Robert Holt

Dr. Robert Holt is a Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia and Professor of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry at Simon Fraser University. He serves as Co-Director of the BC Cancer Immunotherapy Program and Scientific Co-Director at the BC Cancer Research Institute’s Genome Sciences Centre. His research focuses on T and B cell receptor diversity, immune engineering for cancer treatment, and pathogen-cancer links, notably discovering Fusobacterium nucleatum’s role in colorectal carcinoma.

Education: BSc in Biology (University of British Columbia, 1992), PhD in Pharmacology (University of Alberta, 1998). Postdoctoral training in Molecular Evolution at SUNY Buffalo preceded his role as Scientific Operations Manager at Celera Genomics (1998–2003).

Research interests include genetically engineering immune cells for cancer therapy and developing vaccines against pathogenic bacteria like Fusobacterium nucleatum. His work bridges immunology, oncology, and microbiology, with over 200 publications and an H-index of 110.

Awards: Consistently ranked in the top 1% of cited researchers globally by Clarivate Analytics (2018–2020).

Labs/Teams: Leads the Holt Lab at the BC Cancer Genome Sciences Centre, collaborating on immunotherapy and pathogen research.