McMaster University research team wins Brockhouse Prize

A McMaster University research team has won the Brockhouse Prize for innovations in infectious disease detection and prevention.

On Wednesday, they won this award, which is one of the country’s most prestigious honours for team science.

The university says although the team’s partnership began during COVID-19, its roots run deeper and their research will have a lasting impact across many other disease areas. 

The team brings together expertise from across chemistry, engineering, immunology and clinical microbiology.

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The researchers on this team include Yingfu Li, a chemist specializing in DNA-based molecules; John Brennan, a chemist who develops diagnostic tests; Carlos Filipe, a chemical engineer who studies how to stabilize biological materials; Todd Hoare, a chemical engineer specializing in smart materials and drug delivery and Bruno Salena, a clinician involved in patient-based research.

Deborah Yamamura, a clinical microbiologist; Matthew Miller, an infectious disease and immunology researcher; and Leyla Soleymani, an engineering physics professor who develops wearable diagnostic technologies, are also included in this research team.

“The Brockhouse Prize celebrates exactly this type of cross-disciplinary work,” says Soleymani, who is lead of engineering innovation at NexusHealth at McMaster. 

“It recognizes collaboration in the face of big challenges — challenges like the pandemic, which demand combined expertise and concentrated effort.”

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