Dr. Shawn Lewenza
We use genomics approaches to build bacterial biosensors for environmental pollutant monitoring.
Associate Professor, Environmental Health, Athabasca University
Email Address: slewenza@athabascau.ca
Bio: We use genomics approaches to build bacterial biosensors for environmental pollutant monitoring.
Website: www.synbiosmart.com
Twitter: @DrShawnL
Dr. Angeliki Pantazi/Southern Alberta Genome Sciences Centre
Intersection of genome sequencing/bioinformatics, interpretation and editing.
Scientific Officer - Southern Alberta Genome Sciences Centre / Primary Investigator - Lethbridge iGEM Team
Email Address: angeliki.pantazi@uleth.ca
Bio: Intersection of genome sequencing/bioinformatics, interpretation and editing.
Website: www.sagsc.org
Twitter: @apantaz
BioZone
BioZone aims to use Bioengineering to create a sustainable world by making industrial processes more sustainable, remediating humanity's environmental impact, and improving health outcome.
BioZone, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, University of Toronto
Bio: BioZone is a Centre for Applied Bioscience and Bioengineering Research at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering.
BioZone aims to use Bioengineering to create a sustainable world by making industrial processes more sustainable, remediating humanity's environmental impact, and improving health outcome.
For example, to help make industrial processes more environmentally friendly and reduce carbon emissions, we help companies replace petroleum feedstocks with renewable sources, including waste material from agriculture and forestry sectors, by engineering microbes and enzymes that can convert sugars or complex organics (lignin) into value-added chemicals and materials.
BioZone's synbio relevant skills include metagenomics, enzymology, functional genomics, enzyme engineering, metabolic and whole cell modeling, systems biology, computational biology, bioprocess design, techno-economic assessment, and lifecycle analysis.
Website: www.biozone.utoronto.ca
Twitter: @BioZoneUT
Dr. Radhakrishnan Mahadevan
Our group primarily works on engineering metabolism in bacteria and yeast to produce chemicals and therapeutic molecules. Through the use of computational strategies on genome scale metabolic models of these organisms, we identify genetic intervention strategies to enhance target molecule production.
Professor, Associate Chair & Graduate Studies Coordinator, University of Toronto
Email Address: krishna.mahadevan@utoronto.ca
Bio: Our group primarily works on engineering metabolism in bacteria and yeast to produce chemicals and therapeutic molecules. Through the use of computational strategies on genome scale metabolic models of these organisms, we identify genetic intervention strategies to enhance target molecule production. Synthetic biological tools help us assemble and engineer pathways in microorganisms. We use synthetic gene regulatory circuits to dynamically control metabolism in host organisms. The ability to dynamically control metabolism based on environmental inputs finds application in a variety of different areas including therapeutics and industrial biotechnology.
Website: www.lmse.utoronto.ca
Twitter: @LMSE_UofT
Dr. Vincent Martin
We are synthetic biologists with a strong penchant for metabolic engineering and industrial strain improvement. We like yeast but will play with other unicellular bugs as well.
Professor, Concordia University and Co-Director, Centre for Applied Synthetic Biology
Email Address: vincent.martin@concordia.ca
Bio: We are synthetic biologists with a strong penchant for metabolic engineering and industrial strain improvement. We like yeast but will play with other unicellular bugs as well.
Dr. Scott McComb
Chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T) are an exciting new avenue to redirect immune cells to target and kill cancer. While breakthroughs in CAR-T therapy have led to life-saving treatments for patients with previously incurable leukemia, such therapies have been less successful against solid tumours.
Research Officer, National Research Council of Canada; University of Ottawa
Email Address: scott.mccomb@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Bio: Chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T) are an exciting new avenue to redirect immune cells to target and kill cancer. While breakthroughs in CAR-T therapy have led to life-saving treatments for patients with previously incurable leukemia, such therapies have been less successful against solid tumours. Moreover, the determinants of long term cancer regression in CAR-T treated patients are not yet well understood. Using genome editing, we are dissecting the mechanisms of programmed cell death and other immune signalling pathways in T cells in order to improve their effectiveness against cancer. Our long term goal is to create super-functional gene-edited cell therapies to treat currently intractable illnesses such as cancer and autoimmunity.
Dr. David McMillen
We work on (mainly) microbial synthetic biology, investigating ways to create novel solutions to real-world problems with engineered microbes.
