An interdisciplinary team of McMaster University researchers is receiving national recognition for developing ways to detect and prevent infectious diseases, including those that can lead to pandemics.
While their partnership began during COVID-19, their story started long before that, and the impact of their work will continue to be felt as their research is applied to other disease areas.
The Pandemic Preparedness Team, from left to right, is: Bruno Salena, Yingfu Li, Leyla Soleymani, Carlos Filipe, Matthew Miller, Deborah Yamamura, John Brennan, and Todd Hoare. (Sylvie Li/Shoot Studio)
The team brings together expertise from across chemistry, engineering, immunology, clinical microbiology, and beyond.
Its members include Yingfu Li, a chemist specializing in DNA-based molecules; John Brennan, a chemist who develops diagnostic tests; Carlos Filipe, a chemical engineer who studies how to stabilize biological materials; Todd Hoare, a chemical engineer specializing in smart materials and drug delivery; Bruno Salena, a clinician involved in patient-based research; Deborah Yamamura, a clinical microbiologist; Matthew Miller, an infectious disease and immunology researcher; and Leyla Soleymani, an engineering physics professor who develops wearable diagnostic technologies.
On Oct. 28, their collaborative research efforts have earned them the 2026 Brockhouse Canada Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Engineering, one of the country's most prestigious honours for team science.
"The Brockhouse Prize celebrates exactly this type of cross-disciplinary work," says Soleymani, who is lead of engineering innovation at NexusHealth at McMaster. "It recognizes collaboration in the face of big challenges challenges like the pandemic, which demand combined expertise and concentrated effort."
A head start, not a scramble
The team's award-winning research and development program is built on DNA aptamers versatile strands of DNA that can be selected and engineered in the lab to recognize specific targets, like viruses or bacteria.
"Professor Li is the foundation to all of this," explains Miller, who directs both the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research and NexusHealth at McMaster. "He is one of the world's best functional nucleic acids researchers, and has a ton of experience developing molecules like DNAzymes and aptamers."
Li's acclaim in the area along with his well-known desire to explore clinical applications for aptamers was the gravity that pulled the research team together.
The goal, at the outset, was to parlay Li's work into rapid diagnostic tools that could efficiently detect SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Within six weeks, Li's group developed an aptamer designed to recognize all known SARS-CoV-2 variants a promising advance as the virus evolved.
Designing the diagnostics
Soleymani and Brennan then worked to turn the aptamer into two types of diagnostics. Soleymani developed a chip test that pairs with a smartphone, much like a glucose monitor, while Brennan built a lateral flow strip, which works similarly to over-the-counter pregnancy tests.
The tests performed well in the lab, but Soleymani identified two obstacles to wider use: keeping their components stable without refrigeration and preventing contamination from patient samples.
To address these barriers, Filipe developed ways to extend the aptamers' shelf life without refrigerated transport, while Hoare designed materials to prevent unwanted substances from sticking to the tests.
Salena and Yamamura then helped validate the diagnostics using clinical samples. Across more than 100 patient samples, the new tests agreed with gold-standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results every time, the team reports.
Aptamers as antivirals
Miller's initial role on the team was to provide researchers with access to McMaster's high-containment laboratory, where researchers could safely test aptamers against live SARS-CoV-2.
But his role grew dramatically over lunch at the Phoenix, McMaster's campus pub. Miller recalls that Li sat across from him and proposed testing the diagnostic aptamers as therapeutics that is, as a form of treatment.
"I was admittedly skeptical of the idea," Miller recalls aptamers can break down quickly in the body, limiting their usefulness as medicines.
"I told him it would never work."
But Li was adamant, and Miller eventually conceded on one condition: "that we could test the aptamers against a bona fide antibody treatment that was approved for use during the pandemic."
Miller wanted a meaningful benchmark. He says comparing the aptamers to a placebo could reveal some therapeutic benefit, but could not reveal whether that benefit was substantial enough to pursue further. He thought by testing them against an existing medicine, he would get Li a quick answer about their therapeutic promise.
And he did but not the one he was expecting. To his surprise, the aptamers were very effective indistinguishably so from the approved antibody treatments.
Building on McMaster's inhaled vaccine research, Miller's team designed the aptamer-based therapies to be delivered straight to the respiratory tract, via a personal inhalation device. Doing so positions the aptamers right where respiratory viruses typically first enter the body, offering better and more fast-acting protection.
Researchers say the new therapies are capable of both preventing and treating infection, but note that the protection they offer is much shorter-term than the long-term protection offered by vaccines. As a result, they would likely need to be re-administered daily like an nasal spray for allergies.
Miller says this approach could be useful ahead of high-risk situations, like travel or visits to long-term care homes. He believes they could also be valuable tools as new vaccines are rolled out.
Unlike a vaccine, which teaches the body to build its own defences over a period of weeks, aptamers work instantly, which could buy people time before their vaccine takes effect. He notes that the aptamer therapies could also become valuable protective measures for people with weakened immune systems, due to organ transplants, cancer chemotherapy, or other factors.
Impact beyond COVID-19
The team has since adapted the technology to ensure it can respond to emerging and future health threats, too. Already, they have developed tests for infections including syphilis and C. difficile, while also pursuing uses in animal health and wastewater monitoring.
The group has also developed aptamer treatments for seasonal flu and avian influenza, and are currently exploring ways to use the diagnostic tech for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and mental health care.
Together, these collaborative research efforts have yielded more than 20 papers published in an array of high-impact journals, 25 new patents and other intellectual property, and significant interest from public and private sector partners.
Notably, the research team has worked with Triera Biosciences, a subsidiary of Guelph-based biotech Zentek Ltd., to move these technologies toward clinics.
The team's research is also supporting national health readiness efforts through the Canadian Pandemic Preparedness Hub, which McMaster co-manages with partners at the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.
The team's many achievements put them in rare company. In addition to their research and commercial successes, they are only the third McMaster-led team to win a Brockhouse Prize, after groups led by John Valliant and Heather Sheardown did so in 2015 and 2023 respectfully.
Proud as they are of their early successes, Miller says the research team is already focused on what's next.
"Researchers at McMaster want to do world-leading work," says Miller.
"To do world-leading work, you have to cross disciplines, like this group has."
"Years after we first came together, several members of our team still have active, ongoing collaborations, and we're all excited to continue working together in new ways to tackle important health problems in the future."
