Daniel Sprague, M.D., Ph.D., began his undergraduate studies at the University of Miami, where he worked in Dr. Norito Takenaka's laboratory researching asymmetric catalysis and exploring innovative applications of the Diels-Alder reaction. After graduating with his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, he attended Vanderbilt University, where he later earned his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Organic Chemistry under the supervision of Dr. Jeffrey Johnston. The bulk of his research focused on developing new methods for the synthesis of complex amino acids using chiral proton catalysis. These methods were then applied to the synthesis of small-molecule therapeutics, including a human proteasome inhibitor. He later received his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) while working on epigenetic readers/writers/erasers and chemokines with Dr. Brian Smith.
After medical school, Dr. Sprague joined the lab of Dr. Jonathan Marchant at MCW as an NIH- and AHA-funded postdoctoral fellow. In the Marchant Lab, he worked on antiparasitic targets in schistosomes and Fasciola. Ultimately, they discovered a first-in-class broad-spectrum flukicide to treat parasitic fluke infections. Dr. Sprague also contributed to molecular modeling and the identification of the biological targets of various antiparasitic drugs.
Dr. Sprague later joined the faculty of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) as an assistant professor, establishing the Sprague Lab in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology within the College of Medicine. The Sprague lab is a drug discovery lab, focused on uncovering new targets for anti-infectives, illuminating new pathways in cancer, and studying neuropharmacology.