Leadership
Dr. Andre Marziali
Dr. Marziali received his B.A.Sc. in Engineering Physics from the University of British Columbia in 1989, and his PhD in Physics from Stanford University in 1994. He subsequently worked for several years with Dr. Ron Davis, in the Stanford DNA Sequencing Technology Center, developing instruments for DNA sequencing and sample purification. He returned to Canada in 1998, as an Assistant Professor at UBC in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, where he formed the Applied Biophysics Laboratory. Shortly after his return to Canada, Dr. Marziali formed the Genome BC Technology Development Platform, which he continues to lead as Director. In 2005, he was awarded tenure and appointed Director of the Engineering Physics Program at UBC.
In 2004, Dr. Marziali co-invented the concept of using synchronous mobility perturbations to create divergent velocity fields for selectively focusing nucleic acids. This technology, termed SCODA, is the basis of a spin-off company, Boreal Genomics Inc. founded in 2007 by Dr. Marziali and colleagues to commercialize high performance instruments for DNA and RNA purification. In the last few years he has been awarded the 2003 Killam Prize for Excellence in Teaching, the 2004 BC Innovation Council – Young Innovator award, and the 2005 Canadian Association of Physicists Medal for excellence in teaching.
Dr. Robin Coope
Dr. Robin Coope received his BASc in Engineering Physics in 1993 and a MASc in 1996 from the University of British Columbia. His studies focused on scanning tunneling microscopes with Dr. Tom Tiedje and total internal reflection-based display technologies with Dr. Lorne Whitehead. A unifying theme in these experiences was the development of instrumentation. This led to a PhD with Dr. Andre Marziali on physics related to capillary electrophoresis, completed in 2006.
Following his PhD, Dr. Coope joined Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, heading a new Engineering technology development group. The Group’s mission is to enhance the productivity of the GSC’s high throughput pipelines with new devices and processes. Dr. Coope co-directs the Genome BC Technology Development Platform with Dr. Marziali.