Jonathan Schmidt

Education

BSc (4-year) Toronto, PhD Toronto

Research

insect sensory and hormonal physiology, biological control, Collembolan ecotoxicology, spiders in agroecosystems

Publications

Patents:

U.S. Patent # 5,699,268

Computational method for designing chemical structures having common functional characteristics. Inventor:  Schmidt, J.M.

U.S. Patent # 6,599,921 

Non-steroidal estrogen receptor ligands. Inventors: Schmidt, J. M., Mercure, J., Lowell, J., Kwiatkowski, S., Pupek, K., Zhu, S., Whelan, J., and  Lazarowych, N.

U.S. Patent # 6,632,835

Dibenzo[c]chromen-6-one derivatives as anti-cancer agents. Inventors: Schmidt, J.M., Redden, P., Mercure, J., Zhu, S., Whelan, J. and Lazarowych, N.

Papers:

Schmidt, J.M. and J.J.B. Smith. 1987. Short time interval measurement by a parasitic wasp. Science 237: 903-905.

Schmidt, J.M. 1992. The role of physical factors in tritrophic interactions. Redia: 74: 43-93.

Schmidt, J.M. 1994. Host recognition and acceptence by Trichogramma. In: Biological Control with Egg Parasitoids. E. Wajnberg and S.A. Hassan (Eds.) C. A. B. International. 165-200

Schmidt, J.M., P.C. Richards, H. Nadel, and G. Ferguson. 1995.  A rearing method for the production of large number of the insidious flower bug, Orius insidiosus (Say) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae). Can. Ent. 127: 445-447.

Schmidt, J.M., J.Taylor and J.A. Rosenheim. 1998. Cannibalism and Intraguild Predation in the Predatory Hemiptera. In:  Predatory Heteroptera: their ecology and use in biological control. M. Coll and J.R. Ruberson (Eds.) Thomas Say Publication 131-169.

Labute, P., C. Williams, M. Fehér, E. Sourial, J.M. Schmidt, 2001. Flexible Alignment of Small Molecules. J. Med. Chem.  44:  1483-1490.

Fehér, M., E. Sourial and J.M. Schmidt, 2000. A Simple Model for the Prediction of Blood-Brain Partitioning. Int. J. Pharm. 201: 239-247.

Fehér, M. and J.M. Schmidt, 2003. Property Distributions: Differences between drugs, natural compounds and molecules from combinatorial chemistry. J. Chem. Inf. Comput. Sci. 43: 218-227.

Fehér, M. and J.M. Schmidt, 2003. Fuzzy Clustering as a Means of Selecting Representative Conformers and Molecular Alignments. J. Chem. Inf. Comput. Sci. 43(3): 810-8.

Schmidt J.M., G.B. Tremblay, M.Page, J. Mercure, M. Fehér, R. Dunn-Dufault, M.G. Peter and P.R. Redden 2003. Synthesis and evaluation of a novel nonsteroidal-specific endothelial cell proliferation inhibitor. J. Med. Chem. 46(8):1289-92.

Schmidt, J.M., G.B. Tremblay, M.A. Plastina, F. Ma, S. Bhal, M. Fehér, R. Dunn-Dufault and P.R. Redden, 2005. In vitro evaluation of the anti-estrogenic activity of hydroxyl substituted diphenylnaphthyl alkene ligands for the estrogen receptor. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 13: 1819–1828.

Awards

John Bell Award 2013 (University of Guelph)

Research Area

insect sensory and hormonal physiology, biological control and integrated pest management, ecotoxicology of Collembola (springtails), litter decomposition and composting, computational chemistry and molecular design, spider ecology

I was born in Saskatchewan and spent my childhood in Chatham, London and Markham, Ontario. A graduate of the University of Toronto Schools, I received my B.Sc. with highest distinction from the University of Toronto in 1981. I subsequently attended the University of Tübingen as a German Academic Exchange Fellow in Biological Cybernetics, returning to Toronto in 1982 to complete my Ph.D.  in insect sensory physiology with Prof. J.J.B. Smith at the Department of Zoology. From 1987 to 1988 I was a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands, where I studied the use of natural enemies to control plant pests under Prof. J. van Lenteren.

In 1988 I was hired as an assistant professor of insect physiology in the Department of Environmental Biology at the University of Guelph. Since my appointment I have taught courses in Biological Control, Natural Product Chemistry and Insecticide Bioactivity and conducted research in insect nutritional and sensory physiology, pest management, computational chemistry and spider ecology.

In 1997 I co-founded Nanodesign Inc. a drug discovery company based on novel approaches to the computational design of biologically active molecules. From 1997 to 2003 I was Vice President of Research at Nanodesign leading an interdisciplinary research team designing and developing novel anticancer compounds. The  Dibenzo[c]chromen-6-one derivatives invented at Nanodesign, including Palomid 529, are novel dual inhibitors of mTOR and interfere with cell proliferation and angiogenesis (blood vessel formation) (Cancer Res. 68(22):9551-7). They are currently under development by Paloma Pharmaceuticals Inc. as potential anticancer (Br. J. Cancer. 100(6):932-40) and keloid disease (Am. J. Pathol. 181(5):1642-58) therapies and have demonstrated positive effects in the treatment of macular degeneration in Phase II human clinical trials.

In 2004 I returned full-time to the University of Guelph and in September 2009 I was appointed Associate Dean (Academic) of the Ontario Agricultural College. Since 2010 I have led the redesign of the Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science, the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, the Bachelor of Bio-Resource Management and the Associate Diploma in Agriculture. In June 2013 I received the John Bell Award from the Senate of the University of Guelph recognizing outstanding contributions to university education.

I am currently conducting research on collembolan ecotoxicology and spiders in agroecosystems.