Christoph Borchers, Director
Dr. Borchers received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Konstanz, Germany. After his post-doctoral training and employment as a staff scientist at NIEHS/NIH/RTP in North Carolina, he became the director of the UNC-Duke Proteomics Facility and held a faculty position at the UNC Medical School in Chapel Hill, NC (2001-2006). Since then, Dr. Borchers has been employed at the University of Victoria (UVic), Canada and holds the current positions of Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology and the Don and Eleanor Rix BC Leadership Chair in Biomedical and Environmental Proteomics. He is also the Director of the UVic – Genome BC Proteomics Centre, which is a member of the Genome Canada funded Genomics Innovation Network. Dr. Borchers is also appointed as Professor at McGill University in the Department of Oncology, Montreal, QC and where he holds the Segal Chair in Molecular Oncology at the Jewish General Hospital at McGill University.
Dr. Borchers’ research is centered around the improvement, development and application of proteomics technologies with a major focus on techniques for quantitative targeted proteomics for clinical diagnostics. Multiplexed LC-MRM-MS approaches and the immuno-MALDI (iMALDI) technique are of particular interest. Another focus of his research is on technology development and application of the combined approach of protein chemistry and mass spectrometry for structural proteomics. Dr. Borchers has published over 280 peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals (Pubmed link) and is the founder and CSO of two companies, Creative Molecules. Inc. and MRM Proteomics Inc. He is also involved in promoting proteomic research and education through his function as HUPO International Council Member, Past Scientific Director of the BC Proteomics Network and Vice-President, External of the Canadian National Proteomics Network.
Rene Zahedi, Associate Director
ResearchGate profile
Dr. Zahedi received his Diploma in Biochemistry from the Ruhr-University-Bochum in Germany and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wuerzburg in Germany. After his post-doctoral training at the Rudolf-Virchow Centre for Experimental Biomedicine/Wuerzburg, and the Leibniz-Institute for Analyical Sciences (ISAS)/Dortmund, Germany, he became an independent junior research group leader at ISAS in 2010 and a permanent senior research group leader in 2014. In 2017, Dr. Zahedi joint the Segal Cancer Proteomics Centre. Dr. Zahedi has been the speaker of the study group Bioanalytics of the German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from 2010-2017 and member of the Educational Committee of the European Proteomics Association, EuPA.
Dr. Zahedi’s research has been focused on developing improved methods for the quantitative analysis of post-translational modifications, particularly from clinical samples such as blood platelets and tissues. He has published more than 110 peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals (Pubmed link).
EV Petrotchenko
Vincent Richard
Dr. Richard is interested in the clinical translation of quantitative proteomics, as well as basic research and technology development. Vincent finished his PhD in 2014 in the laboratory of Dr. Vladimir Titorenko where he used LC/MS based proteomics, lipidomics, and metabolomics to elucidate the molecular mechanisms regulating aging and lifespan of model organisms.
Hannah Meltzer
Nancy Fournier
Dr Fournier holds a PhD in Experimental Medicine and a MBA in business administration form Laval University. She had been a technical leader at Laboratoires Servier in Paris and is the former President of the Association des Administrateurs et Administratrices de recherche du Quebec (ADARUQ). Dr Fournier has been involved in grant writing for 16 years.
Margherita Dell’Aica
Margherita Dell’Aica studied Pharmacy in Italy, at the University of Trieste, from 2007 to 2013 and did her diploma thesis in analytical chemistry in Spain. Margherita is a PhD candidate at the Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften – ISAS – e.V., in Germany, currently employed at SCPC as visitor scientist. The main focus of her research is improving the study of post-translational modifications, like protein phosphorylation, using MS based techniques, such as data independent acquisition with Skyline, for studying their temporal dynamics
Vanessa Gaspar
Dr. Gaspar received her BSc in Biological Sciences, MSc and PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the State University of Maringa, in Brazil. She did a postdoctoral training in Translational Proteomics at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM), and in 2018 Dr. Gaspar joined our team. She is interested in developing a streamlined proteomics based workflow for the identification of targets and off-targets to which a drug molecule binds within a cellular context.
Sahar Ibrahim
Sahar Ibrahim, a Ph.D. candidate at the experimental medicine department, is working on PTEN and its C-terminal tail phosphorylation as a biomarker for breast cancer therapy resistance. Prior to starting her Ph.D., Sahar was working as a clinical pathology specialist and assistant lecturer at the National Liver Institute in Egypt. During her masters at the molecular lab of the clinical pathology department, Tanta University Hospital, she studied the relationship between CD24 polymorphisms and the progression of hepatitis B viral infection. Sahar is interested in studying cell transformation dependent signalling pathways.
Connie Sobsey
Connie is a PhD candidate in the Division of Experimental Medicine at McGill University. Her research is focused on applying proteomics to better match patients to the most effective cancer treatments. She previously completed her MSc in Biochemistry at the University of Victoria-Genome BC Proteomics Centre, where she used targeted and untargeted mass spectrometry-based approaches to elucidate metabolic changes associated with chronic stress.
Georgia Mitsa
Georgia looks back into 5+ years of working experience in healthcare and medicine as an intensive care nurse. Following her interests she accomplished her Bachelor studies in Biosciences – Applied Biology for Medicine and Pharmacy, as well as Master studies in Bio- and Pharmaceutical Analysis in Idstein, Germany. During her studies she continued her work with critically ill patients and pursued several international on-the-job trainings to deepen her knowledge in omics and life sciences. She joined our team as a doctorate in Experimental Medicine at McGill University, where she will be mainly working on proteogenomics and matters of precision medicine.