Robert Holt
Distinguished Scientist
Co-Director, BC Cancer Immunotherapy Program
BC Cancer Research Institute
Vancouver, BC
Dr. Robert Holt is a Distinguished Scientist at Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, part of the BC Cancer Research Institute, and serves as the Scientific Co-Director of the BC Cancer Immunotherapy Program.
He holds professorships in Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia and in Molecular Biology & Biochemistry at Simon Fraser University.
Dr. Holt completed his B.Sc. in Biology at the University of British Columbia and earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Alberta. In 1998, following a postdoctoral fellowship in Molecular Evolution at the State University of New York, he joined Celera Genomics in Rockville, Maryland, where he served as the Scientific Operations Manager for the initial sequencing of the human genome.
Since 2003, Dr. Holt has been a scientist at Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, focusing on the structural diversity of T cell and B cell receptors. His research aims to genetically engineer immune cells for cancer treatment. Additionally, his work has established a strong link between colorectal carcinoma and infection with the bacterium Fusobacterium nucleatum, leading his lab to develop a vaccine against this pathogen.
Dr. Holt has authored over 200 publications, with approximately 118,412 citations and an H-index of 110. He was listed among the top 1% of Web of Science cited researchers by Clarivate Analytics in 2018, 2019, and 2020.