Research

Faculty Research Programs

Graduate Student Opening	Faculty	Research Interest
*	Juan Ausio	Biophysical and biochemical studies of DNA-protein interactions involved in chromatin assembly and transcription in somatic and germinal cells. An important part of these studies focuses on the role of chromatin in prostate cancer and Rett syndrome. More...
	Alisdair Boraston	Molecular basis of protein-carbohydrate recognition using molecular biological, biochemical, biophysical, and structural methods to study plant cell-wall polysaccharide degradation and host-bacterium interactions. More...
*	Christoph Borchers	Application of mass spectrometry, proteomics, photoaffinity labelling and molecular modelling to determine structure-function relationships in proteins. Director of the UVic-Genome BC Proteomics Centre. More...
	Martin Boulanger	Research in the Boulanger lab is focused on i) characterizing the structural and biophysical bases of host/pathogen interactions ii) designing and developing small molecule therapeutics to inhibit protein-protein interactions and iii) defining novel structural paradigms in bioremediation. More...
	Robert D. Burke	Cellular signaling in early embryonic development. Many early developmental events are a consequence of ligands interacting with cell surface receptors. We use the approaches of cell biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology to determine the precise functions of receptors and signal transduction components during early development of sea urchin embryos. More...
	Caroline Cameron	Identification of molecules that are crucial to the pathogenesis of the spirochetes Treponema pallidum (causative agent of syphilis) and Leptospira sp. (causative agent of leptospirosis); characterization of attachment of Treponema pallidum to host cells and host extracellular matrix components; development of an improved syphilis diagnostic test; use of bioinformatic, genomic and proteomic techniques to enhance our understanding of spirochetes. More...
	Claire Cupples	Maintenance of genetic and epigenetic stability in prokaryotes and eukaryotes through the prevention of C-to-T mutations at sites of cytosine methylation. More...
	Steve Evans	Structural biology of protein-carbohydrate recognition; x-ray crystallography and scientific visualisation. More...
*	Caren Helbing	Mechanisms of hormone action and the effect of environmental pollutants on hormone signalling during development and disease (e.g. cancer). Particular interest is in transcriptomic, proteomic, epigenetic factors and the development of molecular assays for determining the health status of wildlife. More...
	Perry Howard	EphA2 and Ephrin A1 in Cancer. The role of tissue transglutaminase in soluble Ephrin oligomerization. Characterization of Ars2 in Mammals. Synthetic biology: rewiring of tyrosine kinase pathways. More...
	Santosh Misra	Plant molecular biology; studies on developmentally regulated and stress-induced gene activity in conifers; genetic engineering and biotechnology. More...
	Francis Nano	The Nano group has three projects. One of these (CIHR-funded) examines the role of proteins encoded by a pathogenicity island in Franciscella in type VI secretion. Another project (Gates Foundation) of the Nano group involves the substitution of essential gene alleles from psychrophilic (cold-loving) bacteria into pathogenic bacteria to create strains that can be used for therapies and vaccines. A third project involves constructing recombinant protein expression systems for cyanobacteria. This line of work is designed to make carbon dioxide capture at industrial sites economically attractive, and thus reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released. More...
*	Chris Nelson	Regulation of transcription by post-translational modifications of histone and non-histone proteins; application of molecular and genomic approaches to the study of novel chromatin modifying enzymes in yeast and mammalian cells. More...
	Terry Pearson	Molecular analysis of African trypanosomes (causative agent of African sleeping sickness); identification of molecular interactions between the parasites and their tsetse fly vectors using antibody-based technologies and protein microchemical techniques; clinical diagnosis of cancer and infectious diseases using antibody enrichment techniques coupled with quantitative mass spectrometry. More...
	Paul Romaniuk	Molecular basis of nucleic acid-protein interactions involved in the regulation of gene expression; structure-function relationships in oncogenes and tumour suppressors; regulation of virulence factor expression in bacteria. More...
	Chris Upton	The primary focus of the Upton lab is viral bioinformatics: The application of computer technology to the management and analysis of viruses. Specifically, my group is developing specialized software and databases to help automate the process of genome annotation and genomic analysis (www.virology.ca ). We have a special interest in poxviruses and the prediction of the function for virus proteins. The software helps us compare and analyze the numerous virus genomes that have recently been completely sequenced. More...
Graduate Student Opening	Adjunct Faculty	Research Interest
	Leigh Anderson	Human plasma proteomics; protein biomarkers of disease and development of clinical diagnostics; quantitative mass spectrometry methods applicable to peptides; theory of biomarkers.
*	Julian Lum	Investigating the role of cellular metabolism in cell death/survival pathways; control of T cell function by autophagy; immunotherapy approaches to target cancer stem cells; Scientist, Trev & Joyce Deeley Research Centre, BC Cancer Agency. More...
	Brad Nelson	Immune response to cancer, immunotherapy, T cell biology, cytokines, signal transduction, cell cycle regulation. Director of the Trev and Joyce Deeley Research Centre, BC Cancer Agency. More...
	Peter Watson	Adjunct Profesor. Identification of the molecular genetic alterations underlying the development and progression of breast cancer. Director of the Tumour Tissue Repository at the Deeley Cancer Research Centre, BC Cancer Agency More...
	John Webb	Adjunct Associate Professor. Various aspects of cellular immunity, particularly (CD4 and CD8) immune responses against peptide eptitopes containing the post-translational modification 3-nitrotyrosine and the role these responses play in infection, autoimmunity and cancer. Therapeutic vaccine development for cervical dysplasia and cervical cancer. More...
	Emeritus Faculty	Research Interest
	Edward Ishiguro	Genetic and biochemical studies on the regulation of cell wall synthesis and morphogenesis in Escherichia coli; basis for antibiotic induced bacteriolysis and penicillin tolerance; molecular characterization of the starvation stress response in Escherichia coli.
	William Kay	Bacterial cell surfaces; molecular biology of transport and pathogenesis in Aeromonas and Salmonella.
	Robert Olafson	Structure-function relationships in membrane; glycoproteins; structural studies on polypeptides and oligosaccharides ; relevant to the pathogenesis of parasitic diseases, polypeptide vaccines.

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