A research team assembled in UBC approximately 40 years ago by NMIN’s Founding Scientific Director, Dr. Pieter Cullis, is receiving a 2022 Governor General’s Innovation Award for their work in developing lipid nanoparticle (LNP) systems to deliver cancer drugs to tumours and to enable the therapeutic use of RNA- and DNA-based drugs.
Among other achievements, their work resulted in the LNP delivery system that enables the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.
L to R: Dr. Thomas Madden, Dr. Pieter Cullis & Dr. Michael Hope
A research team assembled in UBC approximately 40 years ago by NMIN’s Founding Scientific Director, Dr. Pieter Cullis, is receiving a 2022 Governor General’s Innovation Award for their work in developing lipid nanoparticle (LNP) systems to deliver cancer drugs to tumours and to enable the therapeutic use of RNA- and DNA-based drugs.
Among other achievements, their work resulted in the LNP delivery system that enables the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.
Dr. Cullis’ fellow honorees are Dr. Michael Hope and Dr. Thomas Madden. The trio co-founded Acuitas Therapeutics in 2009 , a private company based in Vancouver, BC, specializing in LNP delivery systems for nucleic acid therapeutics. Acuitas, of which Dr. Madden is currently the President & CEO, was granted a 2021 Global Impact Award by Life Sciences British Columbia in recognition of its work with Pfizer and BioNTech in developing their COVID-19 vaccine.
Governor General’s Innovation team awards recognize active, current innovators and celebrate innovation that is having a meaningful impact on our lives.
Dr. Cullis, jointly with other colleagues, has received numerous other recent recognitions for his contributions to the development of LNP delivery systems and their role in the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. These honors include: the 2022 Canada Gairnder International Award, the 2021 Prince Mahidol Award, the VinFuture Grand Prize, and the Lipid Science Prize.
For more on global recognition for the role of LNPs in COVID vaccines, and for Dr. Cullis’s role in developing this technology, see previous NMIN reporting on this topic.