Robert Gendron

With a diverse background in immunology, developmental biology, cancer biology, vascular biology and visual science, I have sustained a number of research programs in basic biomedical studies of health and disease for over 25 years. Much of this work would not be possible without a number of expert collaborators in the biomedical and clinical sciences. Most recently, in work funded by Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, my research has focused on unique anatomical and functional features of the visual systems of North Atlantic marine teleosts. Knowledge of how these systems might be important to the health and survival of these animals is relevant to biology, health and disease in general and to ocean health on a broader scale. The exceptional level of diversity and adaptation in  molecular and cellular pathways active in these animals can provide new insight that informs the basic knowledge of immunity, cancer and a range of other diseases. Collaboration has  been critically important to this multidisciplinary work and I am fortunate to have access to the infrastructure, resources and expert teams at Department of Ocean Science and the Dr. Joe Brown Aquatic Research Building of Memorial University. I also benefit from colleagues in the clinical health sciences such as the Ophthalmology and Oncology disciplines where new knowledge might eventually be applied. Finally, the training and career development of new young scientists through graduate training programs remains a key aspect of my research programs.

Over more than two decades at Memorial University, I have led or participated in a number of research infrastructure grant awards from Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and Canada Foundation for Innovation. 

In addition to graduate teaching and training in the Bioscience of Health and Disease Group, I teach in the Undergraduate Medical Education Program of Faculty of Medicine, in the subspecialty training program in Medical Oncology which is accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and in the Faculty of Medicine’s 310A Human Physiology Course for Non-Medical Students at Memorial University. I currently serve as Co-Coordinator of the Bioscience of Health and Disease Graduate Training Program, as the Undergraduate Content Lead (UCL) for Histology and as the UCL for Ophthalmology in the Undergraduate Medical Education Program in the Faculty of Medicine.

Publications:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/robert.gendron.1/bibliography/public/