New director of UBC Life Sciences Institute brings a focus on personalized medicine

Pieter Cullis, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has been appointed as the new Director of the UBC Life Sciences Institute.

As director, Cullis will work to nurture, expand and coordinate the work of the LSI's nine research groups and their scientists, and to raise the profile of UBC as a leader in the life sciences. He will bring a new vision and mission for the LSI, drawing upon his interest in personalized medicine and work to encourage interdisciplinary investigations.

Cullis is an internationally recognized pioneer and leader in the physical properties and functional roles of lipids in biological membranes and liposomal drug delivery systems. His lipid nanoparticle systems are enabling the therapeutic potential of siRNA, and have resulted in formulations of anti-cancer drugs that are more potent and less toxic than the ‘free’ drug. He has co-founded several companies, as well as the Centre for Drug Research and Development, which has become a model on how to facilitate the transition of discoveries from the laboratory to therapeutic applications.

Cullis has supervised dozens of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and research associates, and has taught biochemistry to successive waves of undergraduates and graduate students. Whether in the lab, the seminar room or the lecture theatre, he has earned a reputation for being an exemplary innovator and motivator.

Most recently Cullis was awarded the Prix Galien Canada and the Bill and Marilyn Webber Lifetime Achievement Award from the Faculty of Medicine. He has also received the Ayerst Award from the Canadian Biochemical Society, the Canadian Society of Pharmaceutical Scientists Leadership Award, the Jacob Biely Prize from UBC, and is a Fellow in the Royal Society of Canada.

Please join us in welcoming Cullis to his new position at UBC, and in thanking Christian Naus and Linda Matsuuchi for their leadership of the LSI over the previous term.