and coordinated an international collaborative on mechanism of action studies and preclinical drug-lead development, including LC-MS-based pharmacokinetics studies in a tuberculosis mouse model.
  • ** Discovered among the first actinomycete-derived antibiotics sourced from actinomycete bacteria in freshwater.
  • ** Discovered a novel pimarane diterpene (rare in bacteria) and four tuberculosis-inhibiting anthraquinone analogs from a marine-derived actinomycete collected in the East Sea of Vietnam.
  • ** Established a citizen-science SCUBA diver project to collect freshwater sponges from across the Great Lakes, an unprecedented source for natural product discovery that currently supports two graduate student PhD theses.
  • ** Collected and processed sediment and invertebrate samples in the marine environment and inland freshwater systems by SCUBA and collected marine sediment using PONAR from Icelandic Coast Guard vessels Ægir and Thor over two research expeditions in Iceland.
  • ** Organized and directed preparations to collect sediment by PONAR and free diving in White Lake and Lake Michigan in Whitehall, MI.
  • ** Earned PADI Open Water Diver and Dry Suit Diver certification.
  • Undergraduate Research Assistant | 2010–2012
    Department of Chemistry, DePaul University, Chicago, IL
    Advisor: Professor Justin J. Maresh
  • ** Synthesized halogenated biosynthetic precursors of plant natural products.
  • ** Initiated and maintained plant callus cell cultures for use in the biotransformation of synthesized precursors into “non-natural” natural products.

TEACHING AND MENTORING EXPERIENCE

  • Natural Products Research Mentor | 2016–2021
    Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University
  • ** Mentored a high school student, undergraduate, research technician, and visiting research scholar in microbiology, natural products chemistry, bioinformatics, and mass spectrometry.
  • Natural Products Research Mentor | 2012 – 2016
    Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, University of Illinois at Chicago
  • ** Mentored three undergraduates in microbiology, natural products chemistry, and NMR.
  • Teaching Assistant | 2011 – 2012
    Department of Chemistry, DePaul University
  • ** Guided organic chemistry students through practical applications of organic chemistry concepts and laboratory procedures.
  • Freelance Organic and Biochemistry Chemistry Tutor | 2011 – 2012
  • ** Supported three undergraduate students in achieving A grades in organic chemistry and biochemistry

AWARDS AND HONORS

Chicago Biomedical Consortium (CBC) Catalyst Award (with Profs Brian Murphy and Neil Kelleher) | 2020
NIH-National Cancer Institute (NCI) NRSA F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship | 2017–2021
Northwestern University Department of Chemistry Postdoctoral Travel Award | 2020
International Association for Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) Scholarship | 2015
American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Research (AFPE) Predoctoral Fellowship | 2015–2016
W. E. van Doren Scholarship, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago | 2014
NIH-NCCIH T32 Predoctoral Fellowship | 2013–2016

EDITING AND PEER REVIEW

  • ** Peer review for FEMS Microbiology Letters | 2019
  • ** Textbook editing and confirmation of NMR structural assignments | 2014
  • Linington, R.G.; Williams, P.G.; MacMillan, J.B. Problems in Organic Structure Determination: A
    Practical Approach to NMR Spectroscopy; Taylor & Francis, CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, USA,2015.

      • PROFESSIONAL NEWSLETTER ARTICLES

      SCIENCE ILLUSTRATION AND DESIGN FOR PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS

      • Journal cover illustration and accompanying animation:
      • McGee, J.P.; Melani, R.D.; Yip, P.F.; Senko, M.W.; Compton, P.D.; Kafader, J.O.;Kelleher, N.L. Isotopic Resolution of Protein Complexes up to 466 kDa Using Individual Ion Mass Spectrometry. Anal. Chem. 2020. Article ASAP.
      • Journal cover and table of contents graphic illustration:
      • Kafader, J.O.; Durbin, K.R.; Melani, R.D.; Des Soye B.J.; Schachner, L.F.; Senko, M.W.; Compton, P.D.; Kelleher, N.L. Individual Ion Mass Spectrometry Enhances the Sensitivity and Sequence Coverage of Top Down Mass Spectrometry. J. Proteome Res. 2020, 19, 1346–1350.
      • Journal cover and media release illustration:
      • Kafader, J.O.; Melani, R.D.; Durbin, K.R.; Ikwuagwu, B.; Early, B.P.; Fellers, R.T.; Beu, S.C.; Zabrouskov, V.; Makarov, A.A.; Maze, J.T.; Shinholt, D.L.; Yip, P.F.; Tullman-Ercek, D.; Senko, M.W.; Compton, P.D.; Kelleher, N.L. Multiplexed Single Ion Mass Spectrometry Improves Measurement of Proteoforms and Their Complexes. Nat. Methods. 2020,17, 391–394.
        • Figure concept and illustration:
        • Smith, L.M.; Kelleher, N.L. Proteoforms as the next proteomics currency. Science. 2018, 359, 11-12.
        • Journal cover illustration:
        • Mullowney, M.W.; McClure, R.; Robey, M.; Kelleher, N.L.; Thomson, R.J. Natural products from biosynthetic assembly lines terminating in thioester reductases. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2018, 35,847-78.
        • Journal cover illustration for feature:
        • Neil Kelleher – Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship Award. Anal. Chem. 2018, 90(4)
        • Figure illustrations (Figs. 2 and 5) for perspective:
        • Aebersold, R.; et al. How many human proteoforms are there? Nat. Chem. Biol. 2018, 14, 206-214.
        • Journal cover illustration:
        • Mullowney, M.W.; Newsome, A.; Wan, B.; Wei, X.; Tanouye, U.; Cho, S. H.; Franzblau S.G.; Murphy, B.T. Diaza-anthracene antibiotics from a freshwater-derived actinomycete that selectively inhibit M. tuberculosis. ACS Infect. Dis. 2015, 1, 168–74.

