:René Roy (chemist)

{{Infobox scientist

| name = René Roy

| image = Dr René ROY.png

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1952|11|4}}

| birth_place = Sherbrooke, Quebec

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| nationality = Canadian

| fields = Medicinal chemistry

| workplaces = Université du Québec à Montréal
University of Ottawa
Université de Montréal

| alma_mater = Université de Montréal

| doctoral_advisor = Stephen Hanessian

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| known_for = Semi-synthetic glycoconjugate vaccines

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| awards = Canada Research Chair in Medicinal Chemistry (2004-2017)
Gold Medal from the World Intellectual Property Organization (2005)
Tech Museum Award-Technology Benefiting Humanity (2005)

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René Roy (born November 4, 1952) is a Canadian organic chemist from Quebec, specializing in glycobiology and carbohydrate chemistry. He is professor emeritus,{{cite news|title=UQAM official website - Professeurs Émérites (in French)|url=https://distinctions.uqam.ca/professeurs-emerites/|access-date=2019-01-23|archive-date=2019-04-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419163121/https://distinctions.uqam.ca/professeurs-emerites/|url-status=dead}} Department of chemistry, at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM){{cite news|title= UQAM official website - Répertoire des Professeurs - Rene Roy (in French)|url= https://professeurs.uqam.ca/professeur?c=roy.rene}} and associate professor at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) – Institut Armand-Frappier (IAF). He is the founder and former director of PharmaQAM,{{cite news|title= PharmaQAM website - Direction|url= https://pharmaqam.uqam.ca/direction.html|access-date= 2019-01-23|archive-date= 2019-01-23|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190123224128/https://pharmaqam.uqam.ca/direction.html|url-status= dead}} a biopharmaceutical research center based at UQAM, focusing on the discovery of new bioactive molecules, their mechanism of action and the vectorization of drugs.

He is a pioneer in the development of synthetic glycoconjugate vaccines both for human and veterinary health, having co-developed the first and sole marketed semi-synthetic vaccine for human use,{{cite journal|last1=Adamo|first1=Roberto|title= Advancing Homogeneous Antimicrobial Glycoconjugate Vaccines|journal=Accounts of Chemical Research |date=2017 |volume=50 |issue=5 |pages=1270–1279 |publisher=Accounts of Chemical Research, American Chemical Society Publications|doi=10.1021/acs.accounts.7b00106|pmid=28463499 }} preventing bacterial meningitis and pneumonia in developing countries.{{cite news|last1=Ottawa|first1=University|title=A vaccine that pays big|url= https://research.uottawa.ca/iss/vaccine-pays-big-first-semi-synthetic-vaccine-children }}{{cite news|last1=Angiolini|first1=Daphné|title=Chimie - Un vaccin " cubain " (in French)|url= https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/education/95992/chimie-un-vaccin-cubain|access-date= November 26, 2005|agency=Le Devoir}}

Education

René Roy completed his Ph.D. in carbohydrate chemistry from Université de Montréal in 1980,{{cite news|title= Glyconet – Rene Roy's description|url=https://forum.glyconet.ca/index.php/NI:Rene.Roy}} with Stephen Hanessian,{{cite journal|title= Glycodendrimers : versatile tools for nanotechnology|date=2013 |doi=10.1590/S1984-82502013000700008|s2cid=33532339|via=Semantic Scholar |last1=Roy |first1=René |last2=Shiao |first2=Tze Chieh |last3=Rittenhouse-Olson |first3=Kate |journal=Brazilian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences |volume=49 |pages=85–108 |doi-access=free }} developing synthetic methodologies and the syntheses of natural compounds using carbohydrate precursors (Chiron approach).

Career

Immediately after his Ph.D, in 1980, René Roy joined the National Research Council (NRC) in Ottawa where he worked as researcher in the Institute for Biological Sciences. Then, in 1985, he began his career as professor in the department of chemistry of the University of Ottawa where he served until December 2002. In parallel, he held the positions of Associate Director of the Ottawa-Carleton Chemistry Institute from 1993 to 1996, Director from 1996 to 1999, and again Associate Director in 2000. From 2002 to 2004, he was chairman of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Division of Carbohydrate Chemistry and, in 2005, head of the ACS awards committee.{{cite news|title= Glycovax Pharma - Rene Roy's description|url=https://glycovax.com/dr-rene-roy-2/}}

In 2008, he returned to Montreal to teach organic chemistry at the Université du Québec à Montréal. There, he also founded the PharmaQAM biopharmaceutical research center which gathers some 50 professors and 17 institutions with common interests in the molecular aspects of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery{{cite news|title= PharmaQAM website|url=https://pharmaqam.uqam.ca/en/component/content/article/2-index.html}} working on new bioactive molecules, their mechanism of action and the way they are vectorized in vivo. He served as director of PharmaQAM until December 2017.

During his career, René Roy has co-developed meningitis vaccines, for humans{{cite news|title=Hib Vaccine Team|url=https://myhero.com/Hib_Vaccine_Tech_2005|agency=myhero.com}} and animals,{{cite news|title=Combattre l'infection chez le porc (in French)|url=https://www.actualites.uqam.ca/2015/nouveau-prototype-vaccin-contre-infection-bacterienne-chez-porc|access-date= November 25, 2015|agency=Actualités UQAM}} that led to commercial success. One of them, targeting the Haemophilus influenzae b (HIB) bacteria, has been designed jointly with the Cuban researcher Vincente Verez Bencomo to prevent lethal meningitis and pneumonia in developing countries. It is the first human semi-synthetic glycoconjugate vaccine approved and remains the only one. In use since 2004, more than 34 million doses have been distributed to children in several countries including Vietnam, Syria, Brazil, Venezuela and Angola, eradicating the infectious disease in Cuba.

