Katherine N. Maloney, Ph.D.

Co-Chair, Chemistry Department
Professor of Chemistry

Dr. Katherine Maloney is an organic chemist who brings her expertise in natural products isolation and structure elucidation to the Chemistry Department. She first fell in love with organic chemistry as an undergraduate at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. She went on to get her Ph.D. in 2006 with Jon Clardy at Cornell University, and came back to the west coast for a post-doc with Bill Fenical at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Maloney began her independent career at Harvey Mudd College in 2009 before moving back to San Diego to join the PLNU faculty in 2012. When she’s not teaching or directing undergrads in the research lab, she enjoys spending time at the beach with her husband, Chris and sons Carlton & Timothy.

Dr. Maloney In the news:

  • Commenting on the college admissions scandal in an OpEd for Inside Higher Ed in 2019

  • Explaining her research on Citrus Greening Disease in Chemical & Engineering News in 2019

  • Describing her work in an episode of "Adventures in Genomics" produced by Illumina, entitled "Taking a Stab at Pierce's Disease." (She can be found at 4:25 in the seven-minute video.)

  • In an interview for the Back to School issue of San Diego Magazine in 2015

Education

  • Ph.D., Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University
  • B.S., Chemistry, Pacific Lutheran University
     

Courses Taught

  • Intro to General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry - CHE 1003
  • Intro to General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry Lab - CHE 1003L
  • Analytical Chemistry Lab - CHE2013L
  • Organic Chemistry I Lab – CHE 2094L
  • Organic Chemistry II – CHE 2096
  • Organic Chemistry II Lab – CHE 2096L
  • Organic Structure Elucidation – CHE 3051
  • Organic Structure Elucidation Lab – CHE 3051L
  • Instrumental Analysis – CHE 3070
  • Instrumental Analysis Lab – CHE 3070L
  • Natural Product Biosynthesis
  • Research in Chemistry – CHE 4099
  • Tiny Earth Chemistry

Experience in Field

  • Harvard University, Visiting Scholar in the Balskus Lab, 2022 – 2023
  • UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Visiting Scholar in the Dorrestein Lab, 2019 – 2020
  • Point Loma Nazarene University, Professor, 2018 – present; Associate Professor, 2014 – 2018; Assistant Professor, 2012 – 2014
  • Harvey Mudd College, Assistant Professor, 2009 – 2011
  • Scripps Institution of Oceanography/UCSD, Cancer Therapeutics Training Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2006 – 2009
  • Harvard University, Teaching Fellow, 2004 – 2006
  • Cornell University, Teaching Assistant, 2000 – 2001
  • University of Washington, Undergraduate Researcher NSF-REU, 1999
  • Pacific Lutheran University, Undergraduate Researcher, 1997 – 1998

Professional and Community Involvement

  • Associate Editor, Journal of Natural Products, 2023 - present
  • ACS National Award Selection Committee (2025-2027 award cycle)
  • Immediate Past Chair, ACS Division of Organic Chemistry, 2024
  • Chair, ACS Division of Organic Chemistry, 2023
  • Chair-Elect, ACS Division of Organic Chemistry, 2022
  • Member, 2022 and 2023 National Organic Symposium Organizing Committees
  • ACS National Award Selection Committee (2022-2024 award cycle)
  • ACS Publications Award Committees, (served on 3 confidential committees in 2023 & 2024)
  • Councilor, ACS Division of Organic Chemistry 2018 - 2022
  • Tiny Earth Curriculum Committee (Chair, Tiny Earth Chemistry Course Working Group), 2020-
  • Alternate Councilor, ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Executive Committee, 2015 – 2017
  • 2016 Organic Chemistry Examination Committee, ACS Division of Chemical Education Examinations Institute
  • Expert Reviewer/Panelist, NSF (S-STEM & MRI), 2019, 2015, 2010; Citrus Research Board, 2018, 2019; ACS Petroleum Research Fund Undergraduate New Investigator Research Grant program, 2015; North Carolina Biotechnology Center Biotechnology Research Grant program, 2015
  • Manuscript Reviewer: Organic Letters; Journal of Natural Products; Marine Drugs; Metabolites; Phytochemistry, 2008 – present
  • Member-At-Large, ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Executive Committee (Chaired Membership Committee; member of Graduate Fellowship, Membership, and Communications Committees; headed up Social Media initiative), 2012 – 2014
  • Workshop Leader, WEST Conference, Harvey Mudd College, 2008 – 2011
  • Program Co-Chair, San Diego Expanding Your Horizons Conference, 2006 – 2009
  • Volunteer for a variety of science outreach activities in San Diego, including BE WiSE, Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair, San Diego Science Olympiad, National Ocean Sciences Bowl, and Reuben H. Fleet Saturday Science Club for Girls; 2007 – 2010

