Institute of Advanced Studies

Nanobio: frontiers in nanotechnology for the life sciences and medicine

An Institute of Advanced Studies Masterclass with Brian Wilson, Division Head/Professor of Medical Biophysics at the Ontario Cancer Institute/ University of Toronto and 2009 IAS Professor-at-Large.

The focus of this Masterclass will be on advances in nanotechnologies (including materials and devices) for life sciences (including biology, medicine, food and agriculture, and environment), including how to make them, how to deliver them and how to see and monitor them. The timing is perfect, as the topic aligns with the ARC’s SuperScience Fellowships Scheme: Future Industries: Biotechnology and Nanotechnology now open. The topic will be introduced by the presentation of research in the convergence of life sciences and photonics and then by the addition of nanotechnologies (nano-bio-photonics), including pre-clinical and clinical applications.

This class should be of interest to students from any discipline in the physical, biological or medical sciences who want to explore how her/his work could be enhanced by synergizing with progress in other fields.

Dr. Brian C. Wilson was born and educated in Glasgow, Scotland, where he obtained his PhD in Pure Science in 1971 for research in experimental particle physics. He then moved into biomedical physics research and service at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK for 3 years before immigrating to Australia, where he worked first at the Queensland Radium Institute in Brisbane and then at Flinders University School of Medicine where he focused on medical imaging research. He moved to Canada in 1981 as Associate Professor of Radiology and Physics, McMaster University and Head of Clinical Physics at the Hamilton Cancer Center. He took his present position as Division Head/Professor of Medical Biophysics at the Ontario Cancer Institute/ University of Toronto in 1993.  He is currently also Biophotonics Program Leader for the Canadian Institute for Photonic Innovations. 

Dr Wilson directs a basic-translational-clinical research program in biophotonics that includes development of light-based techniques for clinical therapeutics, clinical diagnostics and micro-imaging. He has published over 270 peer-reviewed scientific papers, and has trained more than 50 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. He serves on numerous journal editorial boards, review panels and government, academic and company advisory boards in Canada, the USA and Europe. He is the 2009 recipient of the Robert L. Noble Prize of the Canadian Cancer Society for outstanding contributions to cancer research.

In the past few years, with national and international collaborators, Dr Wilson has initiated research in nanotechnologies, with a primary focus on the use of targeted nanoparticles for cancer imaging and treatment. These include quantum dots, plasmonic metal nanoparticles and organic nanoparticles for drug delivery. This work is part of a major effort in nanotechnologies at University of Toronto.