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Curriculum Vitae
MARK DOUGLAS VAUGHAN
Home:
415 E. 23rd Ave.
Vancouver, BC
V5V 1X7
[email protected]
Lab:
Department of Chemistry
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC
V6T 1Z1
Telephone: (604) 822-9300
Fax: (604) 822-8869
EDUCATION
 Ph.D., Chemistry, University of Waterloo, 2003. Thesis Title, “Introduction of Novel
Chemical Functionalities into Proteins Through Unnatural Amino Acid Mutagenesis,”
Supervisor, Dr. J. F. Honek.
 B.Sc. (Honours), Biochemistry, Dalhousie University, 1998, Thesis Title, “An Assay for
Mandelate Racemase Using High Performance Liquid Chromatography,” Supervisor, Dr. S.
L. Bearne
EXPERIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
December, 2003-present
Post-doctoral Research Fellow (Supervisor: Professor S. G. Withers, Dept. of Chemistry)
 Research in the field of biological chemistry, involving enzyme engineering for industrialscale syntheses, investigation of enzyme mechanism, and synthesis of carbohydrate and lipid
molecules
UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
September, 1998-November, 2003
Graduate Student/Research Assistant (Supervisor: Professor J. F. Honek, Dept. of Chemistry)
 Research in biological chemistry, including the synthesis of fluorinated amino acid analogues
for application as biochemical and biophysical probes of protein structure and function,
mechanistic enzymology, protein purification and characterization, and 19F NMR
spectroscopy
Teaching Assistant (Supervisor: M. van de Lande, Dept. of Chemistry)

Supervision of advanced undergraduate biochemistry laboratories
DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY
September, 1998-April, 1998
Undergraduate Research Assistant (Supervisor: Professor S. L. Bearne, Dept. of
Biochemistry)
 Research focused on the development of a novel activity assay for the enzyme mandelate
racemase utilizing chiral high performance liquid chromatography to monitor the progress of
the enzymatic reaction
RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS
Refereed Journal Publications:
Vaughan, M. D., Sampson, P. B., Daub, E., and Honek, J. F. (2005) Investigation of
Bioisosteric Effects on the Interaction of Substrates/Inhibitors with the Methionyl-tRNA
Synthetase from Escherichia col. Medicinal Chemistry. 1, 227-237.
Crepin, T., Schmitt, E., Mechulam, Y.., Sampson, P. B., Vaughan, M. D., Honek, J. F., and
Blanquet, S. (2003) Use of analogues of methionine and methionyl adenylate to sample
conformational changes during catalysis in Escherichia coli methionyl-tRNA synthetase.
Journal of Molecular Biology. 332, 59-72.
Salopek-Sondi, B., Vaughan, M. D., Skeels, M. C., Honek, J. F., and Luck, L. A. (2003) 19F
NMR Studies of the Leucine-Isoleucine-Valine Binding Protein: Evidence That a Closed
Conformation Exists in Solution. Journal of Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics. 21, 235246.
Vaughan, M. D., Sampson, P. B., and Honek, J. F. (2002) Methionine in and out of proteins:
Targets for drug design. Current Medicinal Chemistry. 9, 385-409.
Vaughan, M. D., Cleve, P., Robinson, V., Duewel, H. S., and Honek, J. F. (1999)
Difluoromethionine as a novel 19F NMR structural probe for internal amino acid packing in
proteins. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 121, 8475-8478.
Bearne, S. L., St-Maurice, M., and Vaughan, M. D. (1999) An assay for mandelate racemase
using high performance liquid chromatography. Analytical Biochemistry. 269, 332-336.
Patent:
Johnson, K. F., DeFrees, S., Withers, S. G., and Vaughan, M. D. Amino acid mutations
converting hydrolytic activity of endoglycoceramidase to a synthetic activity. PCT Int. Appl. 47
pp.
Conference Presentations (name of primary presenter underlined):
Vaughan, M. D., and Honek, J. F. Incorporation of a Novel Chemically Reactive Analogue of
Methionine into Bacteriophage  Lytic Transglycosylase. Poster presentation, 42nd IUPAC
Congress and 86th Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC) Conference and Exhibition, August 917, 2003, Ottawa, ON.
