Professor
Office: MSL Building, 2185 East Mall, Room 207
Email: james.piret@ubc.ca
Research Summary
Bioprocessing, Biomedical, Bioreactor and Device Engineering, Raman Spectroscopy, Bioprocess Optimization and Cell Therapy Biotechnology
Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1989, Sc.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1986, S.M.
Harvard College, 1981, A.B.
Research interests + projects
Many recent developments in biological and medical research have greatly expanded the prospects for regenerative medicine. Cell-based therapies can provide improved treatments for major diseases such as cancer and diabetes. In collaboration with stem cell and immune cell biologists (Drs. Kieffer and Levings), we are investigating how to more efficiently optimize therapeutic cell bioprocesses. This includes optimizing the complex cytokine effects, as well as developing innovative devices, processes and data analytics technologies (Drs. Turner and Gopaluni). Mammalian cells are already widely used for the production of therapeutic proteins in the biotechnology industry. In collaboration with companies we are investigating cellular physiology and engineering approaches to better understand and accelerate the development of biotechnology production processes and cell processing devices. The group research topics range from engineering cells to bioprocess engineering. Our multidisciplinary, collaborative research projects and the many advantages of the Vancouver location provide an exceptional research environment. Our lab welcomes highly motivated applicants who are interested to pursue high-performance graduate or postdoctoral research.
Awards and honours
William F. Meggers Award, Society for Applied Spectroscopy, 2022
R.S. Jane Memorial Award, Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering, 2015
Cell Culture Engineering Award, Engineering Conferences International, 2012
Fellow, Chemical Institute of Canada, 2004
UBC Killam Faculty Research Fellowship, 2002
UBC Killam Research Prize, 2000
Scholarly and professional activities + affiliations
School of Biomedical Engineering
Genome Science and Technology Graduate Program
Full publications list
Selected publications + presentations
Braasch K., Kryworuchko M., Piret J.M., “Autophagy-inducing Peptide Increases CHO Cell Monoclonal Antibody Production in Batch and Fed-batch Cultures”, Biotechnology & Bioengineering, 118:1876–1883, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.27703
Schulze H.G., Rangan S., Vardaki M.Z., Blades M.W., Turner R.F.B., Piret J.M., “Two-Dimensional Clustering of Spectral Changes for the Interpretation of Raman Hyperspectra”, Applied Spectroscopy, doi:37028221133851, 2022.
MacDonald K.N., Hall M.G., Ivison S., Gandhi S., Klein Geltnick R.I., Piret J.M., Levings M.K., “Consequences of adjusting cell density and feed frequency on serum-free expansion of thymic regulatory T cells”, Cytotherapy, 24:1121-1135, 2022.
Gupta S., Shah B., Fung C.S., Chan P.K., Wakefield D.L., Kuhns S, Goudar C.T., Piret J.M., “Engineering Protein Glycosylation in CHO Cells to be Highly Similar to Murine Host Cells”, Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology – Bioprocess Engineering, 11:1113994, 2023.
Braam M.J.S., Zhao J., Liang S., Ida S., Kloostra N.K., Iworima D.G., Tang M., Baker R.K., Quiskamp N., Piret J.M., Kieffer T.J., “Protocol development to further differentiate and transition stem cell-derived pancreatic progenitors from a monolayer into endocrine cells in suspension”, Scientific Reports, 13:8877, 2023.