Dr. Leonard Foster receives the 2017 Ken Standing Award

Written by Katrin Braasch from the Piret Lab, Michael Smith Laboratories

Congratulations to Dr. Leonard Foster on receiving the 2017 Ken Standing Award presented at the Enabling Technologies (ETP) Symposium in Ottawa.  The award honors the career of Ken Standing who was a major figure in the development of time-of-flight mass spectrometry for bioanalytical applications. The award is presented biennially to honour a young scientist who has made a significant contribution to technology development in support of research in the life sciences. 

Dr. Foster’s is being recognized for his work on the development and application of protein correlation profiling using stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (PCP-SILAC).  This approach is used to map subcellular localizations and protein interactions within a cell contributing to a deeper understanding of biological mechanisms. In addition, methods developed by Dr. Foster’s group improve the specificity in proteomics data. By including built-in controls and developing metrics of the level of confidence his work has played an extremely important role in ensuring that only the highest quality data are reported. 

Dr. Foster is a faculty member in the Michael Smith Laboratories and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He states that “these kinds of awards are really a team effort and while I am the one who receives it, it is really a recognition of all the great people I’ve had the honour of working with over the years!” 

The Ken Standing Award is sponsored in part by the University of Manitoba. Dr. Foster will be a featured speaker at the ETP symposium.