Paul Santerre

Senior Scientist, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute (TGHRI)

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Keywords: commercialization, scale-up, innovation, innate immunity, biomaterials, polymers, medical devices, cardiovascular biomaterials, cardiovascular disease
 
Professor J. Paul Santerre has published >185 peer reviewed publications and is a listed inventor on >60 patents in the area of medical polymers, biodegradation, protein and blood interactions with surfaces, surface modification, regenerative medicine, and drug delivery. This research has led to the training of >70 graduate students, multiple postdoctoral fellows and >130 undergraduates, and >$50M CAD in grant funding. In addition to being a named fellow of many national and international academic bodies, he was co-founder and current co-director of the Health Innovation Hub at the University of Toronto (a student focused entrepreneur training co-curricular program with >120 client health science and biomedical engineering start-up companies to date). He is a co-founder of Interface Biologics and current CSO for the company.
 
He has received several awards for his innovation and industry related activity including the Governor General’s award for Innovation and the Professional Engineers of Ontario Entrepreneurship Award in 2017. He has recently been awarded the Baxter Chair for Health Technology & Commercialization and the 2018 US Society for Biomaterials Clemson Award for contributions to the literature.

Polymer Biodegradation and Drug Polymers

Biomaterial selection has been a challenging problem in the development process of implants, particularly for long-term devices where the biostability of the materials is a principal concern. Dr. Santerre’s work has studied the kinetics of enzyme induced degradation of polymers (specifically polyurethanes, PMMA and polyethylene) in the presence of monocytes and neutrophils. His research program is focused on investigating the relationship between polymers and bio-degradation processes in the body in order to advance the design of new materials for tissue engineering, implants and medical devices.

The research in the area of biodegradation has also permitted the design of polymer chains that can be specifically degraded by enzyme systems in order to provide therapeutic bioactivity. The first application of this work is being pursued with the development of polymers that release potent antimicrobial agents from the backbone of the polymer when exposed to a host tissue inflammatory response which is related to both implantation trauma and infection.

Health Technology and Commercialization

Dr. Santerre’s work has led to many successful inventions and commercialization activities. He holds the Baxter Chair of Health Technology and Commercialization, and drives entrepreneurship and commercialization initiatives at both UHN and the University of Toronto. He will build relationships between start-up companies focused on health and medical technologies and UHN, and will lead training on commercialization and entrepreneurship for students and trainees from UHN and the University of Toronto.

 

Related Links

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For a list of Dr. Santerre's publications, please visit PubMed or Scopus.

Senior Scientist, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute (TGHRI)

Baxter Chair for Health Technology and Commercialization, Techna
Professor of Biomaterials, Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering; Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto
Co-Director, Health Innovation Hub