Rate My Professor Mandë Holford

Holford's research explores venoms and venomous animals as agents of molecular evolution and sources of therapeutic innovations, particularly in marine mollusks such as predatory snails, squids, octopuses, and cuttlefish. Her laboratory uses evolutionary frameworks to identify and characterize disulfide-rich venom peptides for potential treatments targeting pain, cancer, and other diseases, including those affecting dysregulated ion channels in liver tumors. She develops genetically tractable invertebrate venom gland systems to investigate rapidly evolving genes, gene expression, and physiological functions. Holford's contributions include advancing venom-derived drug candidates, such as those from terebrid snails for liver cancer, paralleling established therapies like the cone snail-derived painkiller Prialt and Gila monster venom-inspired Ozempic. Key publications include "Targeting Dysregulated Ion Channels in Liver Tumors with Venom Peptides" (Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, 2023), "Phylogenomics of Neogastropoda: the backbone hidden in the bush" (Systematic Biology, 2024), and "A Proposed Unified, Scalable Platform for Integrative Research on Venomous Species" (GigaScience, 2025). She has earned distinction through election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2025), the NIH Director's Pioneer Award (2023, the first for a CUNY researcher), NSF CAREER Award (2012), Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship. Holford co-founded Killer Snails, LLC, an award-winning EdTech company, and 2030STEM to advance STEM education and inclusion for underrepresented professionals, while overseeing Harvard's aquatic lab for venomous cephalopods.