不良研究所

Abstract:

The standard care of cancer therapy is highly dependent on the cancer type, stage and patients. Consequently, for most cancers there is only marginal improvements in patient survival rates. Undetected/unremoved cancer during surgery or resistance to chemotherapy, are major causes for a poor prognosis. To tackle these issues, research in my lab focuses on i) the development of fluorescent chemosensors to predict anticancer drug resistance for personalized medicine, and ii) the development of novel photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy; some properties include: enhanced cancer cell selectivity, biomolecular targeting (enzymes, DNA), and the generation of singlet oxygen without light excitation.

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Bio:

Andrew Beharry obtained his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Toronto under the supervision of Prof. Andrew Woolley. He then attended Stanford University as a Human Frontiers Science Program Postdoctoral Fellow under the supervision of Prof. Eric Kool, a world leader in nucleic acid chemistry. As a faculty member at the University of Toronto Mississauga at the Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Prof. Beharry runs a multi-disciplinary, independent research program that employs organic chemistry, photochemistry, biochemistry, and cell biology, to develop photoactive molecules for clinical applications. Since 2016, he has conveyed his work at 12 invited talks and has been the recipient of the Connaught New Researcher Award, the 2021 University of Toronto Mississauga Research Prize and 2022 CNC-IUPAC Travel Award. He has received an NSERC Discovery grant and grants from the Cancer Research Society (ranked top five young investigators), New Frontiers in Research Fund, Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada and the American Brain Tumour Association.