Plenary Session
Sunday, Jun. 15
Abstract title to come

André K. Isaacs, PhD
College of the Holy Cross
A native of Jamaica, André moved to the US to attend the College of the Holy Cross where he received his B.A. in Chemistry in 2005. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011 (under the guidance of Professor Jeffery D. Winkler), where he focused on the design and synthesis of novel steroid-derived inhibitors of Hedgehog-signaling, based on the alkaloid cyclopamine. He worked as a post-doctoral researcher with Professor Richmond Sarpong at the University of California, Berkeley, where he focused on the synthesis of diterpenoids and the radiolabeled insecticide chlorantraniliprole. In 2012, Andre accepted a tenure-track position at the College of the Holy Cross. In 2018, Andre was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure. In addition to teaching courses in Organic Chemistry, Andre conducts research utilizing copper-mediated organic transformations. He is one of the co-founding members of Outfront – the college’s LGBTQ faculty and staff alliance and serves as faculty advisor to several student groups including the Caribbean African Students’ Assemblage, acapella group Fools on the Hill and Club Tennis. He uses his social media platform to challenge and dismantle the normative culture in STEM and to increase visibility of queer and BIPOC folks.
Dr. Isaacs’ research interest is centered on a very reliable organic reaction – the copper-catalyzed cycloaddition of sulfonyl azides and terminal alkynes (CuAAC). Differential fragmentation of the resulting 1,2,3-triazole generates ketenimines or rhodium carbenoids which he engages with a variety of nucleophiles to provide access to heterocycles of interest to the synthetic community. His talk will also focus on broadening participation in Chemistry through modern strategies that capitalize on the unique learning styles of the younger generation, with special attention to students from historically marginalized groups
Plenary Session
Monday, Jun. 16
Abstract title to come

Hon. Kirsty Duncan, PhD
Member of Parliament for Etobicoke North
The Hon. Kirsty Duncan is the Member of Parliament for Etobicoke North and has been elected to federal office five times. She served as Minister of Science, Sport and Persons with Disabilities, the Deputy House Leader for the Government of Canada, and founded and chaired the inaugural Science and Research Standing Committee. Prior to entering politics, she was an Associate Professor of Health Studies, University of Toronto at Scarborough Campus, and Associate Professor of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Windsor.
To come
Plenary Session
Tuesday, Jun. 17
Abstract title to come

Barbara Imperiali, PhD
MIT
Barbara Imperiali is the Class of 1922 Professor of Biology and Chemistry at MIT. Imperiali received her B.Sc. in Medicinal Chemistry at University College London. She earned her PhD in Organic Chemistry in 1983 working with Professor Satoru Masamune at MIT. She then carried out postdoctoral studies at Brandeis University with Professor Robert Abeles. Imperiali began her independent career at Carnegie Mellon University in 1986 and in 1989 moved to Caltech where she earned the rank of Professor of Chemistry in 1997. In 1999, Imperiali returned to MIT. Imperiali is the recipient of a Sloan Fellowship (1993), a Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (1993), the ACS Cope Scholar Award (1996) and the Caltech Feynman Prize for Excellence in Teaching (1998). At MIT she has been awarded the School of Science Prize for excellence in undergraduate education (2002) and she has been named a Margaret MacVicar Fellow (2003) in recognition of her contributions to undergraduate education. In 2001, Imperiali was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2004 she was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. In 2006, Professor Imperiali received the ACS Breslow Award for Achievement in Biomimetic Chemistry, the Kaiser Award of the Protein Society and the Vincent du Vigneaud Award of the American Peptide Society. In 2010, Imperiali was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (USA). In 2015, Imperiali co-founded AssayQuant Technologies a fledgling biotechnology company to advance the development of biochemical reagents based on technology developed at MIT.
Phosphoglycosyl transferases: Gatekeepers to glycan and glycoconjugate biosynthesis
Glycans — biopolymers assembled from carbohydrates — serve critical functions across domains of life. In bacteria, diverse conjugates of glycans with proteins and lipids, such as the bacterial peptidoglycan and capsular polysaccharide, afford mechanical stability to unicellular organisms in rapidly changing environments and often act as virulence factors. Complex glycolipids, including the O-antigen component of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Gram-negative bacteria, function to mediate interactions amongst cells and propagate deleterious pathogenic processes, and glycoproteins in prokaryotes and eukaryotes are important cell-surface determinants involved in myriad cellular functions.
The biosynthesis of many glycans occurs via a “conveyor belt strategy” involving sequential stepwise glycan assembly onto a polyprenol phosphate-linked carrier at cellular membranes. This presentation will focus on the initial membrane-committed step of the biosynthetic pathways catalyzed by phosphoglycosyl transferases (PGTs). PGTs catalyze the transfer of a phospho-sugar from a soluble nucleoside diphospho-sugar to a membrane-resident polyprenol phosphate. Historically, studies on the PGTs have been hampered because they are integral membrane proteins and often prove to be recalcitrant to expression, purification, and analysis. However, in recent years, exciting new information has been derived on the structures and mechanisms of PGTs, revealing two unique superfamilies of PGT enzymes that catalyze phosphoglycosyl transfer at the membrane interface. Our understanding of enzyme structure at the atomic level now allows the design of ligands and probes to identify and ultimately yield therapeutic control over glycoconjugate pathways unique to harmful bacteria.
Plenary Session
Wednesday, Jun. 18
Abstract title to come

