ROB BRITTON

Robert A. Britton

ORCID, SCOPUS


NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Cambridge, 2002-2004
(Ian Paterson)

Ph.D.
University of British Columbia, 1996-2002
(Edward Piers and Raymond Anderson)

B.Sc. (Hon.)
University of Waterloo, 1991-1996
(Victor Snieckus)



Academic Biography

Rob was born in 1973 in Vancouver, British Columbia and grew up in Camlachie, a small, rural town in South Western Ontario. He completed his B. Sc. degree at the University of Waterloo in 1996, developing an enthusiasm for organic chemistry through co-op placements in the research divisions of Bayer A.G. (Leverkusen, Germany) and Apotex Inc. (Toronto) as well as an undergraduate research project with Professor Victor Snieckus. He then moved on to the University of British Columbia where he was involved in natural product isolation, structure determination and total synthesis under the supervision of Professors Raymond Andersen and Edward Piers. In 2002, he was awarded a NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship for research into the stereochemical assignment and total synthesis of complex macrolides with Professor Ian Paterson at the University of Cambridge.

In 2004, Rob accepted a position as Senior Research Chemist in the Process Research group at Merck Frosst Canada before joining the faculty at Simon Fraser University in 2005 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011 and Full Professor in 2015. His current interests range from the total synthesis of biologically active natural products and development of new synthetic methods crucial to these pursuits to the isolation and structure determination of new natural products from marine and terrestrial organisms.

Publicized research

Awards and Honours

  • Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Award (2019)
  • W. A. Ayer Lecturer, University of Alberta (2018)
  • Innovation to Commercialization Award, MSFHR (2017)
  • IntelliSyn Pharma Research Excellence Award (2016)
  • Elected Honorary Member of Golden Key Honor Society (2012)
  • F. Hoffmann-La Roche Visiting Scholar Award (2012)
  • Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Career Investigator Award (2011)
  • Thieme Chemistry Journal Award (2010)
  • Merck Frosst Grant for Young Investigators (2008)
  • Faculty of Science Excellence in Teaching Award (2008)
  • Boehringer Ingelheim Young Investigators Award (2007)
  • Ichikizaki Award for Young Chemists (2007)
  • CFI, Leaders Opportunity Fund Award (2006)
  • SFU Endowed Research Fellowship (2005)
  • Merck Research Laboratories Award for Scientific Excellence (2005)