Biologist receives young innovator award

Victoria, BC – At the Networks of Centres of Excellence’s Annual Meeting this week, Brett Poulis, biologist with the Centre for Forest Biology at the University of Victoria and researcher with the Advanced Foods and Materials Network, was awarded the 2006 NCE Young Innovators Award.

First awarded in 2004, the award recognizes young entrepreneurs who, with the help of their networks, have been exceptionally successful in transferring their innovative research to a business, process, or service to benefit society at large.

Dr Poulis, chief scientific officer of FloraPure BioSciences of Victoria, does research into bacteria-resistant Douglas fir trees, which is expected to lead not only to healthier forests, plants and crops, but also to the development of innovative medicines, including antibiotics, and topical antibacterial and antifungal creams to combat human illnesses. Under the direction of botanist Dr Patrick von Aderkas of the University of Victoria, and using advanced proteomic tools and state-of-the-art equipment at the University of Victoria Genome BC Proteomics Centre, Dr Poulis was able to uncover the innate defences of the Douglas firs and profile the defensive compounds.