As Director of research at NRC from 2005-2013, he lead a multidisciplinary research program whose primary objective was to improve the health and wellness of Canadians by discovering and translating novel solutions for preventing, diagnosing and treating infectious diseases. One of its main research areas was understanding the role of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates (sugars plus a protein or a lipid) and their associated biosynthetic enzymes in normal biological function and disease. Innovative integrated approaches were developed for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of disease by bringing together competencies in glycosciences, understanding the host and immune responses (immunomodulation), bacterial pathogenesis, antibody engineering, and partnering with NRC’s strengths in the physical sciences and engineering portfolios. Also, since biomass is comprised mostly of sugar polymers (polysaccharides), novel applications to bioproducts were also successfully developed for environmentally friendly processes for pulp bleaching and production of hemp fibres for use in the textile industries, and development of biofuels. NRC has gained international stature in the field of infectious diseases and bioproducts by being able to successfully translate its research into tangible benefits for Canadians.

He obtained a M.Sc. in Physics from Ottawa University in 1977 and a Ph.D. in Medical Biophysics and Genetics from Toronto University in 1983. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Alberta in the department of Biochemistry he joined in 1984 the NRC Institute for Biological Sciences as a research officer. His research interests are the determination of the primary and three-dimensional structures of sugars and the study of carbohydrate-protein interactions by nuclear magnetic resonance methods and molecular modelling. Applications are to vaccine development for human and animal pathogens and glycobiology in general and he has published 175 papers.