Studies on transfer genes from IncF plasmids. 1986
Known for
Work on mechanisms of microbial pathogenicity and microbiota
Notable awards
Howard Hughes International Scholar, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Foreign Member
Books
Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Your Child from an Oversanitized World
B. Brett Finlay, OC, OBC, FRSC, FCAHS (born 4 April 1959) is a Canadian microbiologist well known for his contributions to understanding how microbes cause disease in people and developing new tools for fighting infections, as well as the role the microbiota plays in human health and disease. Science.ca describes him as one of the world’s foremost experts on the molecular understanding of the ways bacteria infect their hosts. He also led the SARS Accelerated Vaccine Initiative (SAVI) and developed vaccines to SARS and a bovine vaccine to E. coli O157:H7. His current research interests focus on pathogenic E. coli and Salmonella pathogenicity, and the role of the microbiota in infections, asthma, and malnutrition. He is currently the UBC Peter Wall Distinguished Professor and a Professor in the Michael Smith Laboratories, Microbiolgy and Immunology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Co-director and Senior Fellow for the CIFAR Humans and Microbes program. He is also co-author of the book Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Your Child from an Oversanitized World. Finlay is the author of over 500 publications in peer-reviewed journals and served as editor of several professional publications for many years.
Finlay received his B.Sc.(Honors) (1981) and Ph.D. (1986) in Biochemistry from the University of Alberta, and did his post-doctoral work at Stanford University with Dr. Stanley Falkow (1986-1989).
UBC Lab
Finlay’s lab is based in Vancouver, Canada in the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia, and involves a multidisciplinary research program exploring how microbes contribute to both human health and disease. The lab specifically focuses on type III secreted virulence factors from Salmonella and pathogenic E. coli, how microbiota influence infectious diarrhea outcomes, and the role of the microbiota in asthma, malnutrition, and environmental enteropathy.
Awards
Prix Galien 2014
Carnegie Fellowship 2015
CIFAR Senior Fellow 2014
German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Foreign Member 2012
Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology 2003
UBC Peter Wall Distinguished Professor 2002
Howard Hughes International Research Scholar 1991, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada 2001
CIHR Distinguished Investigator 2001
EWR Steacie Prize 1998
Fisher Prize 1991
Selected publications
More publications may be accessed at PubMed
Diet and specific microbial exposure trigger features of environmental enteropathy in a novel murine model. Brown EM, Finlay BB, et al. Nat Commun. 2015 Aug 4;6:7806.
Early infancy microbial and metabolic alterations affect risk of childhood asthma. Arrieta MC, Stiemsma LT, Dimitriu PA,; CHILD Study Investigators, Mohn WW, Turvey SE, Finlay BB, et al. Sci Transl Med. 2015 Sep 30;7(307):307ra152. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aab2271
Common themes in microbial pathogenicity revisited. BB Finlay, S Falkow. Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews 61 (2), 136-169
Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) transfers its receptor for intimate adherence into mammalian cells. B Kenny, R DeVinney, M Stein, DJ Reinscheid, EA Frey, BB Finlay. Cell 91 (4), 511-520
Exploitation of mammalian host cell functions by bacterial pathogens. BB Finlay, P Cossart. Science 276 (5313), 718-725
Molecular mechanisms of Escherichia coli pathogenicity. MA Croxen, BB Finlay. Nature Reviews Microbiology 8 (1), 26-38
Manipulation of host-cell pathways by bacterial pathogens. AP Bhavsar, JA Guttman, BB Finlay. Nature 449 (7164), 827-834
Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving your child from an oversanitized world
Finlay has co-authored a book for general audiences, Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving your child from an oversanitized world, about the critical role microbes play in early childhood development, having a major impact on both health and disease. It was published by Algonquin Books (USA) and Greystone (Canada) in Sept 2016, and is being translated into 11 languages
Editorships
1992-1999 Trends in Microbiology: Infection, Virulence, and Pathogenesis
1993-97 Editor, Infection and Immunity section, Canadian Journal of Microbiology
1994-02 Editorial Board, Infection and Immunity
1997-2005 Editorial Board, Molecular Microbiology
1997–present Editorial Board, Current Opinion in Microbiology
1997-2010 Editorial Board, Traffic
1998–present Editorial Board, Microbes and Infection
1999–present Advisory Board, International Journal of Medical Microbiology
2000-2003 Editor, Infection and Immunity (20 manuscripts/month)
2000–present Editorial Board, Current Drug Targets - Infectious Disorders
2001–present Section Head (Cellular Microbiology and Pathogenesis) for Faculty 1000, an online service to organize and evaluate the life sciences literature
2001–present Editorial Board, Current Biology
2003 Section Editor (Cytology), American Society for Microbiology book, "E. coli and Salmonella"
2005-2008 Reviews Editor, PLoS (Public Library of Science) Pathogens
