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WWW.MARQUETTE.EDU CAMPUS CONTACTS SITE INDEX 
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Nature lover:
“Growing up, I always loved nature and understanding how it works and seeing how beautiful nature is. But then you look at it more deeply and begin to understand how it all works, eventually, at the molecular level. And for the most part, it’s about proteins. So understanding how proteins do what they do was what intrigued me, because it was nature at the most basic level.”
Giving back:
“Grants and papers are what motivate scientists and academics, and that motivates me for sure. But there’s a third thing that motivates me, and that’s to have my science have an impact on the world and help people. And students like that, too. They want to be part of something that feels bigger than us.”
Working together:
“I like doing interdisciplinary science, and that’s something that industry does really well — to bring people from chemistry and biology and even mathematics. That’s why I try to create that here on a small scale … It can be a challenge for students, but I think it’s more of what the real world is like."
Daniel Sem, Ph.D.
Daniel Sem, Ph.D., wanted to put a heart in hard science — something that wasn’t always easy when he worked in the profit-driven biotechnology industry.
“Whenever I would talk about tuberculosis, that would always make the venture capitalists cringe … because there’s not enough money to be made,” says Sem, who was co-founder and vice president for biophysics at Triad Therapeutics in San Diego. “They told me, ‘Your motivation has to be in one place or the other. Are you trying to make money or are you trying to sort of save the world?’ And my thinking was, ‘Can’t we try to do both?’”
Now Sem, an assistant professor of chemistry, can focus on the underdogs: diseases that don’t get enough attention and the dangerous side effects of drugs and pollutants. His passion for applied research found a home in Marquette’s Jesuit, service-oriented mission.
Sem’s specialty is chemical proteomics, which is the study of how chemicals interact with proteins. You could have several thousand proteins in a cell, but only a few might interact with a certain chemical.
“I view it as a constant war that’s going on between us and our environment,” he says. “Chemicals can be drugs that are attacking certain proteins and having a desired effect, or they could be pollutants that are attacking and having an undesired effect. It’s sort of the yin and the yang of chemicals.”
Sem’s business background helps him bring a fresh perspective to the classroom. But he’s glad that those business-office days are behind him.
“When I was in industry, I spent an awful lot of time talking to investors and trying to sell and pitch what I do, and that isn’t what I went into science for,” he says. “I wanted to get back into having the fun of discovery and research, and to share that with students.”
Quick Facts About Marquette
| Identity: | Catholic, Jesuit, private |
| Established: | 1881 |
| Location: | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Undergraduate: | 8,048 |
| Postgraduate: | 3,500 |
| Campus: | Urban, 90 acres |
| Athletics: | 11 NCAA Division I teams (Big East) |
| Colors: | Blue and Gold |
