Mark Nitz

Mark Nitz is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on bio-organic chemistry and chemical biology, with specialties in Mass Cytometry reagent development, bacterial glycobiology (particularly poly-N-acetylglucosamine), and the creation of novel bioorthogonal reactions.

Research Interests:

• Mass Cytometry: Developing heavy-atom probes (e.g., tellurium) for high-parameter biological analysis in vivo.
• Bacterial Glycobiology: Investigating polysaccharide synthesis (PNAG) in bacteria, developing inhibitors through in vitro enzyme studies and bacterial system validations.
• Novel Reactions: Exploring hydrazine/hydroxylamine chemistry with carbohydrates and aqueous tellurophene reactions for bioorthogonal applications.

Recent Work: His lab published a breakthrough in 2024 detailing the OSTAC reaction, enabling selective protein labeling in complex systems. This integrates seamlessly with existing techniques like SPAAC and CuAAC.

Advising: Dr. Nitz has guided PhD students Jamie Bu, Nicole Potter, and Stephanie Sebastiampillai. His team actively collaborates on structural biology projects, including co-crystal structure determinations.

Labs/Teams: The Nitz Lab, located in the Lash Miller Chemical Laboratories (St. George Campus), emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to chemical biology challenges, blending synthetic chemistry with biological applications.