Adventures of a lapsed physicist: from solid state physics to Covid-19 vaccines

Event Date:
2021-05-27T16:00:00
2021-05-27T17:00:00
Event Location:
Connect via zoom
Speaker:
Pieter Cullis (UBC)
Related Upcoming Events:
Intended Audience:
Undergraduate
Local Contact:

Douglas Scott

Event Information:

I graduated from the UBC Physics Department with a PhD in solid state physics in 1972. In this talk I will relate an improbable journey from ESR studies of phosphorus-doped silicon at 4°K to enabling the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. The story begins with a move to the Biochemistry Department at Oxford University as a Postdoctoral Fellow to use NMR to study the functional roles of lipids in biological membranes. This required the use of simplified “model membrane” vesicular systems consisting of well-defined lipid species. I soon became interested in the potential of these model membranes as drug delivery vehicles and, on my return to UBC in 1978, focused most of my efforts in this area. Initial work led to three lipid nanoparticle (LNP) systems containing cancer drugs that were approved by the FDA and EMA. This success led to work beginning in the late 1990s to deliver nucleic acid-based drugs such as small interfering RNA (siRNA) for gene silencing and mRNA for gene expression. Some 20 years later, these efforts resulted in LNP systems that could deliver encapsulated mRNA to the interior of target cells in vivo. Through a series of rather serendipitous events these LNP systems now enable the mRNA coding for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to be delivered into muscle and immune cells, enabling vaccine potency. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is playing a major role in quelling the global pandemic.

Add to Calendar 2021-05-27T16:00:00 2021-05-27T17:00:00 Adventures of a lapsed physicist: from solid state physics to Covid-19 vaccines Event Information: I graduated from the UBC Physics Department with a PhD in solid state physics in 1972. In this talk I will relate an improbable journey from ESR studies of phosphorus-doped silicon at 4°K to enabling the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. The story begins with a move to the Biochemistry Department at Oxford University as a Postdoctoral Fellow to use NMR to study the functional roles of lipids in biological membranes. This required the use of simplified “model membrane” vesicular systems consisting of well-defined lipid species. I soon became interested in the potential of these model membranes as drug delivery vehicles and, on my return to UBC in 1978, focused most of my efforts in this area. Initial work led to three lipid nanoparticle (LNP) systems containing cancer drugs that were approved by the FDA and EMA. This success led to work beginning in the late 1990s to deliver nucleic acid-based drugs such as small interfering RNA (siRNA) for gene silencing and mRNA for gene expression. Some 20 years later, these efforts resulted in LNP systems that could deliver encapsulated mRNA to the interior of target cells in vivo. Through a series of rather serendipitous events these LNP systems now enable the mRNA coding for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to be delivered into muscle and immune cells, enabling vaccine potency. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is playing a major role in quelling the global pandemic. Event Location: Connect via zoom