Dr Louis Flamand, PhD, MBA
Louis Flamand, PhD, MBA, is a full professor and chair of the department of microbiology-infectious-disease-immunology at the Faculty of medicine, Université Laval and senior researcher in the division of infectious and immune diseases at the CHU de Quebec research center-Université Laval. Before joining Laval university, Dr Flamand obtained his PhD in virology from the University of Montreal and post-doctoral training that the National Institutes of Health and at the Institute of Human Virology (Maryland, USA). He received his MBA in pharmaceutical management from Université Laval. He is also member of the HHV-6 Foundation scientific advisory board since 2006. Dr Flamand has experience in pre-clinical development. Throughout his career, Dr Flamand has received several competitive scholarship awards and continuous funding support from several funding agencies for his work in virology. Dr Flamand is the author of more than 90 peer-reviewed publications and is lead Editor of the book “Human Herpesviruses HHV-6A, HHV-6B & HHV-7: Diagnosis and Clinical Management” 3rd edition.
Dr Suha Jabaji, Ph.D.
Dr Suha Jabaji, PhD. is a molecular plant pathologist. She obtained her PhD from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. At the rank of full Professor in Plant Science, McGill University, her scientific contributions are recognized at the national and international levels. She has published 90 plus-refereed scientific reports and delivered more than 200 scientific presentations at scientific conferences. The creativity, relevance, and significance of her research results impacting sustainable agriculture is recognized by invitations to speak in symposia and conference presentations at scientific meetings, and serving on national and international editorial boards and grant panels. Her research expertise focuses on functional genomics and metabolomics of plant fungal pathogens and beneficial microbes that boost the plant’s immune system against biotic and abiotic stress has attracted International researchers to spend time in her lab for training. Her research program is funded by provincial, federal grants as well as industrial collaborative grants and contracts. She has mentored more than 100 graduate and postgraduate students in the field of Plant-microbe interactions. Among her current research themes is the development of effective antimicrobials for the hemp and Cannabis industries, and understanding their mode of action in order to increase their efficiencies. Between 2005-2015, she was appointed as the Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Education of the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (FAES), McGill where she oversaw the research activities of more than 90 staff at FAES. She currently serves as Past-President of the International Rhizoctonia Subject Matter Committee whose mandate is to coordinate international effort towards effective communication among scientists working on the economic soilborne fungal pathogen Rhizoctonia and promote exchange of resources and ideas among scientists.
Prof François Malouin, PhD
François Malouin is professor (microbiology) at the Department of biology at the Faculty of sciences of Universite de Sherbrooke since 2000. He is a microbiologist that has more than 30 years of academic and industrial experience in drug discovery for use in humans and food-producing animals. He was recently appointed to the Comité d’experts scientifiques sur la résistance aux antibiotiques de l’Institut national de santé publique du Québec (2011-2015), a committee that is providing recommendations to the provincial government on the matter of antibiotic resistance. Currently, he is a member of the scientific committee for the Canadian Bovine Mastitis and Milk Quality Research Network (2015-2019) and member of the executive committee of the strategic FRQNT research network for optimal milk quality (Op+Lait) in Quebec. He is also the external member of the scientific committee of the Laboratoire International Associé en Bioproduction d’Antimicrobiens Naturels (LIAAN). LIAAN is a joint research effort between INAF (Université Laval, Québec) and the Laboratoire régional de recherche en agroalimentaires et biotechnologie of Institut Charles Viollette (Université de Lille, France). Prof Malouin was a member and president of the institutional patent committee at Université de Sherbrooke from 2009 to 2017.
Prof Malouin obtained a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in Medical Sciences (Medical Microbiology) at the University of Calgary (1988) and did postdoctoral training in the anti-infective research group at Lilly Research Laboratories (Eli Lilly & Co., Indianapolis, USA) from 1988 to 1990. Prof Malouin was also Assistant professor of microbiology at the Faculty of medicine of Université Laval in Quebec City where he had a Fellowship from the Medical Research Council of Canada (1990-1994). He was then recruited by biotechnology companies, first Microcide Pharmaceuticals, Inc., then a sister company, Iconix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Silicon Valley, California, USA) from 1994 to 2000, where he was Associate Director of technology development for the discovery of new therapeutic targets and antibiotics. He was also a co-founder of Ulysses Pharmaceuticals (Sherbrooke, QC).