Awards and Honors

  • Excellence in Teaching Award, PLNU, 2021
  • Cancer Therapeutics Training Fellowship, UCSD Moores Cancer Center, 2007 – 2009
  • Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Harvard University, 2005 and 2006
  • American Chemical Society Travel Award, 2005
  • American Society of Pharmacognosy Lynn Brady Travel Award, 2005
  • NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 2001 – 2004
  • Herman & Margaret Sokol Fellowship, 2001
  • Cornell University Graduate Fellowship, 2000 – 2001
  • American Institute of Chemists Award, 2000
  • NSF REU Fellowship, University of Washington, 1999
  • Barry Goldwater Scholarship, 1999
  • Robert C. Byrd Scholarship, 1996-2001

Dissertations, Presentations, and Publications

  • Roper, M.C.; Rolshausen, P.; Lockner, J.; Maloney, K. Citrus Huanglongbing Therapeutic Compounds. (2023) US Patent App. 17/794,527.
  • Petras, D.; Phelan, V. V.; Acharya, D.; Allen, A. E.; Aron, A. T.; Bandeira, N.; Bowen, B. P. Belle-Oudry, D.; Boecker, S.; Cummings Jr., D. A.; Deutsch, J. M.; Fahy, E.; Garg, N.; Gregor, R.; Handelsman, J.; Navarro-Hoyos, M.; Jarmusch, A. K.; Jarmusch, S. A.; Louie, K.; Maloney, K. N.; Marty, M. T.; Meijler, M. M.; Mizrahi, I.; Neve, R. L.; Northen, T. R.; Molina-Santiago, C.; Panitchpakdi, M.; Pullman, B.; Puri, A. W.; Schmid, R.; Subramaniam, S.; Thukral, M.; Vasquez-Castro, F.; Dorrestein, P. C.; Wang, M. GNPS Dashboard: Collaborative exploration of mass spectrometry data in the web browser. Nat. Methods. 2022, 19, 134-136.
  • Schorn, M. A.; Verhoeven, S.; Ridder, L.; Huber, F.; Acharya, D. D.; Aksenov, A. A.; Aleti, G.; Moghaddam, J. A.; Aron, A. T.; Aziz, S.; Bauermeister, A.; Bauman, K. D.; Baunach, M.; Beemelmanns, C.; Beman, J. M.; Berlanga-Clavero, M. V.; Blacutt, A. A.; Bode, H. B.; Boullie, A.; Brejnrod, A.; Bugni, T. S.; Calteau, A.; Cao, L.; Carrion, V. J.; Castelo-Branco, R.; Chanana, S.; Chase, A. B.; Chevrette, M. G.; Costa-Lotufo, L. V.; Crawford, J. M.; Currie, C. R.; Cuypers, B.; Dang, T.; de Rond, T.; Demko, A. M.; Dittmann, E.; Du, C.; Drozd, C.; Dujardin, J.-C.; Dutton, R. J.; Edlund, A.; Fewer, D. P.; Garg, N.; Gauglitz, J. M.; Gentry, E. C.; Gerwick, L.; Glukhov, E.; Gross, H.; Gugger, M.; Guillén Matus, D. G.; Helfrich, E. J. N.; Hempel, B.-F.; Hur, J.-S.; Iorio, M.; Jensen, P. R.; Kang, K. B.; Kaysser, L.; Kelleher, N. L.; Kim, C. S.; Kim, K. H.; Koester, I.; König, G. M.; Leao, T.; Lee, S. R.; Lee, Y.-Y.; Li, X.; Little, J. C.; Maloney, K. N.; Männle, D.; Martin H., C.; McAvoy, A. C.; Metcalf, W. W.; Mohimani, H.; Molina-Santiago, C.; Moore, B. S.; Mullowney, M. W.; Muskat, M.; Nothias, L. F.; O'Neill, E. C.; Parkinson, E. I.; Petras, D.; Piel, J.; Pierce, E.; Pires, K.; Reher, R.; Romero, D.; Roper, M. C.; Rust, M.; Saad, H.; Saenz, C.; Sanchez, L. M.; Sørensen, S. J.; Sosio, M.; Süssmuth, R. D.; Sweeney, D.; Tahlan, K.; Thomson, R. J.; Tobias, N. J.; Trindade-Silva, A. E.; van Wezel, G. P.; Wang, M.; Weldon, K. C.; Zhang, F.; Ziemert, N.; Duncan, K. R.; Crüsemann, M.; Rogers, S.; Dorrestein, P. C.; Medema, M. H.; van der Hooft, J. J. J. A community resource for paired genomic and metabolomic data mining. Nat. Chem. Biol. 2021, 17, 363-368. 