        SERVICE TO THE PROFESSION

      • Microbiome Metabolomics Expert | 2024
      • Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
      • ** Contributed metabolomics expertise to the technical meeting on risk assesment in the human gut microbiome.
      • Chair | 2020 – 2022
      • American Society of Pharmacognosy Newsletter Committee
      • ** Leading a team of seven committee members in updating the content and delivery of the ASP Newsletter, a popular publication among ASP members and natural product researchers.
      • Discussion Leader | February 23, 2020
      • Gordon Research Seminar - Marine Natural Products
      • ** Moderated the session titled: "Enabling Technologies: Platform Systems for Natural Product Discovery"
      • Co-Chair | July 14, 2017
      • Chicago Mass Spec Day, University of Illinois at Chicago
      • ** Raised funds and coordinated a one-day mass spectrometry conference for early-career scientists.
      • Organizing committee member and logo designer | April 12, 2014
      • The 52nd Annual MIKI Medicinal Chemistry Meeting in Miniature, University of Illinois at Chicago
      • ** Raised funds, designed the logo and printed materials, and coordinated a three-day medicinal chemistry and natural products conference for early-career scientists.

        • OUTREACH

      • Founder and Co-chair, Science Policy Outreach Taskforce (SPOT) at Northwestern University | 2017–2020
        • ** Founded and lead a graduate student and postdoc organization of 10 committee members and 200 members-at-large for the advocacy and communication of science to policy makers and the voting aged public.
        • ** Organized and lead a trip to Springfield, IL to meet with legislators.
        • **Initiated a program to write one-page info sheets that informs legislators to make evidence-based decisions about pertinent science-related policy issues and legislative actions. Our info sheets have influenced legislation such as BPA in cash register receipts and fracking in Illinois.

        INVITED ORAL PRESENTATIONS

      • Mullowney, M.W. Bioactivity and multi-omics guided approaches to natural product discovery. Department of Biomedical Sciences, University at Albany; Albany, NY; February 19, 2020.
      • Mullowney, M.W. Bioactivity and multi-omics guided approaches to natural product discovery. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, University of California–Merced; Merced, CA; February 4, 2020.
      • Mullowney, M.W. Bioactivity and multi-omics guided approaches to natural product discovery. Chemistry Department, Western Michigan University; Kalamazoo, MI; January 6, 2020.
      • Mullowney, M.W.. Bioactivity and multi-omics guided approaches to natural product discovery. Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis; Indianapolis, IN; December 4, 2019.
      • Mullowney, M.W.; Navarro-Muñoz, J.C.; Selem-Mojica, N.; Dias Cappelini, L.T.; Tryon, J.T.; Kautsar, S.; Parkinson, E.; Metcalf, W.W.; Barona-Gomez, F.; Medema, M.H.; Thomson, R.J.; Kelleher, N.L. Genome library mining with BiG-SCAPE/CORASON reveals novel detoxin natural products. Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB) Annual Meeting; Chicago, IL, August 13, 2018.
      • Mullowney, M.W.; Hwang, C.H.; Newsome, A.; Klein, L.; Shaikh, A.; Tanouye, U.; Cho, S.; Franzblau, S.G.; Murphy, B.T. Natural Products Drug Discovery: Inhibitors of drug-resistant M. tuberculosis from aquatic actinomycetes. Careers in Scientific Research, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, May 15, 2015.
      • Mullowney, M.W.; Hwang, C.H.; Newsome, A.; Klein, L.; Shaikh, A.; Tanouye, U.; Cho, S.; Franzblau, S.G.; Murphy, B.T. Diaza-anthracene antibiotics that inhibit drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Baxter-UIC NMR Exchange Meeting, Baxter Healthcare, Deerfield, IL, May 21, 2014.

