Collip Medal recipient headed to Harvard

Humbled, grateful and truly honoured. These are just a few of the words Dr. Ben Kleinstiver used to describe his feelings about receiving the 2013 Collip Medal. "It is truly an honour to join the prestigious list of Collip Medal awardees who have made significant contributions to their disciplines," said Dr. Kleinstiver who is about to embark on a new adventure at Harvard.

Unquestionably, Dr. Kleinstiver is a deserving Collip Medal recipient, distinguishing himself in many ways. "Ben has a unique ability in understanding 'big science'; its importance in addressing key medical research questions, and its value in unraveling the molecular mechanisms that underlie disease," said Dr. Andrew Watson, associate dean, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs.

Getting to this point took hard work, long days and a strong focus on his goals. It also took a commitment to achieving a balance in his life in order to achieve his academic goals, while at the same time getting involved in extracurricular activities.

The long days were worth it though - paying off in many ways. The time invested led to the opportunity to learn from and enjoy scientific conversations with some of the extraordinary faculty at Schulich Medicine, as well as his fellow graduate students and undergraduate trainees.

They also provided him the opportunity to be part of collaborations with academic labs from other universities and biotechnology companies, which encouraged him to work harder. "While external interest isn't necessarily a requirement to believe in the impact of your work, it is a compliment when your peers within the scientific community recognize your findings," said Dr. Kleinstiver.

Thankful for the training and guidance he received in Dr. Dave Edgell's lab, Dr. Kleinstiver finds it tough to pick the most enjoyable part of his graduate career. "I have been lucky to truly cherish just about every aspect of my time at Western." Whether it was time he spent at the Grad Club with his lab mates, or the help he received along the way from other faculty, his peers, and the administration in the Department of Biochemistry and in the Graduate Studies office, Dr. Kleinstiver has "cherished just about every aspect of my time at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry."

After walking across the stage at convocation, Dr. Kleinstiver is heading to Dr. Keith Joung's Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard to pursue his postdoctoral studies.

Once there, he will continue his work to create a new set of genome editing reagents that are mechanistically distinct from those that are currently used in academia, industry, and the clinic.

It's Dr. Kleinstiver's hope that by generating a set of genome editing reagents that are distinct from those that are currently used, his technology will improve the safety and efficacy of these reagents for a variety of applications. The advances that he, along with his lab have made, have been the subject of patent applications and have generated interest within the biotechnology sector. He hopes their research can drive the changes necessary to improve the safety of genome engineering tools.

"The ultimate reward," said Dr. Kleinstiver, "would be to know that our contributions could someday lead to the advancement of academic research or the investigation and treatment of human diseases."