  • Aksenov, A. A.; Laponogov, I.; Zhang, Z.; Doran, S. L. F.; Belluomo, I.; Veselkov, D.; Bittremieux, W.; Nothias, L. F.; Nothias-Esposito, M.; Maloney, K. N.; Misra, B. B.; Melnik, A. V.; Smirnov, A.; Du, X.; Jones, K. L.; Dorrestein, K.; Panitchpakdi, M.; Ernst, M.; van der Hooft, J. J. J.; Gonzalez, M.; Carazzone, C.; Amézquita, A.; Callewaert, C.; Morton, J. T.; Quinn, R. A.; Bouslimani, A.; Orio, A. A.; Petras, D.; Smania, A. M.; Couvillion, S. P.; Burnet, M. C.; Nicora, C. D.; Zink, E.; Metz, T. O; Artaev, V.; Humston-Fulmer, E.; Gregor, R.; Meijler, M. M.; Mizrahi, I.; Eyal, S.; Anderson, B.; Dutton, R.; Lugan, R.; Boulch, P. L.; Guitton, Y.; Prevost, S.; Poirier, A.; Dervilly, G.; Le Bizec, B.; Fait, A.; Persi, N. S.; Song, C.; Gashu, K.; Coras, R.; Guma, M.; Manasson, J.; Scher, J. U.; Barupal, D. K.; Alseekh, S.; Fernie, A. R.; Mirnezami, R.; Vasiliou, V.; Schmid, R.; Borisov, R. S.; Kulikova, L. N.; Knight, R.; Wang, M.; Hanna, G. B.; Dorrestein, P. C.; Veselkov, K. Auto-deconvolution and molecular networking of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry data. Nat. Biotechnol. 2021, 39, 169-173. 
  • Brandenburg, C. A.*; Castro, C. A.; Blacutt, A. A.; Costa, E. A.; Brinton, K. C.*; Corral, D. W.*; Drozd, C. L.; Roper, M. C.; Rolshausen, P. E.; Maloney, K. N.; Lockner, J. W. Synthesis of deoxyradicinin, an inhibitor of Xylella fastidiosa and Liberibacter crescens, a culturable surrogate for Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus. J. Nat. Prod. 2020, 83: 6, 1810-1816. 
  • Blacutt, A.; Ginnan, N.; Dang, T.; Bodaghi, S.; Vidalakis, G.; Ruegger, P.; Peacock, B.; Viravathana, P.; Campos Vieira, F.; Drozd, C.; Jablonska, B.; Borneman, J.; McCollum, G.; Cordoza, J.*; Meloch, J.*; Berry, V.*; Lozano Salazar, L.*; Maloney, K. N.; Rolshausen, P. E.; Roper, M. C. An in vitro pipeline to screen and select citrus-associated microbiota with potential anti-Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus properties. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 2020, 86: 8, e02883-19.
  • Maloney, K. N.; Botts, R. T.; Davis, T. S.*; Okada, B. K.*; Maloney, E. M.*; Leber, C. A.; Alvarado, O.*; Brayton, C.*; Caraballo, M.; Chari, J. V.*; Chicoine, B.*; Crompton, J. C.*; Davis, S. R.*; Gromek, S. M.; Kurnianda, V.; Quach, K.*; Samples, R. M.; Shieh, V.*; Sultana, C. M.*; Tanaka, J.; Dorrestein, P. C.; Balunas, M. J.; McFadden, C. S. “Cryptic species account for the seemingly idiosyncratic secondary metabolism of Sarcophyton glaucum specimens collected in Palau.” J. Nat. Prod. 2020, 83: 3, 693-705.
