Contribution of a Scientist

 Contribution of a Scientist - Julia Levy 

By  Jersey GB      Course: SNC1P Date: Feb 7, 2021

Name of Scientist Julia Levy

Area(s) of Specialty Microbiology and Immunology

Examples of research s/he has done and the contribution to the field of study

1.  She founded a spinoff company called Quadra Logic Technologies (QLT Inc.) to continue work on a new photodynamic drug called Photofrin that would be effective against cancer. She originally worked at the lab in the company Johnson and Johnson where they found this new drug but wanted to make this drug its own as Johnson and Johnson was discontinuing their research on Photofrin. Julia decided that she wanted to take over the company that was making Photofrin because she knew the value of it to treat cancer.

2.  In 1993 the Canadian government approved Photofrin for the use against bladder cancer. At this time it was already being used for the treatment of skin, lung, stomach and cervix cancer. During the 1990’s QLT started new research projects to start looking at photodynamic therapy to treat autoimmune diseases. Some of the diseases were arthritis, psoriasis and multiple sclerosis. Levy believed that Photofrin could be used to cure other diseases.

3.  QLT’s biggest success is Visudyne, which is a photodynamic drug for the treatment of the eye disease called macular degeneration. This treatment works when the active ingredient in Photofrin is exposed to a wavelength of light. Visudyne is QLT’s biggest money making product as of 2004. This treatment doesn’t need fancy equipment to work because they can shine the light directly into the person's eye. It only took Levy and her team 5 years to be ready to test on human patients. She worked on this treatment with an ophthalmologist named Ursula Schmidt.

Other information of note By 2004 QLT was the top world leader in sales of drugs that treat macular degeneration, and was one of the most successful high-tech companies in Canada. Levy thinks that even though researchers know alot about the biology of cancer cells, how they develop is still one of the biggest questions around.

What does this make you wonder further about?

It’s interesting how the discovery of photodynamic drug treatment can be applied to so many different diseases. It makes me wonder what it can be used for next?

References:

http://www.science.ca/scientists/scientistprofile.php?pID=12