David Andrews

Dr. David Andrews is Director of and Senior Scientist in Biological Sciences at Sunnybrook Research Institute, Professor of Biochemistry and Medical Biophysics at University of Toronto and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Membrane Biogenesis. His research includes, the molecular mechanisms by which Bcl-2 family proteins regulate apoptosis at mitochondria, mechanisms of protein-protein interactions, the assembly of proteins into membranes, high-content screening and development of new microscopes for fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy.

Dr. Andrews uses fluorescence spectroscopy, fluorescence lifetime imaging and automated fluorescence microscopy to study protein-protein interactions in live cells and in membranes, protein localization in cells and the effects of drugs on cells. At Sunnybrook Research Institute he established a facility for image-based high-content cellular analysis that includes instrumentation for automated imaging and analysis of cells in monolayer and 3D cultures, genome scale gene knockdown and screening of libraries of small molecules. His lab has discovered and characterized small molecules that accelerate and inhibit Bcl-2 family protein mediated mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization that have applications to cancer and regenerative medicine.

Dr. Andrews is active in the public and private sector. In recent years he was president of the Society for Biomolecular Imaging and Informatics. He is a member of the editorial board of Cell Death and Differentiation. He participated in the start-up of two companies, Fermentas and Isogenica and consults for several other companies and academic centers. His group performs collaborative and contract research for a variety of biotech companies including ABBVIE, Eli Lilly, Johnson and Johnson, Novartis and Celgene. He holds licensed patents in areas such as translational regulation, in vitro evolution, peptide display technologies and optical microscopy.