Mark Cushman

Mark S. Cushman is an American chemist, whose primary research is in the area of medicinal chemistry. He completed his pre-pharmacy studies in Fresno State College (now California State University, Fresno) in 1965. He then attended the University of California San Francisco (as a University of California Regents Scholar), earning a Pharm.D. in 1969 and a Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry in 1973. Thereafter, he performed postdoctoral training in the laboratory of George Büchi, Ph.D., at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). There, his research focused on the discovery and development of new synthetic methodologies,[1] and the isolation and structural characterization of mycotoxins from Aspergillus niger.[2] In 1975, he joined the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Purdue University. From 1983 to 1984, Prof. Cushman was a Senior Fulbright Scholar at Munich Technical University working in the laboratory of Professor Adelbert Bacher. His sabbatical work dealt with the design and synthesis of probes to elucidate key aspects of the biosynthesis of riboflavin (vitamin B2).[3] Currently he holds the rank of Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Medicinal Chemistry at Purdue University.[4] He has mentored 40 graduate students, 59 postdoctoral researchers, and 5 visiting scholars. He has published 348 papers and holds 41 patents. His work has ~17,000 citations with an h-index of 69. His most cited papers had 471, 403, and 299 citations as of August 2021.[4] He has made seminal contributions to the fields of synthetic and medicinal chemistry including the development of new synthetic methodologies, the synthesis of natural products, and the preparation of antivirals, antibacterials, and anticancer agents, and mechanism probes to understand the function of over thirty macromolecular targets.[4] One of his main scientific contributions is the development of the indenoisoquinolines, molecules that inhibit the action of toposiomerase I (Top1) and stabilize the G-quadruplex in the Myc promoter.[5] Three indenoisoquinolines designed and synthesized by his research group at Purdue University [indotecan (LMP 400), indimitecan (LMP 776), and LMP 744] demonstrated potent anticancer activity in vivo and have completed phase I clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health.[6]

Personal life

Mark Cushman was born on August 20, 1945 in the city of Fresno, California.  A main influence during his formative years was his maternal grandfather, Stanley Borleske, who taught engineering and mathematics at Fresno State College. Mr. Borleske also worked as head football, basketball, and baseball coach at Fresno State College. Besides instilling his love for football, his grandfather influenced traits such as coaching/mentoring, hard-work, a special attention to detail, planning, ethics, and love for learning. These attributes have been the hallmarks of Professor Cushman's character.[7] 

The Castagnoli-Cushman Reaction

In the 1970, while working on the group of Neal Castagnoli, Jr., Ph.D., he reported and studied in detail the condensation of cyclic anhydrides with imines[8] (work that was based on a previous report by Castagnoli[9]). At that time, he used this organic transformation to prepare nitrogen analogues of tetrahydrocannabinol, the active constituent Cannabis sativa.[10] This reaction is currently known as the Castagnoli-Cushman reaction. This is a versatile transformation that can be used to generate polysubstituted lactam carboxylic acids.[11][12][13]

Awards and Honors

Professor Cushman has received various awards including:

Purdue University Chapter of Sigma Xi Research Award in Science and Engineering (2019)[14]

The Philip S. Portoghese Joint Lectureship sponsored by the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry (2018)[15]

The Ole Gisvold Lectureship in Medicinal Chemistry from the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Minnesota (2018)[16]

Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (2018)[17]

Highly Prolific Author by the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry (2017)[18]

Purdue Innovators Hall of Fame Inductee (2016)[19]

The University of California San Francisco 150th Anniversary Alumni Excellence Award (2015)[20]

The Webster-Sibilsky Lecturer, University of Illinois (2012)[21]

Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2012)[22]

Chaney Scholar Award for Exceptional Research (2012)[23]

Purdue Cancer Research Award (2004)[24]

National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellowship (1973-1975)[25]

Senior Fulbright Scholar (1983-1984)[25]

Others

Dr. Cushman served on the Editorial Advisory Board of The Journal of Organic Chemistry (1999-2004). He also served on the Editorial Advisory Board (2005-2010) and as Associate Editor (2012-2020) of The Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Gibson Oncology.

