About Us
Our Story
Parent Company
Meet The Team
Chief Scientific Officer
5pm-8pm
DAILY
MEHRBOD ESTAKI, PhD
Mehrbod was a postdoctoral fellow at the Knight Lab, University of California San Diego, researching the gut-brain axis. He obtained his undergraduate and MSc degrees in Kinesiology at Western University He pursued a PhD at The University of British Columbia Okanagan, focusing on the link between physical activity, gut health, and its implications in IBD. Utilizing faecal transplant methods, he successfully put his Ulcerative Colitis into remission, which aided his active academic career. With over 35 published articles, he has showcased his expertise and contributions to the field.
Director of Science & Research
Head of Chemistry
5pm-8pm
DAILY
JACEK USAKIEWICZ, PhD
Jacek graduated in Organic Chemistry from University of Wroclaw, Poland. He conducted postdoctoral research on antithrombotic inhibitors at the Biotechnology Research Institute at the National Research Council of Canada, Montreal. Prior joining Innovate Phytoceuticals he worked as principal investigator at Neurocrine Biosci (San Diego). He has extensive experience in protein and analytical chemistry, assay and methods development and mass spectrometry. He is author of over 40 peer-reviewed scientific publications to date, plus a large number of scientific presentations at local, national and international conferences. Jacek has 12 patent applications (US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan) relating both to drug design and assay development.
Laboratory Director
Head of Molecular Biology
5pm-8pm
DAILY
Lukman Sarker is a molecular biologist with expertise in analytical chemistry. He started his career as a microbiologist at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, on the Bill and Melinda Gates vaccine development project prior to pursuing his doctorate. At UBC Okanagan, he has been studying plant secondary metabolites and how plants regulate essential oil quality as well as investigating the genomic metabolomic relationship. He has extensive experience in generating genomic data to answer important information about plant science. Lukman has been an integral part of a research laboratory and has supervised numerous students and run many investigational studies.
LUKMAN SARKER, PhD
Molecular Biologist
5pm-8pm
DAILY
Dr. Adal is a molecular biologist / plant biotechnologist with a broad scientific expertise in molecular techniques, tissue culture, genotyping, transformation, specialized metabolites and functional genomics. He has over 10 years R&D and mentoring experiences in research and academic institutes. His research projects focused on protocol development for tissue culture propagation, gene identification and functional studies (in vitro and in vivo), plant and microbial transformation, essential oil extraction and terpene detection, and sequencing. Dr. Adal holds B.Sc. in Horticulture at Jimma University (Ethiopia), M.Sc. in Plant Biotechnology at Leibniz University of Hannover (Germany) and Ph.D. in Biology at the University of British Columbia (UBC). In his Ph.D. thesis “Development of molecular markers and cloning of genes involved in the biosynthesis of monoterpenes in Lavandula”, he covers several molecular and bioinformatics approaches, including gene identification, cloning and expression in microbial and plant hosts, marker development and genotyping, detection of terpenes, and transcriptome sequencing. After his Ph.D., he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at UBC focusing on coordinating a research cluster of “Agricultural Technologies and Bioproducts”, and examining molecular mechanisms that control floral development and their impacts on specialized metabolites in cannabis and lavender. Dr. Adal is also experienced in mentoring technicians and junior researchers, as well as teaching laboratory and lecture courses at UBC. Dr. Adal produced over 20 peer-reviewed publications and presented these outcomes to scientific and industrial communities at local and international conferences.
AYELIGN ADAL, PhD
Quality Assurance & Regulatory Affairs Manager
5pm-8pm
DAILY
Drake Poirier completed his Bachelor of Science degree with a Major in Medical & Molecular Biochemistry. Drake is an expert in quality assurance and regulatory affairs both in Canada and around the world. He has extensive experience with cannabis, psilocybin and other controlled substances, ISO, GMP, GLP, GPP and several others. He has worked directly with Health Canada on precedent-setting regulatory issues surrounding the emerging psychedelics sector and the evolving push for their legalization. He has built Innovate Phytoceuticals’ entire Quality Management System, and successfully obtained many different licenses, registrations and certifications for the company to date, including several Cannabis Licenses, a Controlled Drugs and Substance Dealer’s License, and many more.
DRAKE POIRIER