Dr. Rafi Chapanian – Reflections of a Postdoc

Dr. Rafi ChapanianDr. Rafi Chapanian has recently joined Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals Inc. as a Staff Scientist. Eupraxia is a Vancouver based company dedicated to providing best-in-class treatment for some of the most prevalent diseases in the Western world, including arthritis and chronic pain.

Coming from a Material Science and Engineering background, completing a postdoctorate at CBR had a significant impact on my knowledge and skills, especially where synthetic materials come to interact with biological systems. Training that I had in Kizhakkedathu/Brooks labs at CBR included working with new polymeric systems, and investigating the behaviour of polymers on cell membranes, for therapeutic cell and universal donor red blood cell applications. Attending the weekly seminars, and world class symposiums organized by CBR was very beneficial in increasing my knowledge, and provided me with the opportunity to interact with attendees from both academia and industry. I certainly look at my training years at CBR with sweet memories. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people at CBR who had a positive impact on my life and career.