References
  1. Buchi, George; Cushman, Mark; Wuest, Hans (1974-08-01). "Conversion of allylic alcohols to homologous amides by N,N-dimethylformamide acetals". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 96 (17): 5563–5565. doi:10.1021/ja00824a041. ISSN 0002-7863.
  2. Anderegg, Robert J.; Biemann, Klaus; Buechi, George; Cushman, Mark (1976-05-01). "Malformin C, a new metabolite of Aspergillus niger". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 98 (11): 3365–3370. doi:10.1021/ja00427a051. ISSN 0002-7863.
  3. Cushman, Mark; Patrick, Donald A.; Bacher, Adelbert; Scheuring, Johannes (1991-07-01). "Synthesis of epimeric 6,7-bis(trifluoromethyl)-8-ribityllumazine hydrates. Stereoselective interaction with the light riboflavin synthase of Bacillus subtilis". The Journal of Organic Chemistry. 56 (15): 4603–4608. doi:10.1021/jo00015a009. ISSN 0022-3263.
  4. "Mark S. Cushman". Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  5. Wang, Kai-Bo; Elsayed, Mohamed S. A.; Wu, Guanhui; Deng, Nanjie; Cushman, Mark; Yang, Danzhou (2019-07-17). "Indenoisoquinoline Topoisomerase Inhibitors Strongly Bind and Stabilize the MYC Promoter G-Quadruplex and Downregulate MYC". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 141 (28): 11059–11070. doi:10.1021/jacs.9b02679. ISSN 0002-7863. PMC 7307421. PMID 31283877.
  6. Pommier, Yves; Cushman, Mark; Doroshow, James H. (2018-12-18). "Novel clinical indenoisoquinoline topoisomerase I inhibitors: a twist around the camptothecins". Oncotarget. 9 (99): 37286–37288. doi:10.18632/oncotarget.26466. ISSN 1949-2553. PMC 6324668. PMID 30647868.
  7. Conda-Sheridan, Martin (2019). "Editorial page, special issue honoring Professor Mark Cushman". Medicinal Research Reviews. 39 (4): 1233–1234. doi:10.1002/med.21583. ISSN 1098-1128.
  8. Cushman, Mark; Castagnoli, Neal (1973-02-01). "Novel approach to the synthesis of nitrogen analogs of the tetrahydrocannabinols". The Journal of Organic Chemistry. 38 (3): 440–448. doi:10.1021/jo00943a007. ISSN 0022-3263.
  9. Castagnoli, Neal (1969-10-01). "Condensation of succinic anhydride with N-benzylidene-N-methylamine. Stereoselective synthesis of trans- and cis-1-methyl-4-carboxy-5-phenyl-2-pyrrolidinone". The Journal of Organic Chemistry. 34 (10): 3187–3189. doi:10.1021/jo01262a081. ISSN 0022-3263.
  10. Cushman, M.; Castagnoli, N. (1974-05-31). "Synthesis of pharmacologically active nitrogen analogs of the tetrahydrocannabinols". The Journal of Organic Chemistry. 39 (11): 1546–1550. doi:10.1021/jo00924a021. ISSN 0022-3263. PMID 4833507.
  11. Mikheyev, Alexander; Kantin, Grigory; Krasavin, Mikhail (May 2018). "Aldazines in the Castagnoli–Cushman Reaction". Synthesis. 50 (10): 2076–2086. doi:10.1055/s-0037-1609375. ISSN 0039-7881.
  12. Howard, Sara Y.; Di Maso, Michael J.; Shimabukuro, Kristin; Burlow, Noah P.; Tan, Darlene Q.; Fettinger, James C.; Malig, Thomas C.; Hein, Jason E.; Shaw, Jared T. (2021-08-05). "Mechanistic Investigation of Castagnoli–Cushman Multicomponent Reactions Leading to a Three-Component Synthesis of Dihydroisoquinolones". The Journal of Organic Chemistry. doi:10.1021/acs.joc.1c01163. ISSN 0022-3263.
  13. Firsov, Andrei; Chupakhin, Evgeny; Dar’in, Dmitry; Bakulina, Olga; Krasavin, Mikhail (2019-03-15). "Three-Component Castagnoli–Cushman Reaction of 3-Arylglutaconic Acids with Aromatic Aldehydes and Amines Delivers Rare 4,6-Diaryl-1,6-dihydropyridin-2(3H)-ones". Organic Letters. 21 (6): 1637–1640. doi:10.1021/acs.orglett.9b00171. ISSN 1523-7060.
  14. "Purdue University Chapter of Sigma Xi Research Award in Science and Engineering".
  15. "Philip S. Portoghese Joint Lectureship".
  16. "Ole Gisvold Lectureship Award in Medicinal Chemistry".
  17. "National Academy of Inventors Fellow".
  18. "Highly Prolific Author by the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry".
  19. "Purdue Innovators Hall of Fame".
  20. "University of California San Francisco 150th Anniversary Alumni Excellence Award".
  21. "Webster-Sibilsky Lectureship".
  22. "American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellowship Award" (PDF).
  23. "Chaney Scholar Award for Exceptional Research".
  24. "Purdue Cancer Research Award".
  25. "Purdue trustees ratify appointments, honor administrators and athletes, confirm retirement plan change, approve coal purchase". www.purdue.edu. Retrieved 2021-08-27.


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