Dedicated to novel approaches to cancer treatment
Research scientist and Board Certified Medical Oncologist/Hematologist, Dr. William Harless received his PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Texas in Austin before earning his medical degree from the University of Texas. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Illinois where he also taught in the Department of Pathology and Internal Medicine. Dr. Harless completed a fellowship in Hematology and Oncology at West Virginia University. Dr. Harless has worked as a consultant oncologist in the United States, New Zealand and Canada. Dr. Harless has concentrated his research on discovering how the wound healing pathway triggered after cancer treatments may facilitate the growth and metastasis of surviving cancer cell populations, and started ENCYT with this research focus.
The scientific team at ENCYT studied the inflammatory response triggered by cancer treatments in detail from patients diagnosed with a variety of malignances. They identified several specific cytokines that were predictably upregulated after cancer treatments, and confirmed that these molecules were fostering cancer stem cell enrichment and a drug resistant cancer cell phenotype.
Based on these discoveries ENCYT teamed up with the Dr. Szewczuk laboratory at Queen's University to test a novel therapeutic that could block simultaneously these pathways. Using this novel treatment approach in a preclinical animal model of pancreatic cancer, we demonstrated a 90% reduction in tumor growth and metastases compared to the current standard of care. ENCYT is focused on testing this novel treatment approach in human patients with pancreatic cancer with plans for enrollment in early 2023.
ENCYT SCIENTIFIC STAFF (Past & Present)
Since the formation of Encyt as a dedicated research organization in early 2014, a highly qualified team of scientists and technologists has been assembled at our new state-of-the-art research facility in Nova Scotia, Canada
Left to right:
Beth Lewis, MLT ART - Laboratory Director
Mary Mkandawire, BSc MSc PhD - Senior Research Scientist
Dr Rob Joseph, BSc DDS PhD - Senior Research Scientist
Dr Kuntal Desai, BSc MD - Research Scientist
Dr Alexander Wawer, BSc MD - Research Scientist
Rania Mufti, BSc MSc PhD -Senior Research Scientist
Dr Shamano Minhas, BSc DPM MD - Research Scientist
Dr Fiona Haxho, BSc MD PhD - Research Scientist
Sarah MacDougall, BSc - Research Assistant
Kelli Hill - Veterinary Technologist