Currently at Université de Sherbrooke, his research projects aim at exploiting virulence genes for the development of new antibiotics, vaccines and non-antibiotic alternatives for applications in human and animal health. He is co-author of >100 scientific publications and co-inventor of more than 20 patents (delivered or pending).
Dr John Trant, PhD
Dr. John Trant received his PhD from the University of Ottawa in 2012 in making antifreeze glycopeptides under the supervision of Dr. Robert Ben. After postdoctoral work with Dr. Tomas Hudlicky (natural product synthesis, Brock) and Dr. Elizabeth Gillies (polymer and nanoscience, Western) he began his own group at the University of Windsor in 2016. The Trant group is focused on bringing the tools of synthetic chemistry to bare on unsolved problems in biomedicine and materials science. The group has active research in molecular and microbiology, natural product and peptide synthesis, and computational chemistry and biochemistry. The group conducts interdisciplinary research with collaborators from around Canada and the World in drug development, analytical chemistry, computational chemistry as well as leading research programs in undergraduate research pedagogy, and laboratory safety. The group has attracted over $2 million in research and infrastructure funds in the first three years of the lab, and currently comprises seven post-doctoral fellows, five graduate students and thirty-one undergraduate researchers.
Dr George G. Zhanel, PhD
Dr. Zhanel received his Ph.D. in the Department of Medical Microbiology/Infectious Diseases at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba and a Doctor of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Minnesota. He is presently Professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology/Infectious Diseases, College of Medicine; Course Leader, Infectious Diseases Teaching, College of Medicine, University of Manitoba; Coordinator of Antibiotic Resistance in the Departments of Medicine and Clinical Microbiology, Health Sciences Centre; and Research Director of the Canadian Antimicrobial Resistance Alliance (CARA). Dr Zhanel is the founding and Chief Editor of the Canadian Antimicrobial Resistance Alliance (CARA) website (www.can-r.ca).
Dr. Zhanel has published over 1000 papers, chapters and abstracts in the area of antimicrobial resistant infections. He has presented over 1000 lectures as an invited speaker at international, national, and local meetings speaking on the topics of antimicrobial resistant infections as well as treatment and prevention of infectious diseases in Canada, United States, Central and South America, Western and Eastern Europe including Russia, Australia, Southern and Northern Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
As research director of the Canadian Antimicrobial Resistance Alliance, Dr. Zhanel’s research interests include understanding the prevalence, epidemiology and spread of antimicrobial resistant infections, describing the clinical relevance of resistant infections, identifying and developing rapid diagnostic methods to rapidly diagnose infections, investigating the cellular and molecular mechanisms of resistance, assessing activity of investigational antimicrobials and agents with antimicrobial activity (eg. preservatives, antiseptics, disinfectants, sterilizers) as well as discovering novel antimicrobials (holder of several patents) and assessing the properties, efficacy and biological evolution and influence of select vaccines. Research using pharmacodynamic modeling and Monte Carlo analyses to provide optimal treatment and prevention of infections is occurring. Both community-acquired and healthcare-acquired infections and pathogens are of interest including respiratory infections (including Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterial infections and influenza virus infections), urinary tract infections, skin/soft tissue infections, intraabdominal infections, nosocomial infections in hospitalized patients as well as in intensive care units, bacteremic infections, Extended Spectrum -lactamase (ESBL) producing and carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) including community-associated CA-MRSA, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), Clostridium difficile, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and antifungal resistant infections. Assessing the medical and economic outcomes of infections as well as studying the relationships between antimicrobial usage/stewardship including in dermatology, as well as vaccination and the development of antimicrobial resistant infections is also a priority.
Dr. Zhanel has been involved in treatment guideline development for a variety of infectious diseases and is also interested in antimicrobial usage/resistance in humans, animals and food (one health) and the impact of antimicrobial exposure on human and animal microbiomes. Dr. Zhanel has received or been nominated for 57 teaching awards and is a member of the Who’s Who in Medical Sciences Education (WWMSE).