Health Sector

Sector Director

Dr. Andrew Storer
Tel.: (514) 496-6256
Fax: (514) 496-1629
E-mail: andrew.storer@cnrc-nrc.gc.ca
biography

Sector Fact Sheet (pdf)

Biotechnology Research Institute's largest research component, the health sector, focuses its expertise and resources in the areas of cancer and infectious diseases by elucidating molecular functions, structures and behaviour, using state-of-the-art technologies. Cancer research programs intend to relate molecular therapy with molecular imaging and diagnosis, to elucidate molecular mechanisms leading to growth factor-mediated tumourogenesis, and to evaluate novel therapeutic targets against proteases known to be involved in cancer progression and metastasis. Research on infectious diseases focuses on two areas, namely: 1) on revealing the molecular mechanisms of Candida albicans pathogenesis, a fungus that can cause a variety of opportunistic infections, especially in immunocompromised individuals, such as persons with AIDS and patients undergoing organ transplants; 2) on establishing the three-dimensional structures of potential bacterial virulence factors derived from pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli, Campylobacter jejuni and Heliobacter pylori for the identification of their substrate binding sites and characterization of their action mechanisms. These research programs are aimed at early drug development, from the identification and characterization of molecular disease targets to discovery, design and validation of lead drug compounds. The research groups use several experimental approaches to achieve these goals. They include genomics, proteomics, combinatorial chemistry, structural biology and bioinformatics. Additionally, the sector is also involved in the development of innovative technologies, or per se "Enabling Technologies" that directs its efforts to the creation of software programs for virtual screening and structure prediction as well as high throughput technologies and chemical libraries for potential drug screening.

The health sector researchers are equipped with the very latest technologies, including:

• A DNA Microarray facility for gene expression profiling and DNA synthesis
• A High Throughput Screening (HTS) facility for screening for therapeutic compounds
• X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) for three-dimensional structure studies
• A Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) facility for protein-protein interaction
• Computational molecular modeling and bioinformatics for genomics and proteomics research