Our People
Anas El-Aneed
Dr. Anas El-Aneed (Ph.D. in Biochemistry (2007) & M.Sc. in Pharmacy (2003), Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada; M.B.A. (2012), University of Saskatchewan, Canada; and B.Sc. in Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Chemistry (1997), Tishreen University, Syria) is a Professor of Pharmacy at the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, the University of Saskatchewan. His Ph.D. thesis, under the supervision of Dr. Joseph Banoub, focused on structural elucidation of bacterial carbohydrates that can be used as vaccines using mass spectrometry. He was awarded the Governor General’s Gold medal for his thesis.
He has co-authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications and contributed to over 180 conference abstracts and published conference proceedings. He has supervised or co-supervised more than 50 trainees and research staff to date.
Beyond his research activities, Dr. El-Aneed serves in leadership roles within the Canadian Society for Mass Spectrometry and on the Editorial Board of Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry. He previously served on the NSERC governing council for eight years.
Deborah Michel
Deborah is a Research Manager at the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition. She obtained a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Saskatchewan. Prior to joining the U of S, she worked for 13 years in industry at two biopharmaceutical companies. She has extensive experience in bioanalysis including quantitation and method validation (FDA/EMA guidelines) and animal studies working in a Good Manufacturing Practice facility. After joining the U of S, she has worked 15 years with liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, flow cytometry and other various benchtop assays; training undergraduate, graduate, post-doctoral and research personnel. She has also used complementary biological and analytical techniques high-resolution microscopies, spectroscopy techniques, biological assays, and synchrotron techniques, including data processing.
Her current focus includes training new and existing users as well as helping them with data analysis and interpretation. She also maintains both LCMS systems, AB Sciex QTRAP 4000 with Agilent 1260 HPLC and AB Sciex QTRAP 6500 with Agilent 1290 UPLC. She has in-depth experience in LC-MS analysis for small molecules, metabolites and peptides. She continuously supplements her expertise by participating in workshops and training sessions regarding mass spectrometry. To date, she has trained over 112 users.
Deborah has approximately 40 publications in peer reviewed journals and numerous conference proceedings and abstracts. She also contributes to graduate and undergraduate teaching when analysis is needed in the course.
Ed Krol
Dr. Krol's research has two major areas of interest. He investigates the stability and in vitro metabolism of natural products, assessing both novel product formation and decomposition kinetics. He also designs and evaluates chemical probe molecules for solving biological problems such as tissue distribution and pharmacological target identification.
Dr. Krol has experience with analytical, semi-preparative and preparative chromatography techniques and mass spectrometry for compound quantitation, identification and isolation.
Robert Laprairie
Dr. Robert Laprairie (M.Sc. Pharmacology & Neuroscience, 2012; Ph.D. Pharmacology, 2016; Dalhousie University) is an Associate Professor of Pharmacy and GlaxoSmithKline-Saskatchewan Research Chair in Drug Discovery and Development at the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan. His laboratory focuses on drug development for compounds targeting the G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR), especially the cannabinoid and serotonin receptors, including pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic optimization.
He has received Young Investigator Awards from the International Cannabinoid Research Society and British Pharmacological Society. His funding sources over the years include NSERC, CIHR, CFI, SHRF (Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation), Government of Saskatchewan/ Ministry of Agriculture, and private industry partners. Robert has co-authored >85 publications, >200 conference abstracts, and several patents. Past members of his lab have gone on to hold faculty positions and prestigious fellowships in Canada and the USA.
Jane Alcorn
Dr. Jane Alcorn holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Pharmacokinetics) from the University of Kentucky. Jane provides pharmacokinetic expertise to a significant number of collaborative drug discovery and clinical (veterinary and human) research projects. Quantitative pharmaceutical analysis lies at the core of pharmacokinetic research and Jane principally employs liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry for the quantification of novel and repurposed small molecules in a variety of in vitro and in vivo pharmacokinetic assays and models.
Randy Purves
Dr. Randy Purves is an adjunct professor in the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition and a Research Scientist at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). He obtained Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Alberta developing electrospray mass spectrometry instrumentation under the supervision of Prof Liang Li (conferred 1997). Dr. Purves has over 30 years of experience in bioanalytical mass spectrometry and co-founded Ionalytics in 2001, the company that produced the first commercial ion mobility device (FAIMS) for use with mass spectrometry in 2003. For this and other achievements in mass spectrometry, Dr. Purves received the prestigious Lossing award in 2021, awarded to a Canadian scholar who made significant contributions to mass spectrometry.
Dr. Purves’s expertise involves applying mass spectrometry-based solutions to solve complex analytical problems across several disciplines. His research interests can be broadly divided into two main areas. The first area involves his continued research into advancing FAIMS, primarily for use in small molecule quantification, and his other main research area involves untargeted metabolomics. He has over 100 peer-reviewed publications and 24 patents.