About Dr. Shyh-Dar Li

 

 

Dr. Shyh-Dar Li, BSc(Pharm), PhD
Tong Louie Chair Professor in Pharmaceutical Sciences

 

Profile

Dr. Shyh-Dar Li received a BSc in Pharmacy from National Taiwan University and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After completing his postdoctoral training at University of California, San Diego, he joined Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto as a Principal Investigator and Assistant Professor in 2009. He relocated to the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of British Columbia in 2014 as an Associate Professor. He was promoted to the Angiotech Professor in Drug Delivery at the Faculty in 2019. His research focuses on developing innovative drug delivery technologies to enhance drug targeting with interests in lipid and polymer based nanoparticles and prodrug technologies. His research program has been supported by federal funding including National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). In addition to contributing scholarly publications in peer-reviewed journals, his team has successfully licensed three drug delivery technologies to industry with one in phase II trials for brain cancer therapy. Dr. Li has trained 12 postdoctoral fellows, 8 graduate students and 41 undergraduate students. He serves in several research funding review panels, including Canadian Cancer Society Impact Grants, CIHR and National Cancer Institute of NIH. He is currently the Chair of the Faculty’s Nanomedicine and Chemical Biology Research and Training Program, and also a Research Management Committee member of the Nanomedicine Innovation Network.

 

 

Teaching Areas of Interest

Dr. Li is teaching the following courses:

PHAR 203 Drug Delivery Technologies and Personalized Medicine Theory and Laboratory

PHRM 327  Toxicology and Precision Medicine

PHAR 303 Nanomedicine

PHAR 515 Nanomedicine

PHAR 515 Nanomedicines

PHRM 100 Foundation of Pharmacy – Pharmaceutics

PHRM 212 Medication Management III – Pharmaceutics

 

Selected Awards

2024-present

Tong Louie Chair Professorship in Pharmaceutical Sciences

2016

2nd Year Pharmacy Student Teaching Award (June 2016)

2016-2021

Angiotech Professorship in Drug Delivery

2014

Outstanding Research in Pharmacy as a New Investigator, Association of Faculties of Pharmacy in Canada

2013-2018

Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator Salary Award

2013

New Investigator in Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technologies, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists

2013

GlaxoSmithKline/Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences Early Career Award

2012

Coalition to Cure Prostate Cancer Young Investigator Award, Prostate Cancer Foundation

 

Selected Presentations

  • (Keynote speech) Needle-free and pain-free delivery of biologics. Taipei Medical University. Taipei, Taiwan. March 29, 2025.
  • Novel polymer-lipid nanoparticles for RNA delivery. Taiwan Biomanufacutring Company. Taipei, Taiwan. March 17, 2025.
  • Needle-free delivery of large molecules for translational therapies. University of Waterloo. Kitchener, ON. March 1, 2025.
  • A novel prodrug of leu-enkephalin for pain-killing and mood-improving. Annual Conference of Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences. Edmonton, AB. June 13th, 2024.
  • Lipid nanoparticle engineering for targeted drug delivery and novel therapies. 2024 World Biomaterial Congress. Daegu, South Korea. May 30th, 2024.
  • Targeted Immunotherapy of Cancer Mediated by Lipid Nanoparticles. Annual Scientific Meeting of Nanomedicine Innovation Network. Vancouver, BC. January 25, 2024.
  • KK-103, a safe and effective opioid. Accelerated Translational Opioid Research Cluster Meeting. Vancouver, BC. January 22nd, 2024.
  • Delivery of peptides, proteins and nucleic acids. University of Macau. November 13, 2023.
  • Lipid Nanoparticle Delivery of RNA Medicines: Past, Now and Future. 70th Anniversary Celebration and Conference, College of Pharmacy, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. October 20, 2023.
  • Needle-free delivery of protein drugs. National Taiwan University. Taipei, Taiwan. October 19, 2023.
  • Overcoming delivery barriers for biological drugs. National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. October 18, 2023.
  • Overcoming biological barriers to deliver macromolecular drugs. National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. October 16, 2023.
  • Novel delivery approaches for peptides, proteins, and nucleic acids. Industrial Technology Research Institute. Hsinchu, Taiwan. August 4, 2023.
  • Novel Approaches for Delivering Biological Drugs. Academia Sinica. Taipei, Taiwan. July 28,2023.
  • (Keynote speech) Enabling novel therapies for orphan diseases and neglected health challenges through innovating drug delivery. Taipei Medical University. Taipei, Taiwan. July 10, 2023.
  • Needle-free delivery of insulin and senaglutide for control of blood glucose levels. BC Children Hospital. Vancouver, BC. June 15, 2023.
  • Lipid particles: a flexible platform for targeted drug delivery. Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC. March 6, 2023.
  • Targeted interferon immunotherapy mediated by lipid nanoparticle drug delivery. Scientific Meeting of Nanomedicine Innovation Network, Toronto, ON. November 19, 2022.
  • Targeted Drug Delivery Using Nanoparticles. College of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University. June 19, 2022.
  • Lipid nanoparticles for targeted immunotherapy. Liposome Research Days Conference. June 15, 2022.
  • Nanomedicines Targeting Stroma for Enhanced Cancer Therapy. Nano Cancer Care; PacifiChem Conference. December 17, 2021.
  • Innovating Drug Delivery Technologies to Enable Novel Therapeutics. Chinese Bioscience Association Annual Conference. October 2, 2021.
  • Phospholipid-free small unilamellar vesicles (PFSUVs) for hepatocyte-targeted drug delivery. W.E.S.T. Webinars, Precision Nanosystems Int. September 29, 2021.
  • Lipid-based Nanomedicines for Targeted Therapeutics. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto, Scarborough. April 30, 2021.
  • Drug Targeting to Tumors in the Peritoneal Cavity. Gynecologic Cancer Initiative Research Rounds. BC Cancer Agency. October 16, 2020.
  • Development and Fabrication of Surfactant-based Liposomes for Drug Targeting. Vancouver Nanomedicine Day. September 17, 2020.
  • My Academic Career Journey: lessons learned over the past 20 years. National Tsing Hua University. Hsinchu, Taiwan. December 31, 2019.
  • My Career Journey with Nanomedicine and Drug Delivery Research. National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. December 16, 2019.
  • Solvent-assisted active loading of poorly soluble drugs into lipid nanoparticles. Liposome Research Days Conference. Hokkaido, Japan. September 15-18, 2019.
  • Nanomedicine for Targeted Drug Delivery 101. Nanomedicine Innovation Network Scientific Meeting. Vancouver, BC, Canada. September 13, 2019.
  • Tumor microenvironment modulation by nanoparticle-targeted drug delivery. 4th Annual Meeting of Chinese American Society of Nanomedicine and Nanobiotechnology. Hangzhou, Zejiang Province, China. August 19-22, 2019.