Invited Speakers 2015
Read more about the speakers who shared their work at our 2015 Conference
Dr. Maikel Rheinstadter
Dr. Rheinstadter received his PhD in physics in 2002 from Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany. He then started a post-doc with the Jülich Centre for Neutron Science at the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France, the world’s most influential neutron source. He received the Young Scientist Award of the European Neutron Scattering Association in 2003 for his work in membrane dynamics. In 2004, he became staff scientist at the Institut Laue-Langevin as expert for biophysics and biology-related research with neutrons. In 2006, Dr. Rheinstadter moved to the University of Missouri-Columbia as Assistant
Professor. In 2009, he was called to McMaster as Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, jointly appointed with the Canadian Neutron Beam Centre (CNBC) at Chalk River Laboratories. Dr. Rheinstadter is heading the CFI-funded Laboratory for Membrane and Protein Dynamics at McMaster University. In 2012, he was awarded an Early Researcher Award from the province of Ontario. Since 2013, Dr. Rheinstadter has been an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Dr. Rheinstadter’s group is studying molecular structure and dynamics in membrane/protein systems.
Dr. Ryan Wylie
Growing up in Montréal, Dr. Wylie received his BSc in biochemistry from Concordia University. Afterwards, he received his PhD from the University of Toronto. Before coming to McMaster in the summer of 2014, Dr. Wylie did his post-doctoral work at MIT where he held a Banting postdoctoral fellowship. Currently he teaches the second term level II organic chemistry course for chemists and chemical biologists. Dr. Wylie is a member of the Bio-interfaces Institute, one of McMaster’s leading facilities led by Dr. Brennan, combining the expertise of faculty members from chemistry, chemical biology, biochemistry, chemical engineering and biomedical engineering. The Bio-interfaces Institute’s purpose is to help the development of sol-gel-based biomaterials, biosensor technologies, high-throughput drug screening assays, and other surface technologies. Currently his research focus is on the development of hydrogels. To understand the interaction between cells and their environment, we need to design dynamic matrices which simulate the mechanical and chemical environment of the cells. Hydrogels can be used to simulate this local environment known as the extracellular matrix, by functionalizing the gel. Currently, efforts are being made in the Wylie lab to produce these gels in high-throughput so that cancer metastasis and cell migration can be studied in detail.
Dr. Jonathan Bramson
Dr. Bramson completed his PhD in Experimental Medicine at McGill University in 1994. He is currently a professor in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, where he teaches the undergraduate Introductory Immunology course (HTH SCI 3I03) and the graduate Molecular Immunology, Virology, and Inflammation course (MIVI). In addition to teaching, Dr. Bramson is an active researcher in the McMaster Immunology Research Centre. Dr. Bramson’s research interests include studying the mechanisms through which the immune system combats cancer, as well as applying these mechanisms to developing immunotherapies against cancer. As part of this research, the Bramson lab is involved in the Ontario Regional Biotherapeutics Program (ORBiT), a program where cancer immunotherapies are implemented in early phase clinical trials. The goal of this program is to provide a clear path for the rapid translation of successful immunotherapies from bench to bedside. In response to his phenomenal contributions in teaching and research, Dr. Bramson was recently appointed as Assistant Dean of Research Infrastructure in the Faculty of Health Sciences.