Hanadi Sleiman
About
Prof. Hanadi Sleiman is Professor of Chemistry and Canada Research Chair in DNA Nanoscience at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford University, and carried out her postdoctoral studies in supramolecular chemistry, in the laboratory of Prof. Jean-Marie Lehn (Nobel Prize 1987) at the Université Louis Pasteur in France. She joined the faculty at McGill University in 1999.
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The focus of the Sleiman research program is to develop DNA structures that selectively target cancer cells, make them respond to chemotherapy and increase their chances of achieving cancer cellular death. Professor Sleiman reported the first DNA cages that can be deliberately varied in size and shape; these cages can encapsulate drug molecules and only release them when they encounter a cancer-specific biological stimulus. Applications for the targeted delivery of therapeutics in leukemia, breast, colon, and prostate cancer are currently being developed. Her group used DNA to organize different materials into nanostructures for drug delivery, diagnostics and nanoelectronics.
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Professor Sleiman received numerous national and international awards, including Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada (2016), Izatt-Christensen Award (highest international award in Supramolecular Chemistry, 2016), Canada Research Chair Tier I (2013), Swiss Chemical Society Lectureship (2012), E. Gordon Young Award (Canadian Institute of Chemistry 2011), the Canadian Society for Chemistry Strem Award (2009), Cottrell Scholar of the Research Corporation (2002). She was appointed Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (2004-12). Prof. Sleiman has 132 publications and has given ~120 invited talks and plenary lectures. The group’s research has been highlighted in the journals Nature, Science, Nat Nano., Nat. Materials, as examples, and resulted in interviews and features in numerous scientific and popular media around the world.
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Professor Sleiman is on the Editorial Advisory Boards of flagship chemistry journals, such as Journal of the American Chemical Society, Chem. (CellPress), Journal of Organic Chemistry, Nanoscale Horizons, Bioconjugate Chemistry and ChemBioChem. She has served as a member of national and international selection, advisory committees and colleges of reviewers, including the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) a member of Qatar Foundation, Research and Development.