Research

Featured Researcher

Dr. Roy Duncan, PhD

Appointments:

Professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology; cross-appointed to Department of Pediatrics; cross-appointed to Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Affiliations:

Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine, IWK Health Centre, Canadian Centre for Vaccinology, Dalhousie Infectious Disease Research Alliance (DIDRA)

Research Interests:

membrane proteins; membrane fusion; virology; fusogenic liposomes to deliver liposome-encapsulated cancer therapeutics and vaccines inside cells; role of myopodin in cancer cell invasion

Engineering FAST proteins into weapons against cancer
Since discovering the fusion-associated small transmembrane (FAST) proteins in the 1990s, Dr. Roy Duncan has gone on to develop these proteins into powerful new strategies against cancer. He and his research team are using FAST proteins to create a fusogenic liposome system that selectively targets cancer cells and carries chemotherapy agents through the cell membrane to destroy the cancer cell. The researchers are also investigating myopodin, a newly discovered biomarker for invasive prostate and bladder cancer, to determine its role in the mechanisms of cancer-cell invasion and metastasis.

Contact:

roy.duncan@dal.ca, (902) 494-6770

Location:

Sir Charles Tupper Medical Building, Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine, 5850 College Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 1X5