[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Valliantdn.jpg” caption=”John Valliant, associate professor in the departments of Chemistry and Medical Physics, and CEO and scientific director of the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization (CPDC), was included in the list of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40. File photo.”]

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John Valliant, associate professor in the departments of Chemistry and Medical Physics, and CEO and scientific director of the Centre for Probe Development and Commercialization (CPDC), was included in the annual list of exceptional people, published in The Globe and Mail. He was selected from more than 1,100 nominees across Canada from private, public and not-for-profit sectors. Winners were chosen based on vision and leadership; innovation and achievement; impact; community involvement and contribution; and strategy for growth.

Under Valliant's leadership, McMaster University in collaboration with the CPDC is developing new molecular imaging technologies, or probes, that seek out disease within patients and provide imaging equipment, like positron emission tomography (PET) scanners, with a clear beacon to identify problem areas. These advanced probes indicate regions of altered biochemical activity showing how aggressively diseases are progressing and how well they might respond to treatment.

CPDC, the only Centre of its kind in the world, is based at McMaster and was created as a partnership between the University, federal and provincial governments and industry partners. The Centre acts as a bridge between university research and clinical use of new imaging tools, helping to get technology out of the lab, approved by regulators, and into the hands of physicians.

Valliant's research, teaching and work at the CPDC has fostered significant investment in medical isotope research, development and clinical translation in Hamilton. This includes a $22-million investment in nuclear research and the nuclear reactor at McMaster through the Knowledge Infrastructure Program. It has also attracted the installation of a prototype molecular breast imaging camera in Hamilton, which is part of a trial to evaluate new technology for the early detection of breast cancer in high-risk women.

In addition to research, Valliant is actively involved in teaching at McMaster, which includes teaching first-year chemistry. He also led a successful proposal to establish a new training program for the next generation of probe development scientists, in a partnership with the Cross Cancer Institute at the University of Alberta. This program will teach scientists to work in a collaborative environment and to solve key problems in basic science medicine, including the current medical isotope crisis.

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