Mark E. Davis is the Warren and Katherine Schlinger Professor of Chemical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology.
[2] Davis was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering in 1997, for pioneering work in the synthesis of new catalytic materials.
During his time at Virginia Tech, he developed some of the earlier Zeolite molecular sieves and increasing the pore size.
Having seen the side effects of cancer treatment, he decided to do research on molecules that would prevent drug from leaking through healthy blood vessels but would stop at the tumor.
His group conjugated cyclodextrin to the anti-cancer compound camptothecin to improve the bio-availability and exhibit efficacy in mouse tumor models.