Rene Roy is a cofounder of Glycovax Pharma,{{cite news|title=Glycovax Pharma Scientific Team|url= https://glycovax.com/scientific-team/}} a biotech company operating in Montreal, developing glycochemistry-based treatments against cancer and other disease with unmet medical needs.

Research

=Research interests=

René Roy uses carbohydrate chemistry to develop neoglycoconjugates and polymers to treat disease related to glycoproteins such as bacterial infections and cancers. His synthesis of new glycan structures,{{cite news|title=Rene Roy's publications|url= https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EzYCekkAAAAJ&hl=fr|agency=Google Scholar}} among which glycopolymers, glycodendrimers, and glycodendrimersomes (terms that he first developed) enabled progress in the area of multivalent molecular recognition mechanisms.

He is known for his work on semi-synthetic glycoconjugate vaccines. He has designed a breast cancer vaccine prototype.{{cite news|title= Montréal Métro: excellence en recherche sur le cancer (in French)|url= http://www.montreal-invivo.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/3-3-CancerFR-Final.pdf|access-date=January 23, 2019|agency=Montreal In Vivo}}{{cite news|title= Le professeur René Roy, lauréat du Prix de carrière scientifique (in French)|url= https://www.actualites.uqam.ca/2008/professeur-rene-roy-laureat-prix-carriere-scientifique|access-date= October 10, 2008|agency=Actualités UQAM}}

René Roy has authored more than 370 scientific articles and 2 books on vaccines and glycomimetics.{{cite news|title=ResearchGate page Rene Roy|url= https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rene_Roy|agency= researchgate.net}} He has 5 patents{{cite news|title=Linkedin Profile Rene Roy – Patents list|url= https://www.linkedin.com/in/ren%C3%A9-roy}} to his credit, of which two ended in commercial products

Honors and awards

Hoffman-La Roche Award from the Canadian Society for Chemistry (1997){{cite news|title=Biographical Notes Rene Roy|url= https://nanopdf.com/download/biographical-notes-rene-roy_pdf|access-date=May 5, 2018|agency=NanoPDF}}{{cite news|title=UQAM official website – Pr Rene Roy|url= https://chimie.uqam.ca/corps-professoral/professeurs/professeur/roy.rene/

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Ottawa Life Sciences Council Achievement Award (2001){{cite news|title= Ottawa University website – Rene Roy's card|url=https://research.uottawa.ca/people/roy-rene}}
Rotary International Paul Harris Fellowship (2001)
National Research Council of Canada Royalty Sharing Award (2001)
Melville L. Wolfrom Award from the American Chemical Society Division of Carbohydrate Chemistry (2003){{cite news|last1=Roy|first1=Rene|last2=Vidal|first2=Sebastien|title= from Rene Roy's biography in the book Carbohydrate Chemistry: Proven Synthetic Methods, Volume 3|date=23 April 2015|publisher=CRC Press |isbn=9781466583580|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CSusCQAAQBAJ&q=Melville+L.+Wolfrom+award++%22Rene+Roy%22&pg=PR35|agency=Google books}}
Gold Medal from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) (2005){{cite news|title= Prix et Médaille d'or, page 2 (in French)|url= http://www.journal.uqam.ca/3201.pdf|access-date=September 6, 2005|agency=Journal UQAM}}
Tech Museum Award – Technology Benefiting Humanity the Hib Vaccine team (2005){{cite news|title=Section 2010-2001 Laureates, year 2005, see "Hib Vaccine Team - Cuba"|url=https://www.thetech.org/tech-awards-presented-applied-materials/2015-laureates/past-laureates|agency=thetech.org|access-date=2019-01-23|archive-date=2021-02-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203192012/https://www.thetech.org/tech-awards-presented-applied-materials/2015-laureates/past-laureates|url-status=dead}}
Probst Memorial Lecturer – Southern Illinois University (2006){{cite news|title= Southern Illinois University - The Probst Lecture Series|url=https://www.siue.edu/artsandsciences/chemistry/probst.shtml}}
Award of Excellence in research from the Foundation of Stars - Montreal Children’s Hospital (2008){{cite news|title= Foundation of Stars|url=http://www.foundationofstars.ca/files/ra/ra-2008-09-en.pdf

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Médaille (medal) de l’Université du Québec À Montréal (UQAM) (2009){{cite news|title=En bref - Cinq doctorats honoris causa à l'UQAM (in French)|url=https://www.ledevoir.com/culture/254690/en-bref-cinq-doctorats-honoris-causa-a-l-uqam|access-date= June 12, 2009|agency=Le Devoir}}{{cite news|title=Le professeur René Roy reçoit la Médaille de l'UQAM (in French)|url=http://www.actualites.uqam.ca/2009/professeur-rene-roy-recoit-medaille-luqam|access-date= June 15, 2009|agency=Actualités UQAM}}
Léo-Pariseau Prize of the Association francophone pour le savoir (2010){{cite news |title=Prix Acfas Léo-Pariseau |url=https://www.acfas.ca/prix-concours/prix-acfas/leo-pariseau |access-date=25 January 2019 |publisher=Association francophone pour le savoir |language=fr}}
"Prix Cercle d’Excellence” of the Université du Québec (2011){{cite news|title=Le professeur René Roy est nommé membre du Cercle d'excellence de l'Université du Québec (in French)|url=https://www.actualites.uqam.ca/2011/professeur-rene-roy-est-nomme-membre-cercle-dexcellence-luniversite-quebec|access-date= August 31, 2011|agency=Actualités UQAM}}
Canada Research Chair in Medicinal Chemistry (2004-2017)