Leigh Revers

Background

Leigh Revers is an Associate Professor, Teaching Stream at the Institute of Management & Innovation, with a cross-appointment in the Depart­ment of Chemical & Physical Sciences, and served as Director of the Master of Biotechnology (MBiotech) Program at the University of Toronto between 2017 and 2022 . He came to the program with an extensive background in biotechnology entre­preneurship, and he has over 25 years of experience working in the life sciences sector, both in world-class academic institutions and in industry. Trained as a chemist and molecular biologist in the Dyson Perrins Laboratory, he first came to Canada in 1996 as the recipient of a Leverhulme Scholarship to work with Professor Harry Schachter on developmental enzymes involved in human diseases at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children. His research interests in complex carbohydrates as mediators of events at the cell-surface led to his interest in cancer. He joined Professor Jean Gariépy’s research team in 1999 to work on novel biologic toxins capable of exploiting cancer-related carbohydrate signals. A long-held interest in entre­preneurship led in 2000 to his becoming a co-founder of Molecular Templates Inc. (MTI), a private Canadian biotechnology company focused on the development of novel toxin-based cancer therapeutics. In May 2006, he was appointed Assistant Director with the MBiotech Program at the University of Toronto. In 2007, Dr Revers co-founded a consulting practice, which provides specialist scientific and financial services to small and medium-sized enterprises in the life sciences. In 2009, he participated in a USD$2M Series A financing of MTI led by Santé Ventures, which saw the company relocate to Austin, Texas. Shortly afterwards, he co-founded a new Canadian company, D5Pharma Inc., based out of the Sunnybrook Research Institute, which is presently focused on developing aptamer and other biomacro­molecular technologies for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Over the past eight years, he has spoken widely to healthcare professionals across Canada, and around the world, on the subject of biologics and biosimilars in the context of haematology, rheumatology and oncology. In September of 2017, Molecular Templates was listed on the NASDAQ (MTEM). Dr Revers holds Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees in Physical Sciences from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

Current Courses

Education

Graduate & Postmaster, Merton College, Oxford.

B.A. (Hons) (Oxon.)

M.A. (Oxon.)

D.Phil.

Postermastership (1992)