  • Maloney, K. “In Praise of a Nonelite Education” Inside Higher Ed, 22 May 2019. Op-ed. insidehighered.com/advice/2019/05/22/nonelite-colleges-can-give-students-excellent-education-and-phd-grads-chance-grow
  • Rolshausen, P.; Roper, M. C.; Maloney, K. N.; Aldrich, T.* Identification of fungi antagonistic to Xylella fastidiosa. (2019) US Patent 10,238,118. 
  • Kearney, S. E.; Zahoránszky-Köhalmi, G; Brimacombe, K. R.; Henderson, M. J.; Lynch, C.; Zhao, T.; Wan, K. K.; Itkin, Z.; Dillon, C.; Shen, M., Cheff, D. M.; Lee, T. D.; Bougie, D.; Cheng, K.; Coussens, N. P.; Dorjsuren, D.; Eastman, R. T.; Huang, R.; Iannotti, M. J.; Karavadhi, S.; Klumpp-Thomas, C.; Roth, J. S.; Sakamuru, S.; Sun, W.; Titus, S. A.; Yasgar, A.; Zhang, Y.; Zhao, J.; Andrade, R. B.; Brown, M. K.; Burns, N. Z.; Cha, J. K.; Mevers, E. E.; Clardy, J.; Clement, J. A.; Crooks, P. A.; Cuny, G. D.; Ganor, J.; Moreno, J.; Morrill, L. A.; Picazo, E.; Susick, R. B.; Garg, N. K.; Goess, B. C.; Grossman, R. B.; Hughes, C. C.; Johnston, J. N.; Joullie, M. M.; Kinghorn, A. D.; Kingston, D. G. I.; Krische, M. J.; Kwon, O.; Maimone, T. J.; Murphy, B. T.; Nagorny, P.; Majumdar, S.; Maloney, K. N.; Mohamed, E.; Olson, D. E.; Overman, L. E.; Brown, L. E.; Snyder, J. K.; Porco, J. A., Jr.; Sharma, I.; Shaw, J. T.; Rivas, F.; Ross, S. A.; Sarpong, R.; Xu, Z.; Shen, B.; Shi, W.; Stephenson, C. R. J.; Tang, Y.; Taylor, R. E.; Thomson, R. J.; Wuest, W. M.; Zakarian, A.; Zhang, Y.; Verano, A. L.; Tan, D. S.; Vosburg, D. A.; Wu, J.; Ren, T.; Zuo, Z.; Inglese, J.; Michael, S.; Simeonov, A.; Zheng, W.; Shinn, P.; Jadhav, A.; Boxer, M. B.; Hall, M. D.; Xia, M.; Guha, R.; Rohde, J. M. "Canvass: A Crowd-Sourced, Natural-Product Screening Library for Exploring Biological Space" ACS Cent. Sci. 2018, 4, 1727-1741.
  • Kim, D.; Lee, E. J.; Lee, J.; Leutou, A. S.; Shin, Y.-H.; Choi, B.; Hwang, J. S.; Hahn, D.; Choi, H.; Chin, J.; Cho, S. J.; Hong, Y. D.; Ko, J.; Seong, C. N.; Maloney, K. N.; Oh, D.-C.; Yang, I.; Hwang, H.; Nam, S.-J. “Antartin, a cytotoxic zizaane-type sesquiterpenoid from a Streptomyces sp. isolated from an Antarctic marine sediment.” Marine Drugs 2018, 16, 130.
  • Aldrich, T. J.*; Rolshausen, P.; Roper, M. C.; Reader, J. M.*; Steinhaus, M. J.*;  Rapicavoli, J.; Vosburg, D. A.; Maloney, K. N. “Radicinin from Cochliobolus sp. inhibits Xylella fastidiosa, the causal agent of Pierce’s Disease of grapevine” Phytochemistry 2015, 116, 130-137
  • Sun, P.; Maloney, K. N.; Nam, S.-J.; Haste, N. M.; Raju, R.; Aalbersberg, W.; Jensen, P. R.; Nizet, V.; Hensler, M. E.; Fenical, W. “Fijimycins A-C, three antibacterial etamycin-class depsipeptides from a marine-derived Streptomyces sp.” Bioorg. Med. Chem. 2011, 19 (22), 6557-6562

