Bradley D Smith

Bradley D. Smith (born 1961) is an Australian-born American chemist and academic known for his work in Supramolecular chemistry and molecular imaging. He is the Emil T. Hofman Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame, where he has been on the faculty since 1991, and serves as director of Notre Dame’s Integrated Imaging Facility. Smith’s research focuses on the design of smart molecules for imaging and targeting in biological systems, including the development of fluorescent probes and molecular targeting technologies for detecting cancer, cell death, and microbial infections. He is especially known for squaraine rotaxane dyes and zinc(II)-dipicolylamine targeting agents, and has published extensively in these areas.

Early life and education Smith was born in 1961 in Melbourne, Australia. He grew up in rural Australia and earned a Bachelor of Science degree with first-class honors from the University of Melbourne in 1983.

Throughout his career at Notre Dame, Smith has taught organic chemistry at the undergraduate and graduate levels. In 2005–2007, Smith and coworkers reported the first squaraine-rotaxane molecules and demonstrated their utility as robust NIR fluorescent probes.

Another area of Smith’s research is the development of zinc(II)-dipicolylamine (Zn-DPA) coordination complexes as targeting agents for anionic membranes. Zn-DPA molecular probes, pioneered by Smith’s lab, selectively bind to negatively charged phospholipid surfaces which are characteristic of certain pathological states.

In addition to these areas, Smith’s research group has made contributions to other facets of supramolecular chemistry, including synthetic anion receptors and membrane transporters, dendritic polymers for drug delivery, and bio-mimetic host–guest systems. Smith has authored over 260 peer-reviewed research articles and holds several U.S. patents on molecular probes.

Awards and honors JSPS Visiting Fellow, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (2008) Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2010) Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) (2012)

Selected publications Arunkumar, E.; Forbes, C. C.; Noll, B. C.; Smith, B. D. (2005). "Squaraine-derived rotaxanes: sterically protected fluorescent near-IR dyes". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 127 (10): 3288–3289. Johnson, J. R.; Arunkumar, E.; St. Croix, C. M.; Jokerst, J. V.; Panchapakesan, B.; Smith, B. D. (2007). "Squaraine rotaxanes: superior substitutes for Cy-5 in molecular probes for near-infrared fluorescence cell imaging". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 46 (29): 5528–5531. Rice, D. R.; Clear, K. J.; Smith, B. D. (2016). "Imaging and therapeutic applications of zinc(II)-dipicolylamine molecular probes for anionic biomembranes". Chemical Communications. 52: 8787–8801.