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Marco S. MessinaUniversity of Delaware Assistant Professor of Chemistry Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Email: messinam@udel.edu Twitter: @Cowboy_Chemist Curriculum Vitae Previous Experience University of California, Berkeley (2019-2023) NIH/NIGMS MOSAIC K99/R00, UC President’s, and Chinook-Berkeley Postdoctoral Fellow Advisor: Christopher J. Chang University of California, Los Angeles (2014-2019) PhD in Chemistry NSF GRFP and NSF Bridge-to-Doctorate Research Fellow Advisors: Heather D. Maynard and Alexander M. Spokoyny Texas A&M University Corpus Christi (2009-2014) BS in Chemistry NSF LSAMP Research Fellow Advisor: Mark A. Olson |
About Marco
Marco grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas with aspirations of playing or coaching soccer. With the realization that he is not that great at the sport and that he hates running, his trajectory changed upon enrolling in Professor Mark Olson's organic chemistry course as an undergraduate at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi and joining his research group soon after. His undergraduate research focused on small-molecule synthesis and the study of host-guest interactions in surfactant-based systems and was supported by the NSF-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation Program (NSF-LSAMP). Marco then pursued graduate studies at the University of California, Los Angeles under the guidance of Professors Heather D. Maynard and Alexander M. Spokoyny as a NSF Bridge-to-Doctorate and GRFP research fellow. Broadly, his graduate research career involved the discovery that boron-rich cluster compounds could act as strong photooxidants for use in polymer synthesis, the development of glycopolymer materials for the stabilization of protein therapeutics, and the use of organometallic reagents for biomolecule modification. He then went on to pursue postdoctoral research with Professor Christopher J. Chang at the University of California, Berkeley as an NIH/NIGMS MOSAIC K99/R00, UC President’s, and Chinook-Berkeley Postdoctoral Fellow. His research consisted of developing activity-based molecular tools to investigate the roles that reactive oxygen species and labile metals play in cellular signaling, homeostasis, and pathogenesis. Throughout his career, he has been committed to diversity efforts, teaching, and mentoring. His outreach activities as an undergraduate were through the university chemistry club and the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). In graduate school, held officer positions in multiple cross-campus organizations with the goal of increasing diversity in science such as the Organization for Cultural Diversity in Science (OCDS) and the Scientific Excellence through Diversity Seminar (SEDS) series at UCLA. As a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley, he is currently part of the Científico Latino Graduate School Mentorship Initiative (CL-GSMI). In his 'spare' time, Marco enjoys playing video games, playing with his dog Aubrey, and drinking wine.