Alexander Hynes, PhD
Co-FOUNDER
Dr. Hynes is an Associate Professor and the Farncombe Chair of Phage Biology at McMaster University. He holds a PhD from Memorial University of Newfoundland. He has been studying phages since 2008, and intends to keep doing so until he understands them. In 2020, he started Phage Canada informally, to address a growing need to connect phage-interested parties in Canada. His lab website can be found here.
Greg German, MD, PhD, FRCPC
Co-FOUNDER, Clinical Director
Dr. Greg German combines a PhD from Arizona State University in Phages with an MD from the University of Ottawa. He is a medical microbiologist at Unity Health Toronto (St. Michael’s Hospital and St. Joseph’s Health Centre), and the staff physician for a chronic infection clinic at St. Joseph’s Health Centre. He is starting Phage Therapy clinical trials. Nationally he serves as the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease (AMMI) Canada Phage Therapy working group lead and steering committee chair. Internationally, he is co-moderating Global Clinical Phage Rounds a new collaboration with major phage therapy centres and phage clinicians.
Karen Maxwell, PhD
Inaugural board Member
Dr. Maxwell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Toronto. She holds a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the University of Waterloo, and a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from the University of Toronto. Her research is focused on the evolutionary arms race between bacteria and phages. This work has resulted in several high impact breakthroughs, including the discovery of the first inhibitors of CRISPR-Cas systems. These “anti-CRISPRs” are now being developed as a safety feature for use in genome editing applications. She is the recipient of the 2020 John C. Polanyi Prize from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council for her investigations of the evolutionary battles between bacteria and their viruses that are mediated through chemical warfare. Her lab website can be found here.