Professor

professor
John E. Baenziger, Ph.D.
Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology
Roger Guindon Hall

University of Ottawa
451 Smyth Rd.
Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1H 8M5

John.Baenziger@uottawa.ca
Phone: (613) 562-5800 x 8222
Fax: (613) 562-5440

 

Dr. Baenziger received his B.Sc. in Biochemistry from Queen’s University in 1984, conducting research in the laboratories of both Drs. John Elce and Peter Davies.  It was during this time that he was first exposed to the field of biophysics.  This stimulated him to pursue a Ph.D. at the National Research Council of Canada with Dr. Ian C.P. Smith, a pioneer in the use of solid state NMR methods to study biological molecules and human disease.  Dr. Baenziger completed his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of Ottawa in 1989.  Building on his acquired expertise, he undertook a postdoctoral fellowship jointly at Harvard Medical School and Boston University where he worked on the structural and functional characterization of ligand-gated ion channels.  In 1992, Dr. Baenziger joined the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Ottawa, where he is currently a full professor.

Education

1989-1992  Post-doctoral Fellow

      Harvard Medical School with Dr. Keith W. Miller
      Boston University with Dr. Kenneth J. Rothschild
      Research: Development of biophysical tools for studying agonist-induced structural changes in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor

1984-1989  Ph. D. Biochemistry

      University of Ottawa with Dr. Ian C.P. Smith
      Research Project:  Characterization of the structural and dynamic properties of di-unsaturated fatty acyl chains in lipid bilayers

1980-1984  B.Sc. Biochemistry

Queen’s University with Drs. John Elce and Peter Davies
Research Project: Structural and functional studies of calcium-activated proteases and antifreeze proteins.

Honours and awards

Premier’s Research Excellence Award (2000)
John Charles Polanyi Prize for outstanding Doctoral Research (1992)
NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellowship (1989 – 1991)
Ontario Graduate Scholarship and NSERC Graduate Scholarship (1986-1989)

Professional Activities

2014-              President of the Harvard Club of Ottawa
2014-              President of the Biophysical Society of Canada
2014-2017       Chair of the Commission on Graduate Studies in the Sciences, FGPS, uOttawa

      • Member of FGPS Executive (student appeals)
      • Member of FGPS Council (academic matters)
      • Member of FGPS Program Evaluation Committee (IQAP)

2014 –               Director of the Biochemistry Graduate Program, uOttawa
2012                Scientific Officer, Canadian Epigenetics, Environment, and Health Research Consortium (CEEHRC), CIHR
2011                Scientific Officer, Emerging Team Grant: Rare Diseases Panel, CIHR
2011                Scientific Officer, BMA Grant Review Panel, CIHR
2004-2011       Chair of Undergraduate Biochemistry, Faculty of Science uOttawa
2009                Scientific Officer, University-Industry Review Panel, CIHR
2008-2012       European Training Network in the Structural Biology of Membrane Proteins
2003-2008       Editorial Board, Journal of Biological Chemistry
2000                Scientific Officer, BMA Grant Review Panel, CIHR
1997-2000       BMA Grant Review Panel, CIHR

Invited Seminar Speaker (2010 to present)

2015 06-17      1st Annual Biophysical Society of Canada meeting, Waterloo, ON, Canada
2015 06-11      Department of Biochemistry, University of Alberta
2015 03-27      Department of Chemistry, University of Manitoba
2015 02-09      59th Annual Biophysical Society meeting, Baltimore, MD, USA
2014 11-10      Department of Pharmacology, McGill University, Montreal, QC
2014 10-04      Memorial University Biophysics Society Symposium, St. John’s, NF
2014 07-26      Wellcome Trust Conference: nAChRs, Cambridge, England.
2014 06-03      Canadian Chemistry Conference, Vancouver, BC
2013 05-21      Canadian Neuroscience Meeting, Toronto, ON
2013 04-16      Department of BMI, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON
2013 01-21      Department of Neuroscience, OHRI, Ottawa, ON
2012 11-29      Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, USA
2012 11-08     École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
2012 11-03      Lipid-Protein Interactions conference, Hyderabad, India
2012 05-30      Structural Biology of Membrane Proteins Meeting, Acquafredda di Maratea, Italy
2011 12-05      BIG day invited speaker, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON
2011 09-26      University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, BC
2011 09-23      Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC
2011 07-28      Dept. Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
2011 05-20      Wellcome Trust Conference: Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors, Hinxton, England
2011 03-14      CIHR training program in Lipidomics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON
2010 11-11      20th Neuropharmacology Conference, San Diego, CA, USA
2010 10-12      33rd meeting of Argentinean Biophysical and Protein Societies, Salta, Argentina
2010 06-18      Instutut de Biologie Structurale, Grenoble, France
2010 05-31      Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
2010 05-28      Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
2010 04-22      Inst. de Pharm. et Biologie Struct., Université Paul-Sabatier, Toulouse, France
2010 02-09      Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique C.N.R.S./Université Paris, Paris, France