Rate My Professor Mark Quinn

Mark Quinn is a professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Director of the WA-MT Regional Program in Veterinary Medicine at Montana State University. He earned a B.A. in Biology and Chemistry from Point Loma College in San Diego, California, in 1982, and a Ph.D. in Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of California, San Diego, in 1987. From 1988 to 1989, he served as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. Quinn chairs the Montana State University Institutional Review Board and directs the Developmental Research Project Program for Montana INBRE. In 2021, he received the MSU Honorary Alumni Award.

Quinn's research specializes in inflammatory diseases, innate immunity, leukocyte biochemistry, and immunopharmacology. During his doctoral training, he examined the role of oxidized low-density lipoprotein in monocyte and macrophage chemotaxis during atherosclerosis. His postdoctoral studies focused on the composition and assembly of the human neutrophil NADPH oxidase, identification of a novel regulatory GTPase involved in its regulation, and characterization of intracellular signaling events associated with phagocyte activation during inflammation. Current investigations in the Quinn Lab target innate immune cells and host defense mechanisms, as well as the pharmacological effects of immunomodulatory compounds. His group identifies and characterizes synthetic small-molecule compounds exhibiting immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory activity through small molecule screening, medicinal chemistry, structure-activity relationship analysis, molecular modeling, and in vitro and in vivo pharmacological evaluations. Quinn has co-authored highly cited publications, including 'Oxidatively modified low density lipoproteins: a potential role in recruitment and retention of monocyte/macrophages during atherogenesis' (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1987), 'Botanical polysaccharides: macrophage immunomodulation and therapeutic potential' (International Immunopharmacology, 2006), and 'Structure and regulation of the neutrophil respiratory burst oxidase: comparison with nonphagocyte oxidases' (Journal of Leukocyte Biology, 2004).