Vaughan, M. D., Daub, E., and Honek, J. F. Efforts toward expanding the substrate selectivity
of E. coli methionyl-tRNA synthetase. Oral presentation, 85th Canadian Society for Chemistry
Conference and Exhibition, June 1 – 5, 2002, Vancouver, BC.
Vaughan, M. D., Daub, E., and Honek, J. F. Evaluation of Fluorinated Methionine Analogues
as Substrates for Escherichia coli Methionyl-tRNA Synthetase: Implications in Unnatural Amino
Acid Incorporation into Proteins. Oral presentation, 84th Annual Canadian Society for Chemistry
Conference and Exhibition, May 26 – 30, 2001, Montreal, Quebec.
Vaughan, M. D., Cleve, P., Robinson, V., Daub, E., and Honek, J. F. The difluoromethyl group
as a novel 19F NMR probe of protein structure and function. Poster presentation, American
Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Joint Meeting: Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology ’99, May 16 – 20, 1999, San Francisco, California.
Vaughan, M. D., Cleve, P., Robinson, V., Daub, E., and Honek, J. F. The difluoromethyl group
as a novel 19F NMR probe of protein structure and function. Poster presentation, 9th Annual
Quebec/Ontario Minisymposium in Bio-organic and Synthetic Organic Chemistry, October 30 –
November 1, 1998, St. Catharines, Ontario.
Bearne, S. L., and Vaughan, M. D. An assay for mandelate racemase using high performance
liquid chromatography. Poster presentation, 81st Annual Canadian Society for Chemistry
Conference and Exhibition, May 31 – June 4, 1998, Whistler, British Columbia.
AWARDS
 W. B. Pearson Award (University of Waterloo) in recognition of creative research presented
in a doctoral thesis, 2004
 Nominated for 2004 CAGS/UMI Distinguished Dissertation Award
 MacNeil Graduate Scholarship in Natural Products Chemistry, 2003 ($1500)
 NSERC PGS B Graduate Scholarship, May 2001 – April 2003 ($19,100/an)
 David Holden Memorial Scholarship, 2002 ($750)
 Guelph-Waterloo Centre for Graduate Work in Chemistry Ph.D. Seminar Prize, 2002 ($100)
 University of Waterloo Teaching Assistant Award, 2000-2001 ($100)
 University of Waterloo Research Accomplishment Award, 2001 ($1000)
 Ontario Graduate Scholarship, May 2000 – April 2001 ($15,000)
 Ontario Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology, Jan. 2000 – April 2000 ($5000)
 University of Waterloo Research Accomplishment Award, 1999 ($500)
 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Student Travel Award, May 1999
($400 USD)
 Dalhousie University Faculty of Science Dean’s Honour Roll, 1999.
TECHNICAL SKILLS
 Enzymology – assay development, kinetic analysis, engineering of novel catalytic activities
 Protein expression and purification
 Organic synthesis, focusing on amino acids, nucleosides, carbohydrates, glycolipids, and other
bioactive compounds
 Molecular biology techniques – cloning, site-directed mutagenesis
 Purification techniques for proteins and small molecules: column chromatography, HPLC,
and FPLC (ion-exchange, gel filtration, normal and reversed phase, affinity chromatography)
 NMR spectroscopy of proteins and small molecules, with specialization in 19F NMR
 Electrospray and MALDI mass spectrometry of proteins and small molecules
 Molecular Modeling: semi-empirical and ab initio methods using Gaussian 98, PC Spartan,
and Jaguar programs
 Experience in handling radioisotopes, including 32P and 35S
 Isothermal titration calorimetry, differential scanning calorimetry
REFERENCES
Dr. Stephen G. Withers
Professor
Department of Chemistry
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6T 1Z1
(604) 822-3402
[email protected]
Dr. John F. Honek
Professor
Department of Chemistry
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario
N2L 3G1
(519) 888-5817
[email protected]
Dr. Stephen L. Bearne
Associate Professor
Department of Biochemistry
Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3H 3J5
(902) 494-1974
[email protected]