It takes a team of experts in personalized health, systems biology, computing sciences, data visualization and design to understand and deliver the vast amounts of molecular data and compare it with the latest scientific literature and clinical advances. Molecular You brings together global leaders in their respective fields to interpret this data and turn it into useable information that can be acted upon.
Dr. Fraser is the co-founder of The Personalized Medicine Initiative (PMI), and has been at the forefront of developing the framework and technologies to bring personalized medicine into healthcare practice. Backed by his expertise in molecular diagnostics, molecularly targeted drug discovery and development, biochemistry and regulatory compliance, Dr. Fraser has also been involved in leading drug discovery and development projects at Sanofi, Xenon, Neuromed and CDRD. Dr. Fraser received extensive training in the molecular mechanisms of endocrinology while completing his Ph.D. at the University of Alberta and Harvard Medical School and Post-Doctoral Fellowships at Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto and IGBMC, Strasbourg France. In addition to Dr. Fraser’s scientific accomplishments, he has been involved in the raising of more than $37M in funding. Dr. Fraser is also Co-founder of GenXys Health Care Systems, Personalized Biomarkers Incorporated and Mesentech Corporation and Director and Co-founder of Novobind.
Dr. Pieter Cullis is a respected researcher and innovator who has an impressive track record of success. As author of The Personalized Medicine Revolution and co-founder of The Personalized Medicine Initiative, a not-for-profit organization introducing the framework and technologies to support personalized health, Dr. Cullis has been influential in driving personalized medicine solutions to the front lines of healthcare. Dr. Cullis has also been involved in the development of several life sciences companies including co-founding Lipex Biomembranes Inc., Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, Northern Lipids Inc., and, most recently, Acuitas Therapeutics and Precision NanoSystems. In addition, he co-founded and was Scientific Director of the Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) 2004-2010. His research leadership has led to fundamental advances in the generation, loading and targeting of lipid nanoparticle (LNP) systems for intravenous delivery of small molecule drugs and macromolecular drugs such as small interfering RNA (siRNA). This work has contributed to three LNP products that have been approved by regulatory agencies in the U.S. and Europe for the treatment of cancer and its complications. Dr. Cullis has published over 300 scientific articles and is an inventor on more than 40 patents. He has received many awards, including the B.C. Science Council Gold Medal for Health Sciences in 1991, the Alec D. Bangham Award for contributions to liposome science and technology in 2000 and the Life Sciences B.C. award for Innovation and Achievement in 2002. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2004, received the Leadership Award of the Canadian Society of Pharmaceutical Scientists in 2010 and was awarded the Prix Galien, Canada’s premier prize for achievements in pharmaceutical R&D, in 2011. Dr. Cullis is the Director of the Life Sciences Institute and a Professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC). He completed his PhD in Physics at UBC in 1972 and pursued postdoctoral training at the University of Oxford and the University of Utrecht.
Dr. Wishart holds a Ph.D. from Yale (1991) and is a Professor in the Departments of Biological Sciences and Computing Science at the University of Alberta. He is also a senior research officer and the director of the Nano Life Science program at the Canadian National Research Council’s National Institute for Nanotechnology. From 2006-2009, Dr. Wishart led the “Human Metabolome Project” (HMP), a multi-university, multi-investigator project that catalogued all of the known metabolites in human tissues and bio-fluids. Using advanced methods Dr. Wishart and his colleagues identified or found evidence for more than 8500 endogenous metabolites. The methods and ideas developed for the HMP have helped lay the foundation for a number of clinical metabolomics projects currently being pursued in his lab. Dr. Wishart has published more than 40 papers in the field of metabolomics and currently directs the Metabolomics Innovation Centre.
Dr. Borchers is recognized as a pioneer and leading figure in the development of mass spec based methods for protein quantification using Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM). He is also the Director of the UVic–Genome BC Proteomics Centre and has published more than 180 peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals. His research is centered around the improvement, development and application of proteomics technologies with a major focus on techniques for quantitative targeted proteomics for clinical diagnostics. Dr. Borchers received his B.S., M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Konstanz, Germany. After his post-doctoral training and employment as a staff scientist at NIEHS/NIH/RTP, NC and he was the director of the Duke-UNC Proteomics Facility and held a faculty position at UNC Medical School in Chapel Hill, NC (2001-2006). Dr. Borchers is also involved in promoting proteomics research and education through his involvement with HUPO (International Council Member), the British Columbia Proteomics Network (co-leader) and the Canadian National Proteomics Network (VP External, Chair of the Board of Directors).
Mr. Nixon holds an MBA from the University of Western Ontario and Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Calgary. Dan was co-founding Director and CFO of Midlake Oil & Gas Limited and prior to that, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Private Equity at MDS Capital Corp. Before MDS, Mr. Nixon was Senior Vice President, Finance at Kinetek Pharmaceuticals and CFO at Inex Pharmaceuticals. In addition, Mr. Nixon was Vice President, Corporate Finance and Manager of Private Equity at Burns Fry Limited (now BMO Nesbitt Burns) and Vice President of Canadian Enterprise Development Corporation. Mr. Nixon has held a number of directorships in companies across Canada and the United States.
Ms. Johannessen is a designer with an interdisciplinary background in education, business and design leadership. Experiences in corporate, start-up, educational and creative environments have given her exposure to a variety of contexts, equipping her with methods to combine design, business strategy, human behaviours and technology. As the founder of Educe Design, she has successfully established herself as an entrepreneur, leading a company in applying user-centred design methods to business transformation, product strategy and technology innovation. Ms. Johannessen holds an Bachelor of Education from University of Stavanger (Norway) and a Bachelor of Design from Emily Carr University of Art + Design, and is driven to bring to life innovative ideas through interdisciplinary collaborations and human-centred design approaches.