Dr. Ken Dewar

Biography

Ken Dewar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Genetics at McGill University. He obtained his PhD from Université Laval in 1995, studying the genome structure of the Dutch elm disease fungus, Ophiostoma ulmi. He completed post-doctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania, contributing to the mapping and sequencing of the genome of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, and joined the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research (now the Broad Institute) in 1997, where he participated in the Human Genome Project and led teams in genome mapping and chromosome closure. His current research interests focus on advanced DNA sequencing technologies and bioinformatics, particularly strategies in genome assembly and the annotation of genetic processes. Dewar's research has spanned genome architecture and comparative genomics, where he has contributed to the sequencing of numerous genomes, including the vervet monkey genome and pathogenic strains of Clostridium difficile. He served as the Acting Scientific Director of the Innovation Centre from 2007 to 2011, advocating for the application of genomic technologies across a diverse array of research projects.

Research Interests