User:David Vocadlo

I received his BSc degree in combined Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of British Columbia (UBC). After considering a career in architecture I found experimental design and the construction of hypotheses to be more engaging. To pursue my particular interest in the catalytic proficiency of enzymes I joined the laboratory of Stephen Withers at UBC to pursue my PhD studies in Bioorganic Chemistry. While there I synthesized substrates and inhibitors of retaining glycoside hydrolases and clarified the catalytic mechanism of hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL). My interests turned at this time to eukaryotic systems and integrating the use of chemical tools in cellular systems. To pursue these interests I moved to the University of California at Berkeley to work with Carolyn Bertozzi, developing chemical probes for functional proteomics of glycosylation in cellular systems. In 2004 he returned to Canada and joined Simon Fraser University where is now a Canada Research Chair in Chemical Glycobiology and professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. My current interests centre of developing and validating chemical tools that can be used to probe and perturb carbohydrates in cellular and organismal models. A major focus in the laboratory is to improve our understanding of the physiological and pathophysiological roles of an intracellular form of protein glycosylation known as O-GlcNAc.

Please see David's Simon Fraser University page for more details on my research interests.