Associate Professor, University of Toronto Mississauga
Email Address: david.mcmillen@utoronto.ca
Bio: We work on (mainly) microbial synthetic biology, investigating ways to create novel solutions to real-world problems with engineered microbes. We pursue several parallel tracks: (1) Combined theoretical and experimental approaches to biological feedback and synthetic implementations of networks that maintain fixed outputs in the face of external disturbances; (2) Expanding the synthetic biology "toolkit" to include novel modes of regulation (including a recruitable T7-based activation system that provides a system to generate programmable, orthogonal sets of transcriptional activators in bacteria); and (3) the motivation for the other two tracks: application to real-world problems including human health in the developed world (working with a multi-PI team on sensing and responding to inflammatory bowel diseases using engineered microbes) and in the developing world (implementing microbe-based antibody detection in blood samples, for low-cost blood screening or diagnosis).
Website: http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/mcmillen-lab/
Twitter: @DaveMcMillen
Dr. Moira McQueen
As a bioethicist, I am interested in the science and development of synthetic biology and in ethical questions that arise from its use, as well as in its impact on health care, the workforce and the environment.
Executive Director, Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute, University of St Michael's College, University of Toronto, (LLB, M Div, PhD)
Bio: As a bioethicist, I am interested in the science and development of synthetic biology and in ethical questions that arise from its use, as well as in its impact on health care, the workforce and the environment.
Website: www.ccbi-utoronto.ca
Twitter: @moiramcqueen
Dr. Gabriel Moreno-Hagelsieb
My work is about gene-product interactions, which can be represented as networks and modules.
Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University
Bio: My work is about gene-product interactions, which can be represented as networks and modules. It has potential for application in synthetic biology since it can show how modules doing similar things have evolved, thus how we might be able to engineer them, avoid cross-talk, etc.
Website: https://microbiome.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @gmhentropy
Dr. Jimin Guo
We develop new methods in the domains of Genomics and Synthetic Biology, using microfluidics and computational biology.
Research Officer, National Research Council Canada
Bio: We develop new methods in the domains of Genomics and Synthetic Biology, using microfluidics and computational biology.
Dr. Sebastien Rodrigue
My laboratory is mainly interested in microbial systems and synthetic biology. We use and develop cutting-edge approaches to understand and engineer bacterial cells.
Professor, Université de Sherbrooke
Email Address: sebastien.rodrigue@usherbrooke.ca
Bio: My laboratory is mainly interested in microbial systems and synthetic biology. We use and develop cutting-edge approaches to understand and engineer bacterial cells. We use two model organisms: the near-minimal Mesoplasma florum, and the laboratory workhorse Escherichia coli. Our goal is not only to advance fundamental knowledge but also to propose innovative solutions to address the major challenges of this century.
Website: http://lab-rodrigue.recherche.usherbrooke.ca
Twitter: @RodrigueLab
Dr. Ahmad Saleh
Synthetic biology strategies for the biosynthesis of fine chemicals, especially lipid-based drugs and biofuels
Assistant Professor, Université Laval
Email Address: ahmad.saleh@bcm.ulaval.ca
Bio: Our research projects aim at developing synthetic biology strategies for the biosynthesis of fine chemicals, especially lipid-based drugs and biofuels, to render them accessible for human consumption. In addition, we work on the discovery/invention of new fine chemicals that satisfy emerging human needs in health, energy and bioremediation fields. Our research is conducted using synthetic biology (SB) approaches in microbial hosts as platforms, while aiming at a sustainable production of safe and ecological fine chemicals.
Website: http://abdel-mawgoud.com/
Dr. Rebecca Shapiro
My research group at the University of Guelph is developing new CRISPR-based platforms for functional genomic analysis in fungal pathogens.
Assistant Professor, University of Guelph
Email Address: shapiror@uoguelph.ca
Bio: My research group at the University of Guelph is developing new CRISPR-based platforms for functional genomic analysis in fungal pathogens.
Website: http://www.theshapirolab.com/
Twitter: @ShapiroRebecca
Dr. David Stuart
We investigate the potential application of synthetic biology for performing metabolic engineering of yeast, bacteria and cyanobacteria.
Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Alberta
Email Address: dtstuart@ualberta.ca
Bio: We investigate the potential application of synthetic biology for performing metabolic engineering of yeast, bacteria and cyanobacteria. Current applications include engineering oleaginous yeast and bacteria metabolic pathways for production of high value oleochemicals from cellulosic waste, engineering fermentation inhibitor tolerance into microbial cell factories, construction of microbial cell biosensors for the detection of human and agricultural pathogens, and engineering microbial cell for bioremediation applications.
Website: https://www.ualberta.ca/biochemistry/people/faculty/david-stuart
Dr. Valerie Ward
We aim to engineer microalgae to produce proteins for medical and industrial uses as well as engineer metabolic pathways in microbial platforms for the production of isoprenoids.
Assistant Professor, University of Waterloo
Email Address: vward@uwaterloo.ca
Bio: We aim to engineer microalgae to produce proteins for medical and industrial uses as well as engineer metabolic pathways in microbial platforms for the production of isoprenoids.
