Pushing the economy forward: Discover how Pieter Cullis ignited B.C.'s biotech boom

Pushing the economy forward: Together with public and private sector partners, UBC and its researchers are fuelling job creation and solving real-world challenges

When Dr. Pieter Cullis arrived at UBC as an undergraduate physics student in 1964, he had no idea he would one day help develop a scientific breakthrough that would protect billions of people worldwide—or that his work would help fuel British Columbia’s booming biotech sector.

“I’ve always believed that if you want to solve big problems, you need to keep good people working together long enough to make real progress,” says Cullis. “That’s what drove everything.”

Today, Cullis is known globally for his innovative work on lipid nanoparticles, the drug delivery system that made mRNA vaccines—like the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines—possible. He is part of a generation of UBC researchers—innovators like Dr. Michael Smith, Dr. Julia Levy, and Dr. Carl Hansen, among many others—who helped create B.C.’s thriving biotech sector that continues to grow today.

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