Francis Lynn

Francis obtained his PhD in Physiology from the University of British Columbia in 2003.  Following this he moved to San Francisco supported by JDRF Postdoctoral and Advanced Postdoctoral Fellowships with Michael German.

Francis was recruited to the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute in 2009 and is an Associate Professor in the UBC Department of Surgery and a Founding Member of the UBC School of Biomedical Engineering. Francis has been supported by the Goepel Family/ Diabetes Canada Young Investigator Award in Islet Cell Development; the JDRF Alan Permutt Career Development Award and a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Sciences Scholar Award.

Francis’ work has led to publication of 47 highly-cited articles in top journals including Diabetes, Developmental Cell, PNAS, Nature and Nature Medicine.  The Lynn Lab currently has 9 members and is funded by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the JDRF and Diabetes Canada.  Research is focused on understanding how we can improve the in vitro development of cell-based therapies for diabetes by taking cues from embryonic development.  For more information please see www.betacell.ca