Mark Smith

Dr. Mark Smith collaborates extensively with biologists and physician scientists to incorporate medicinal chemistry into their current and future research endeavors.

Dr. Smith graduated with a PhD from the laboratory of Prof. Richard Stoodley at the University of Manchester Institute for Science and Technology (UMIST), where his research focused on the application of Lewis acid catalyzed hetero Diels-Alder reactions to the synthesis of novel disaccharide structures. Previously, he worked as a senior scientist at Roche Pharmaceuticals, where he specialized in antiviral research. During his time at Roche, he led both the nucleoside chemistry and Influenza endonuclease inhibitor programs. He is a co-inventor of the HCV polymerase inhibitor, Balapiravir and was first to publish the design and synthesis of the drug, Azvudine. Dr. Smith is a founder of Riboscience LLC and is a Scientific Advisory Board member of Tranquis Therapeutics. Mark is also Director of the Sarafan CHEM-H Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Program.