Website: https://uwaterloo.ca/chemical-engineering/profile/vward
Dr. Vikramaditya Yadav
The principal theme of Prof. Yadav’s research is the utilization of metabolic & enzyme engineering to investigate and customize novel biosynthetic enzymes that can convert biomass-derived feedstocks into value-added chemicals.
Associate Professor of Chemical, Biological & Biomedical Engineering & Program Director of Sustainable Process Engineering, University of British Columbia
Email Address: vikramaditya.yadav@ubc.ca
Bio: Vikramaditya G. Yadav is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering and the School of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Master of Engineering Leadership in Sustainable Process Engineering at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Prof. Yadav leads one of Canada’s foremost research groups on synthetic biology and industrial biotechnology. The principal theme of Prof. Yadav’s research is the utilization of metabolic & enzyme engineering to investigate and customize novel biosynthetic enzymes that can convert biomass-derived feedstocks into value-added chemicals. His group also extends the principles of metabolic engineering to the design and development of unique bioremediation strategies to rehabilitate the water quality in and around industrial zones and develop new mining biotechnologies. In addition to green engineering, his research group also pursues medical biotechnology research, wherein they primarily focus on assay development, biosynthetic engineering, and pharmaceutical product development. Prof. Yadav’s research program is distinguished by its impact and strong emphasis on technology translation. Prof. Yadav has successfully raised over $5 million in research funding and his group collaborates with numerous industry partners from a range of sectors. He is also the Chair of the Biotechnology Division of the Chemical Institute of Canada and an Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering. He was previously an Associate Scientific Advisor for Science Translational Medicine. He also founded Metabolik Technologies Inc. and was its Chief Technology Officer until it was recently acquired by Allonnia, a Bill Gates-backed environmental biotechnology company. Metabolik is widely regarded as a Canadian success story and was developing a first-of-its-kind bioremediation platform for decontaminating oil sands process-affected water. He is also the Chief Technology Officer and Chairman of ArqMetal Inc., which is developing biotechnological solutions for the mining industry. He also serves on the boards of InMed Pharmaceuticals and Reazent.
Website: www.biofoundry.ca
Twitter: @biofoundry
Dr. Andrew Woolley
Optogenetic control, photo-controlled proteins
Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto
Email Address: awoolley@chem.utoronto.ca
Bio: Optogenetic control, photo-controlled proteins
Website: http://www.chem.utoronto.ca/staff/GAW/
Dr. Peter Zandstra
Research in the Zandstra Laboratory is focused on the generation of functional tissue from somatic and pluripotent stem cells. Our quantitative, technology-driven approach strives to gain new insights into fundamental mechanisms that control stem cell fate and to develop robust technologies for the propagation of stem cells and their derivatives.
Professor & Director, Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia / Professor, University of Toronto
Email Address: peter.zandstra@ubc.ca
Bio: Research in the Zandstra Laboratory is focused on the generation of functional tissue from somatic and pluripotent stem cells. Our quantitative, technology-driven approach strives to gain new insights into fundamental mechanisms that control stem cell fate and to develop robust technologies for the propagation of stem cells and their derivatives. We apply synthetic biology to understand and control cell fate decisions by manipulating the stem cells themselves (genome editing, gene circuit engineering) and their prospective niche (synthetic biomaterials, macro- and micro reactor technologies).
Website: http://stemcell.ibme.utoronto.ca/
Twitter: @PZandstra
Dr. Wei Zhang
My lab will open in July 2018 at the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph. We are creating synthetic proteins using bimolecular engineering approaches to accelerate understanding of biology and development of novel therapeutics.
Assistant Professor, University of Guelph
Email Address: weizhang8182@gmail.com
Bio: My lab opened in July 2018 at the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph. We are creating synthetic proteins using biomolecular engineering approaches to accelerate understanding of biology and development of novel therapeutics.
Website: www.thezhanglab.com
Twitter: @WeiZhangTO
SynBioApps NSERC-CREATE program
SynBioApps offers graduate training in the various technologies of synthetic biology, including work in Concordia University’s Genome Foundry.
SynBioApps NSERC-CREATE program, Concordia University
Email Address: synbioapps@concordia.ca
Bio: SynBioApps offers graduate training in the various technologies of synthetic biology, including work in Concordia University’s Genome Foundry. Students are exposed to applied R&D in the context of industrial synbio applications and entrepreneurship. Further training includes ethical considerations; an understanding of regulatory environments and IP; network opportunities; and collaboration with business student to create product pitches.
Website: https://www.concordia.ca/sgs/programs/interdisciplinary/synthetic-biology-applications.html
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SynBioAppsCU