DeNovaMed’s Founders

Donald F. Weaver, MD, PhD, FRCP(C)

Donald F. Weaver is in the Departments of Medicine and Chemistry and the School of Biomedical Engineering at Dalhousie University. He holds a Canada Research Chair in Neuroscience and is an expert in computer-aided drug design, focusing his work in the areas of neurological medicine and medicinal chemistry. He uses the techniques of rational drug design to envision and synthesize novel drugs for the treatment of chronic neurologic disorders such as epilepsy and Alzheimer’s dementia. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the prestigious Weir Mitchell Award for Neurological Research from the American Academy of Neurology and the 1997 Merck Frosst Therapeutics Research Award. Dr. Weaver is also a practicing clinician and is a founding member and contributing researcher to Neurochem Inc., a pharmaceutical company that trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange. He has also co-founded Molecular Mining Corp. and NeuroProtection Inc. He has extensive experience in the creation, management, and growth of startup companies and in the process of “going public”.

Christopher R. McMaster, PhD

Christopher R. McMaster is in the Departments of Pediatrics and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and is a Canada Research Chair in Biosignalling at Dalhousie University. He possesses expertise in molecular, genetic, and biochemical characterization of proteins focusing his work on the discovery and characterization of new lipid metabolizing enzymes and their regulators with an eye toward identifying new drug targets for the treatment of infectious disease, cancer, obesity, and atherosclerosis. He is the recipient of several invited lectureships and numerous honors including Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellowship and Scholarship awards with these latter two awards ranked first in Canada.

David M. Byers, PhD

David M. Byers is in the Departments of Pediatrics and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at Dalhousie University and is an expert in the structure and function of proteins involved in bacterial lipid metabolism. His research employs biochemical, biophysical, and proteomic approaches to understand the relationships between lipid metabolism and bacterial growth and pathogenesis. Dr. Byers is Director of the Atlantic Research Centre, an internationally-known research group studying the molecular and cellular biology of lipids. He is also director of the proteomics facility associated with the Center for Functional Microbial Genomics and Host Defense at Dalhousie University.