A University of British Columbia expert in bacterial diseases, who is leading global initiatives to combat SARS and other lethal, drug resistant infections — including an e.coli vaccine for cattle — has been named one of five recipients of the $100,000 Killam Prizes for 2006.
UBC Prof. Brett Finlay will receive the award in the Health Sciences category, according to an announcement made today by the Canada Council for the Arts, which administers the Killam Program. The Killam Prizes are widely regarded as Canada’s most distinguished annual award for outstanding career achievement by Canadians in natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, health sciences and engineering.
“Brett has a remarkable ability to look at research questions in entirely new ways which results in some inspired and truly innovative science,” says John Hepburn, UBC Vice-President, Research. “His amazing energy and determination make him an outstanding leader and mentor, and he continues to represent this university and this country at the highest levels of research.”
A professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and of Microbiology and Immunology, Finlay is the Peter Wall Institute Distinguished Professor, UBC’s most prestigious academic honour. In 2005 he received US$8.7 million over five years as part of the Gates Foundation-funded Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative. He leads an international project to change the way infectious diseases are treated worldwide by using the body’s own immune system to prevent deadly infections.
In addition, he directs the international SARS Accelerated Vaccine Initiative that is fast-tracking the development of a vaccine for the lethal respiratory syndrome.
A UBC faculty member since 1989, Finlay is a member of UBC’s Michael Smith Laboratories, founded by Nobel Laureate, the late Michael Smith, who recruited Finlay to the university. Finlay’s research interests are focused on host-pathogen interactions at the molecular level. His lab team studies several pathogenic bacteria, with Salmonella and pathogenic E. coli interactions with host cells being the primary focus.
A major research finding was his 1997 discovery that E.coli bacteria insert a soluble bacterial protein into the host cell membrane that allows them to adhere to the intestine. The discovery led to the development of a cattle vaccine to eliminate growth of E. coli in the animal’s intestine and prevent outbreaks of lethal contamination such as seen in Walkerton, Ontario in 2000. The vaccine has been tested and is now undergoing regulatory approval.
Finlay has authored more than 250 publications and his work has been published in leading international journals such as Science, Cell, and Nature.
He will accept his prize on April 27 at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
There have been eight previous UBC recipients of the Killam Prize.
More information on the Killam Prize winners can be found at www.canadacouncil.ca.
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