Granville, David
PhD, FAHA
Academic Rank(s): Professor, Faculty of Medicine at The University of British Columbia and Co-Founder and CSO, viDA Therapeutics
Affiliation(s): ICORD and HLI
Research and Scholarly Interests: Translational research, drug discovery, proteases, extracellular matrix, aging, dermatology, autoimmune disease, inflammation, vascular dysfunction, wound healing
Clinical Interests: Bridging research and clinical practice, skin health and disease mechanisms, cardiovascular and pulmonary health, development of novel therapeutics, understanding tissue injury and healing
Dr. David Granville is a Professor in the UBC Faculty of Medicine. He was previously the Associate Dean Research, UBC Faculty of Medicine and Executive Director of the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, the largest hospital-based research institute in Western Canada. He is currently a Principal Investigator at the ICORD Centre, the UBC Centre for Heart Lung Innovation and the Director of the Wound Healing and Chronic Disease Research Lab, ICORD, UBC.
Dr. Granville previously worked at QLT, Inc. (1994-2001) where his R&D studies supported the approval of Visudyne® to be used as the first treatment for macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly. In 1999 Visudyne® was approved by the FDA resulting in the largest ophthalmic product release in history.
Dr. Granville’s research is referred to on the drug label for Visudyne®. In 2001, Dr. Granville moved to Scripps where he discovered a novel therapeutic target for attenuating ischemic heart injury related to myocardial infarction and transplantation, which led to the formation of Radical Therapeutix (San Diego, CA). He was recruited back to UBC as an Assistant Professor, Canada Research Chair and MSFHR Scholar to work at the UBC Centre for Heart Lung Innovation (2003-2016).
In 2016 he relocated to the ICORD Centre/VCHRI/UBC. Dr. Granville has received numerous awards including a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Award, Canada Research Chair, Canada Top 40 Under 40 Award, Business in Vancouver Top Forty Under 40, Canadian Association of Pathology Scientist Award, UBC Outstanding Young Alumnus Award, SFU Academic Alumnus Award, runner-up for the American Heart Association Louis and Arnold Katz Basic Science Prize and recent recipient of the CIHR Institute of Aging Prize for Excellence in Research in 2022. He is also a Scholar of the Royal Society of Canada and a Fellow of the American Heart Association.
His current research is focused on mechanisms of tissue injury, inflammation and repair and how aging and dysregulated inflammation affect such processes in the context of identifying new therapeutic targets for the treatment of age-related and/or chronic diseases. His recent research has led to the formation of the UBC-spin-off company, viDA Therapeutics of which he is a co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer.
Academic Background
- PDF, The Scripps Research Institute, Molecular and Experimental Medicine. 2003
- PhD, The University of British Columbia, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. 2001
- BSc, Simon Fraser University, Biological Sciences. 1994
Awards and Recognition
Publications
Research Interest
Over the past 20 years, Dr. Granville’s research program has focused on identifying mechanisms that underlie tissue injury and therapeutic targets that can be exploited to reduce injury and/or promote healing. Dr. Granville’s research team is investigating a family of cell-secreted proteases known as granzymes (granule-secreted enzymes) and their role in aging and chronic inflammation. At UBC, Dr. Granville’s laboratory has been a significant contributor to challenging the existing dogma that granzymes (granule-secreted enzymes) function solely as an intracellular mediator of lymphocyte-induced targeted cell death. His team was first to demonstrate a novel extracellular role for granzyme B in a disease model. Dr. Granville’s group has since identified that granzymes are elevated and contribute to the pathogenesis of conditions associated with impaired healing and inflammation, including skin injuries, autoimmune skin diseases, in addition to cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. In order to study granzymes in a diverse set of indications, Dr. Granville collaborates with a network of expert clinical and scientific collaborators.
Dr. Granville is currently translating his discoveries into the development and commercialization of novel, first-in-class therapeutics. Dr. Granville’s team is expanding on their discoveries in tissue injury, inflammation, and repair, and applying their expertise to vessel wall injury, aging, and chronic diseases. Dr. Granville also continues to lead an established research program examining the role of granzymes in cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. Dr. Granville’s team is currently one of few groups in the world conducting translational research and therapeutics targeting granzymes in disesase.
Current Projects In My Lab Include
Although his laboratory is quite full at the moment, Dr. Granville is always on the lookout for talented, energetic and bright graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to join his team if funding is available. Please contact Dr. Granville with inquiries.