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BIOGRAPHY:
Dr. Finlay is Peter Wall Distinguished Professor at the University
of British Columbia in Vancouver. After receiving a Ph.D. in
biochemistry at the University of Alberta, he conducted postdoctoral
research in medical microbiology at Stanford University with Stanley
Falkow. He joined the faculty of the University of British Columbia in
1994. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the 1991 Fisher
Scientific Award from the Canadian Society of Microbiologists, the 1993
Killam Research Prize from the University of British Columbia , and the
1999 E.W.R. Steacie Prize, the CSM Fisher Scientific Award, the 2003
National Merit Award from the Ottawa Life Sciences Council, CIHR's 2004
Michael Smith Prize in Health Research, and the 2004 British Columbia
Biotech Innovation Award. In 2003 TIME-Canada named him one of Canada's
top five scientists to have influenced health worldwide. He became an
MRC Scientist in 1996, was named named CIHR Distinguished Investigator
in 2000and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2001.
Dr. Finlay was first named an HHMI International Research Scholar in
1991, and again in 1997, 2000, and 2001 and served as lecturer for the
HHMI 1999 Holiday Lectures on Science. He is Director of the SARS
Accelerated Vaccine Initiative of Canada and is widely known for his
research on new ways to combat infectious diseases.
RESEARCH ABSTRACT SUMMARY:
Enhancing Innate Immunity to Treat Infectious Diseases
The innate immune system is a highly conserved and effective system
that immediately overcomes nearly all potential infectious agents.
However, some pathogens are able to successfully circumvent the innate
system, causing disease, as well as acquired immune responses. Work in
our laboratory has focused on various bacterial pathogens and the host
innate response to pathogens such as Salmonella, pathogenic
Escherichia coli, and others. By using array technology, we
found that the predominant host responses to these pathogens are
standard innate responses. We also found natural compounds that
activate many of the same innate responses as those triggered by the
pathogens. We reasoned that if innate responses could be enhanced using
derivatives of these compounds, the derivatives would serve as both
preventatives and therapeutics. Results with Salmonella and
other organisms in animal infection models suggest that such an
approach to treating infectious diseases is a viable alternative to
antibiotics.
Photo: Dominic Chaplin, Pine Creek Pictures
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