Organizing Committee

Michael Thompson is a Professor of the Department of Chemistry at the Universtiy of Toronto. Thompson has been awarded many prestigious international prizes for his research including The Robert Boyle Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, E.W.R. Steacie Award of the Chemical Society of Canada, the Theophilus Redwood Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Fisher Scientific Award in Analytical Chemistry of the Chemical Society of Canada. 
The main thrust of research in the Thompson laboratory is the development of new techniques for the label-free detection of biochemical events at the liquid-solid interface. The goal is to generate new technologies for application in bioanalytical chemistry and detection science, notably in the areas of clinical diagnostics, biocompatibility and nanotoxiciology. With respect to applications the group is employing an ultra high frequency acoustic wave system for the detection of biomarkers for HIV infection and onset of ovarian cancer, and neuron-small molecule/nanoparticle interactions. This work involves research into the surface-immobilization of proteins and aptamers, with a particular emphasis on electronic device operation in complex media such as blood and serum.

Michael Retsky received PhD in physics from University of Chicago and worked in experimental physics at Zenith Electronics and Hewlett-Packard. After making a career change into cancer research 30 years ago, he was Prof of Biology at University of Colorado and visiting Prof at University of Texas. He is presently a Associate Professor at University College, London. Michael’s current area of interest is to study cancer using computer simulation. Retsky is Editor of a Springer-Nature book on the breast cancer project published July 2017.He was the first person to use what is now called metronomic chemotherapy for stage IIIc colon cancer in 1995-1997. He is a founder and for 10 years was on the Board of Directors of the Colon Cancer Alliance. He has published more than 100 papers in physics and oncology.