Tsun-Kong (T.K.) Sham, PhD, MCIC
University of Western Ontario
CIC Medal Winner
Tsun-Kong (T.K.) Sham received his PhD from the University of Western Ontario, then was on the staff of Brookhaven National Laboratory for a decade, building capabilities at the National Synchrotron Light Source. He returned to Western in 1988. He has held a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Materials and Synchrotron Radiation (2002-2023). He was the Director of the Canadian Synchrotron Radiation Facility at the Synchrotron Radiation Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1999-2008), leading R & D, training young scientists and transferring technology to the Canadian Light Source (CLS) of which he is a founding member and a beam team leader. He was appointed Officer of Order of Canada in 2016 for his seminal contributions to science and service to the scientific community.
Tsun-Kong (T.K.) Sham is at the forefront in the interplay of materials functionality and synchrotron technology, a world leader in X-ray excited optical luminescence in the energy and time domain. Recent works include nanostructure phase transition and heterostructures, bimetallic materials, in situ/operand studies of energy devices, drug delivery and cultural heritage materials. In 2018, his team reported a groundbreaking work in retrieving images from tarnish 19th century daguerreotypes and most recently, the observation of anisotropic crystallization under quantum confinement.
Tsun-Kong (T.K.) Sham contributed ~ 670 publications with over 36600 citations and a h-index of 93. Recognitions include the “CIC Montreal Medal” (2023), “Allen Pratt Award” of the Canadian Light Source (2017). “The Hellmuth Prize” (2017) and “Distinguished University Professor” (2015) from Western, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2012) and the CSC “J. C. Polanyi Award” (2010). He had served as a member of the Board for the CLS (2001-2006) and Chair of the International X-ray Absorption Society (2003-2006). He is currently a member of the Borad of the Canadian Institute for Synchrotron Radiation (CISR) and a co-Chair of its Long-Range-Plan committee, working with the community towards future synchrotron capabilities for Canada.
The advent of maturing synchrotron light sources and nanotechnology has inadvertently provided an exciting playground and unprecedented opportunities for materials research in length scales of size and time. The very bright, energy-tunable, highly collimated, and pulsed synchrotron light from modern synchrotron light sources such as the Canadian Light Source (CLS) is becoming readily available for a wide spectrum of research in all branches of science and technology. In this talk the powerful synchrotron light source capabilities and how they can contribute to research will be presented with examples from recent applications from their interplay with materials electronic structures and functionalities, especially nanomaterials. Synchrotron techniques to be described are X-ray Absorption (XAS), X-ray Emission (XES), X-ray Excited Optical Luminescence (XEOL) in both energy and time domain, and X-ray microscopy. Scientific issues explored with synchrotron techniques include nano heterostructure phase control and phase transition, bimetallic materials for catalysis, in situ/operando studies of energy devices, drug delivery, cultural heritage studies, among others. These examples illustrate the unique solutions that synchrotron technology can provide. The prospects of emerging techniques and new light source capabilities for Canada will also be noted.
Plenary Session
Thursday, Jun. 19
Abstract title to come

Paul Smith, PhD, MCIC
Perimeter Institute
Montreal Medalist
Paul Smith received his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Bath, England in 1991, and an MBA from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto in 2001. From 1992 – 1995 he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Guillet lab at the University of Toronto.
From 2011–2021, Paul was a member of the Xerox Senior Leadership Team and Vice President and Director of Xerox Global Materials Research Centre.
In partnership with the National Research Council of Canada, Paul helped create the Canadian Campus for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing, a partnership between government and industry for world-class research and development focused on commercialization of devices for the Internet of Everything and CleanTech.
Paul served as Chair of the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC) from 2019-2020 and from 2020–2021, due to the pandemic and changes at the CIC, Paul took on the role of Interim Executive Director.
In the fall of 2021, Paul joined Perimeter Institute as the Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer.
Paul is a Director of the Board of Mitacs, is a member of the Executive Advisory Council of C2MCI and is a member of the Governing Council of the HIBAR Alliance. He was the inaugural Chairman of IntelliFLEX, the Canadian Printed Electronics Industry Association, a former Director of the Board of NGen Canada, and a past Chair of the Conference Board of Canada’s Council for Innovation and Commercialization. From 2014-2018, Paul served on Canada’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Councils Committee on Research Partnerships.
Paul has given Plenary and Keynote talks at international conferences including InnoLAE and SEMICON. He is a named inventor on 78 U.S, patents and has 15 publications. Paul was the 2023 recipient of the Canada Medal from the Society of the Chemical Industry (SCI).
To come.