B. Brett Finlay PhD, FRSC, OC

Brett Finlay, FRSC, OC, holds appointments at the Michael Smith Laboratories and in the Departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Microbiology & Immunology at UBC. The University recruited Dr. Finlay as an Assistant Professor in 1989 and appointed him Peter Wall Distinguished Professor in July 2002.

Dr. Finlay's areas of research interest and accomplishment include host-parasite interactions of pathogenic bacteria, especially enteric bacteria, and pioneering the use of polarized epithelial cells as models to study pathogenic bacteria penetrating through epithelial barriers. Research in his lab is focused on understanding bacterial pathogenesis from the perspective of both pathogen and host. Current projects include "Salmonella as a model intracellular pathogen" and "Enteropathogenic and enterohemorrhagic E.coli." It was a strain of E.coli that was responsible for the deaths of six people and the illness of thousands in Walkerton, Ontario in 2000, when the area’s drinking water supply became contaminated. Dr. Finlay's research on how this strain of E. coli attaches to intestinal cells led to the development of a vaccine for cattle which will reduce the threat of future outbreaks. The bovine E.coli vaccine that he developed is being commercialized. Dr. Finlay is co-founder, VP for Research, and Chair of the Scientific and Medical Advisory Board of Inimex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., whose mission it is to develop new therapies for infectious diseases.