Pieter Cullis

Pieter Rutter Cullis OC OBC FRS is a Canadian physicist and biochemist known for his contributions to the field of lipid nanoparticles (LNP).[2] Lipid nanoparticles are essential to current mRNA vaccines as a delivery system. Prof. Cullis is best known for the development of ionizable cationic lipids. These lipids are able to complex with negatively charged nucleic acids at low pH (≈4.0) where they are positively charged because they have a pKa if approximately 6.4. They reduce or eliminate toxicity associated with cationic lipids at physiological pH of 7.4 because they adopt a net neutral charge. Finally, they enable endosomal escape because they again become positively charged in acidified endosomes and promote formation of non-bilayer structures by interaction with negatively charged lipids.[3] These properties are critical to the function of the mRNA vaccines and are rapidly enabling gene therapy in clinical settings.[4]

Pieter Cullis

OC OBC FRS
Born1946 (age 76–77)
NationalityCanadian
Alma materUniversity of British Columbia[1]
Known forLipid nanoparticles
AwardsOfficer of the Order of Canada Pieter Cullis, O.C.

Vancouver, British Columbia

For his contributions to the advancement of biomedical research and drug development, and for his mentorship of the next generation of scientists and entrepreneurs.
Scientific career
FieldsBiophysics
ThesisElectron paramagnetic resonance of phosphorus doped silicon in the intermediate impurity concentration range (1972)
Doctoral advisorJ.R. Marko
Websitewww.liposomes.ca

Cullis co-founded several companies to develop and commercialize LNP technology including Acuitas Therapeutics, Integrated Nanotherapeutics and Precision NanoSystems.[5][6]

Research

Cullis received a PhD in physics from the University of British Columbia and then moved to Oxford University to work as a postdoctoral fellow in biochemistry working on NMR. During his time at Oxford, he started to work on lipids.[7] In the 1980s, he established his own laboratory at the University of British Columbia and started to create lipid bilayers. He subsequently founded Inex Pharmaceuticals, a company that focused research on ways to encapsulate drugs and nucleic acids within lipid particles.[7] He worked on the development of Patisiran, a drug that uses small interfering RNA delivered via lipid nanoparticles and was FDA approved in 2018. In collaboration with Toshifumi Yokota his research team is also developing LNPs for the treatment of muscular dystrophy.[8]

Awards and honours

References
  1. "Pieter Cullis | Life Sciences Institute".
  2. "Meet the Canadian scientist who paved the way for groundbreaking mRNA COVID vaccines | CBC Radio". Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  3. Han, Xuexiang; Zhang, Hanwen; Butowska, Kamila; Swingle, Kelsey L.; Alameh, Mohamad-Gabriel; Weissman, Drew; Mitchell, Michael J. (13 December 2021). "An ionizable lipid toolbox for RNA delivery". Nature Communications. 12 (1): 7233. Bibcode:2021NatCo..12.7233H. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-27493-0. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 8668901. PMID 34903741.
  4. Cullis, Pieter R.; Hope, Michael J. (5 July 2017). "Lipid Nanoparticle Systems for Enabling Gene Therapies". Molecular Therapy. 25 (7): 1467–1475. doi:10.1016/j.ymthe.2017.03.013. ISSN 1525-0024. PMC 5498813. PMID 28412170.
  5. "Holland 2006" (PDF). Reboot Communications. June 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 July 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  6. "Pieter Cullis". Integrated Nanotherapeutics. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
  7. Horejs, Christine (December 2021). "From lipids to lipid nanoparticles to mRNA vaccines | Nature Reviews Materials". Nature Reviews Materials. 6 (12): 1075–1076. doi:10.1038/s41578-021-00379-9. PMC 8454296. PMID 34567796.
  8. "Muscular Dystrophy Canada". Muscular Dystrophy Canada. 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  9. "Alumni Achievement Awards Past Recipients". alumni UBC. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  10. "Laureates: All". eng.prix-galien-canada.org. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  11. "2021 Awards Announced | Controlled Release Society (CRS)". www.controlledreleasesociety.org. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  12. "Professor Pieter Cullis". Prince Mahidol Award Foundation. 15 November 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  13. "Governor General announces 135 new appointments to the Order of Canada" (Press release). Governor General of Canada. 29 December 2021.
  14. "Professor Pieter R. Cullis". VinFuture Prize Foundation. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  15. Foundation, The Gairdner (1 June 2023). "Pieter Cullis - Gairdner Foundation Award Winner". The Gairdner Foundation. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  16. "2022 Canada Gairdner Awards Recognize World-Renowned Scientists For Transformative Contributions To Research Impacting Human Health". Gairdner Foundation. 5 April 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  17. "2022 Archives". Governor General’s Innovation Awards. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  18. www.celebrationofheroes.com https://www.celebrationofheroes.com/. Retrieved 13 October 2023. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  19. Tang Prize 2022
  20. "Alumni Achievement Awards Past Recipients". alumni UBC. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  21. "The Thudichum Award". Phospholipid Research Center. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  22. "Thudichum Young Scientist Award 2019". Phospholipid Research Center. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
  23. "24th Annual Life Sciences BC Awards presented by Farris". Life Sciences British Columbia. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  24. "Pieter Cullis Receives the 2022 Bloom Burton Award". Bloom Burton. 30 September 2022. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  25. "Pieter Cullis (Health Sciences)". Killam Laureates. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
  26. "SCI Canada Awards". www.soci.org. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  27. "Pieter Cullis". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 24 May 2023.
  28. Chow, Qian (10 July 2023). "UBC Faculty of Medicine honours exceptional Canadian researchers in cancer, heart, brain disorders and clinical pharmacology". UBC Faculty of Medicine. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  29. Secretariat, Intergovernmental Relations (7 August 2023). "B.C.'s highest honour recognizes 14 British Columbians | BC Gov News". news.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  30. Harvey Prize 2021
  31. "Faculty of Medicine Awards 2023". UBC Faculty of Medicine. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  32. "Pieter Cullis, OC PhD". CMHF. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
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