        • CONFERENCE POSTER PRESENTATIONS

      • Mullowney, M.W.; Navarro-Muñoz, J.C.; Selem-Mojica, N.; Roberts, E.; McClure, R.; Dias Cappelini, L.T.; Tryon, J.T.; Kautsar, S.; Parkinson, E.; Metcalf, W.W.; Barona-Gomez, F.; Medema, M.H.; Thomson, R.J.; Kelleher, N.L. BiG-SCAPE/CORASON genome database mining reveals novel detoxinsMarine Natural Products Gordon Research Conference, Ventura, CA, February 26–27, 2018.
      • Mullowney, M.W.; Navarro-Muñoz, J.C.; Selem-Mojica, N.; Dias Cappelini, L.T.; Tryon, J.T.; Kautsar, S.; Parkinson, E.; Metcalf, W.W.; Barona-Gomez, F.; Medema, M.H.; Thomson, R.J.; Kelleher, N.L. BiG-SCAPE/CORASON genome database mining reveals novel detoxins. The 50th annual conference of the American Society of Pharmacognosy, Lexington, KY, July 22, 2018.
      • Mullowney, M.W.; Ó hAinmhire, E.; Tanouye, U.; Burdette, J.E.; Pham, V.C.; Murphy, B.T. A novel pimarane diterpene and cytotoxic angucyclines from a marine-derived Micromonospora sp. in Vietnam’s East Sea. The 47th annual conference of the American Society of Pharmacognosy, Copper Mountain, CO, July 27, 2015.
      • Mullowney, M.W., Ó hAinmhire, E.; Tanouye, U.; Wan B.; Cho S.; Franzblau, S.G.; Burdette, J.E.; Pham, V.C.; Murphy, B.T. A novel diterpene and cytotoxic molecules from a marine-derived actinomycete in Vietnam. The 53rd Annual MIKI Medicinal Chemistry Meeting in Miniature, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, April 11, 2015.
      • Mullowney, M.W.; Hwang, C.H.; Newsome, A.; Krishnamoorthy, K.; Roberts, D.; Klein, L.; Shaikh, A.; Tanouye, U.; Rathod, P.; Parish, T.; Cho, S.; Franzblau, S.G.; and Murphy, B.T. Diaza-anthracene antibiotics from marine and freshwater-derived actinomycete bacteria that inhibit drug-resistant M. tuberculosis. The David J. Slatkin Symposium, Chicago State University, Chicago, IL, November 14, 2014.
      • Mullowney, M.W.; Hwang, C.H.; Newsome, A.; Krishnamoorthy, K.; Roberts, D.; Klein, L.; Shaikh, A.; Tanouye, U.; Rathod, P.; Parish, T.; Cho, S.; Franzblau, S.G.; and Murphy, B.T. Diaza-anthracene antibiotics from marine and freshwater-derived actinomycete bacteria that inhibit drug-resistant M. tuberculosis. The CMIDD 19th Annual Drug Discovery Symposium, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, October 9, 2014.
      • Mullowney, M.W.; Hwang, C.H.; Newsome, A.; Krishnamoorthy, K.; Roberts, D.; Klein, L.; Shaikh, A.; Tanouye, U.; Rathod, P.; Parish, T.; Cho, S.; Franzblau, S.G.; and Murphy, B.T. Diaza-anthracene antibiotics from marine and freshwater-derived actinomycete bacteria that inhibit drug-resistant M. tuberculosis. The 52nd Annual MIKI Medicinal Chemistry Meeting in Miniature, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, April 12, 2014.
      • Mullowney, M.W.; Hwang, C.H.; Newsome, A.; Krishnamoorthy, K.; Roberts, D.; Klein, L.; Shaikh, A.; Tanouye, U.; Rathod, P.; Parish, T.; Cho, S.; Franzblau, S.; and Murphy, B.T. Diaza-anthracene antibiotics from marine and freshwater-derived actinomycete bacteria that inhibit drug-resistant M. tuberculosis. Marine Natural Products Gordon Research Conference: From Discovery to Human Health; Ventura, CA, March 5-6, 2014.
      • Mullowney, M.W.; and Maresh, J. Progress toward Cell-Assisted Synthesis of Novel Alkaloids. Chicago Area Undergraduate Research Symposium (CAURS), Chicago, IL, April, 2011.
      • Krzeszowiec, M.W.; Speltz, T.; Lumbreras, E.; Terranova, E.; Aparece, M.; Mullowney, M.; and Maresh, J. Progress toward Cell-Assisted Synthesis of Novel Alkaloids. Poster at the Mathematics and Technology Showcase, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, November, 2010.

        • PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS

        Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB) | 2018–present
        American Society of Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) | 2016–present
        American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) | 2015–present
        American Society of Microbiology (ASM) | 2014–present
        American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) | 2013–present
        American Chemical Society (ACS) | 2010–present

        TECHNICAL SKILLS

        • **Analytical chemistry software: Thermo Xcalibur, SIRIUS, and PEAKS for mass spec analysis; Bruker TopSpin and MestreNova for NMR acquisition and analysis; and GNPS and Cytoscape for molecular networking.
        • **Bioinformatics software: Geneious for gene sequence analysis and processing; and antiSMASH, BiG-SCAPE, and CORASON for biosynthetic gene cluster organization and analysis.
        • **Graphics software: Adobe creative suite, primarily Illustrator, Photoshop, and Dreamweaver; ChemDraw.
        • **Molecular modeling and visualization: Chemdraw 3D, Visual Molecular Dynamics (VMD), and Chimera.