See More Dissertations, Presentations, and Publications

  • Udwary, D. W.; Gontang, E. A.; Jones, A. C.; Schultz, A. W.; Sorrels, C. M.; Winter, J. M.; Yang, J. Y.; Beauchemind, N.; Capson, T. L.; Clark, B. R.; Esquenazi, E.; Eustáquio, A. S.; Freel, K.; Gonzalez, D. J.; Gerwick, L; Gerwick, W. H.;  Liu, W.-T.; Malloy, K. L.; Maloney, K. N.; Nett, M.; Nunnery, J. K.; Penn, K.; Prieto-Davo, A.; Simmons, T. L.; Weitz, S.; Wilson, M. C.; Tisad, L. S.; Dorrestein, P. C.; Moore, B. S. “Significant natural product biosynthetic potential of actinorhizal symbionts of the genus Frankia, as revealed by comparative genomic and proteomic analyses.” Appl. Environ. Microb. 2011, 77 (11), 3617-3625
  • Choi,Y.; Jermihov, K.; Nam, S.; Sturdy, M.; Maloney, K. ; Qiu, X.; Main, M.; Mesecar, A. D.; Pauli, G. F.; Fenical, W. Pezzuto, J. M.; van Breemen, R. R. “Screening natural products for inhibitors of quinone reductase-2 using ultrafiltration LC-MS.” Anal. Chem. 2011, 83 (3), 1048-1052
  • Murphy, B. T.; Maloney, K. N.; Fenical, W., 2011, Natural Products from Marine Microorganisms. In Natural Products: Phytochemistry and Pharmacognosy. Pezzuto, J. M.; Kato M. J., Eds.; in Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), Developed under the Auspices of the UNESCO, Eolss Publishers, Paris, France.
  • Haste, N. M.; Perera, V.; Maloney, K. N.; Tran, D. N.; Jensen, P. R.; Fenical, W.; Nizet, V.; Hensler, M. E. “Activity of the streptogramin antibiotic etamycin against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.” J. Antibiot. 2010, 63 (5), 219-224
  • Clardy, J. C.; Maloney, K. N.; Schroeder, F. C. Bioplastics based on polymers extracted from cultured media of carbohydrates and a fungus. PCT Int. Appl. (2009), WO 2009045719 A2 20090409
  • Maloney, K. N.; MacMillan, J. B.; Kauffman, C. A.; Jensen, P. R.; DiPasquale, A. G.; Rheingold, A. L.; Fenical, W. “Lodopyridone, a structurally-unprecedented alkaloid from a marine actinomycete.” Org. Lett. 2009, 11 (23), 5422-5424
  • Maloney, K. N.; Fujita, M.; Eggert., U. S.; Schroeder, F. C.; Field, C. M.; Mitchison, T. J.; Clardy J. “Actin-aggregating cucurbitacins from Physocarpus capitatus.” J. Nat. Prod. 2008, 71 (11), 1927-1929
  • Maloney, K. N.; Hao, W.; Xu, J.; Gibbons, J.; Hucul, J.; Roll, D.; Brady, S. F.; Schroeder, F. C.; Clardy, J. “Phaeosphaeride A, a selective inhibitor of STAT3-dependent signaling isolated from an endophytic fungus.” Org. Lett. 2006, 8 (18), 4067-4070
  • Smith, P. L.; Maloney, K. N.; Pothen, R. G.; Clardy, J.; Clapham, D. E. “Bisandrographolide from Andrographis paniculata activates TRPV4 channels.” J. Biol. Chem. 2006, 281 (40), 29897-29904
  • Hieronymus, H.; Lamb, J.; Ross, K. N.; Clement, C.; Peng, X. P.; Rodina, A.; Nieto, M.; Du, J.; Stegmaier, K.; Raj, S. M.; Maloney, K. N.; Clardy, J.; Hahn, W. C.; Chiosis, G.; Golub T. R. “Gene expression signature-based chemical genomic prediction identifies novel class of HSP90 pathway modulators.” Cancer Cell 2006, 10 (4), 321-330.
  • Maloney, K. N. “Book Review: Natural Products Isolation, Second Edition. Satyajit D. Sarker, Zahid Latif, and Alexander I. Gray, Editors. Humana Press.” Chemical Educator 2006, 11 (2), 146-147.
  • Dissertation: Biologically active natural products from plants and their endophytes, 2006