David Perrin

Biography

Dr. David Perrin graduated from UC Berkeley with undergraduate degrees in biochemistry and economics and completed a Ph.D. at UCLA in biological chemistry. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in at the Natural History Museum in Paris, he has worked as a Professor at the University of British Columbia in the Chemistry Department. His work amalgamates synthetic organic chemistry, molecular biology, physical organic chemistry and radiochemistry to address long-standing challenges in molecular recognition, catalysis, and synthetic/radiosynthetic methods in the development of precision therapeutics, a theme that now unites his work. Dr. Perrin has worked on to discover new DNA-based catalysts with amino-acid side chains that address fundamental questions of the origin of life and now show potential for destroying pathogenic mRNAs in cells. His lab has invented a broadly empowering methodology for one-step 18F-radiolabeling based on novel applications of boron-based chemistries which in turn provided for a long-sought method for late-stage 18F-labeling of peptides, two of which have advanced to a first-in-human application. In the realm of total synthesis, he reported the first total synthesis of amanitin, a deadly peptide toxin of considerable commercial interest for use in antibody drug conjugates, and was featured in C&E News as one of 8 notable “molecules of 2018”. With an extensive publication record of over 130 publications, including several in high-profile peer-reviewed journals along with 18 granted patents, Perrin provides a unique chemical approach for addressing difficult problems at the chemical-biology interface to provide new compositions of matter that are transforming applications in diagnosis and therapy.