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Research Areas:

Proteomics, degradomics, Human Proteome Project, proteases, Zoonotic Viruses, COVID-19, One Health, MMPs, anti-viral immunity, innate immunity

Teaching Areas:

Proteomics, degradomics, Human Proteome Project, connective tissue biochemistry and molecular biology,

BIOSKETCH, DR CHRISTOPHER M OVERALL (January 1, 2025) 
 
Professor Christopher Overall is a Full Professor, Distinguished University Scholar and Canada Research Chair Laureate in Protease Proteomics and Systems Biology at the University of British Columbia; an Honorary Professor at Albert-Ludwigs Universität Freiburg, Germany, and a Yonsei Distinguished Scholar of Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. He was a Senior Fellow of the Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies, Albert-Ludwigs Universität Freiburg, Germany (2010–2013) and a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Protease Proteomics and Systems Biology (2001–2022). Dr Overall was inducted as a fellow into the Royal Society of Canada (FRASC) Academy of Science in 2018 and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (FCAHS) in 2005. 
 
Dr. Overall completed his B.D.S., Honours Science and Master’s degrees at the University of Adelaide, South Australia; his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of Toronto, Canada; and was an MRC Centennial Fellow in his postdoctoral training with Dr. Michael Smith, Nobel Laureate, Biotechnology Laboratory, UBC. He launched his lab at UBC in 1993. On sabbatical in 1997 – 1998, he was a Senior Scientist at British Biotech Pharmaceuticals, Oxford, UK, and in 2004 and 2008, a Senior Scientist at the Expert Protease Platform, Centre for Proteomic Drug Discovery, Novartis Pharma, Basel, Switzerland. He is now a Creative Destruction Lab Scientist at the UBC Sauder School of Business and a consultant for Genentech, Novartis and several Biotechnology companies. 
 
Chris is best known for developing proteomic methodology to discover protease substrates in vivo, thereby establishing the field of degradomics. He has used these techniques to reveal new biological roles for proteases in immunity and disease, most recently in the COVID-19 pandemic by SARS-CoV-2 proteases, developing two new molecular correctors to cure MALT1 protease deficiency in a primary immunodeficiency, and now in One Health Strategies for investigation of viral zoonosis. By generating clinically relevant insights into how proteases dampen disease-fighting defence systems involved in inflammation and immunodeficiency, degradomics has revealed an unexplored layer of complexity in the hierarchy of cell and immune regulation, greatly adding to our understanding of protease function and drug targeting. 
 
He is a highly cited scientist with 320 publications, generating an h-index = 110 from > 42,600 citations—including 68 >100 – 199, 30 >200 – 499, 13 >500 – 999, 3 >1,200 – 1,500, and 1>1,700, 36 high-impact papers in Nature (2), Science (2), Cell and daughter journals (32), most as senior PI. He has disseminated his lab findings by > 297 keynote, plenary, and invited talks at international and national conferences, as well as 250 invited seminars at universities, research institutes, and companies. He has mentored 61 graduate students and post-doctoral trainees (40 PDF/14 Ph.D. /7 M.Sc.) with great success: 9 of whom have remained in academics as Full Professors (including 2 Department Chairs), 5 are Associate Professors, and 6 are Assistant Professors. Indeed, Chris was awarded the UBC John McNeill Excellence in Health Research Mentorship Award in 2023. 
 
His peers elected Dr. Overall to organize and chair the premier conferences in his field, including the 2003 Matrix Metalloproteinase and 2010 Protease Gordon Research Conferences, and in 2017, he co-chaired the International Proteolysis Society Biannual Meeting. He holds influential roles on the executive of >10 international committees, the most prominent of which was election to the Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) Executive Council and as Chair of the HUPO Chromosome-centric Human Proteome Project (C-HPP). In 2022, he was invited to represent UBC at the G7 Research Summit on One Health. He has received numerous recognitions, e.g., election to the Royal Society of Canada, appointment as a Yonsei Distinguished Scholar (Yonsei University, 2023) and a Distinguished University Scholar of UBC in 2024. He received the UBC 2006 Killam Faculty Research Prize; the 2002 Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Researcher of the Year; the Helmholtz Award (2008); International Proteolysis Society Lifetime Achievement Award (2011); Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand Barry Preston Award (2012); and the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award (2013). His advances in proteomics have been recognized by the Canadian National Proteomics Network Tony Pawson Award (2014); the Proteomass Scientific Society Award (2017); the 2018 Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) Discovery Award in Proteomics Sciences; and the 2022 Helmut Holzer Award. He is a Councilor of 1st ℼ-Hub Global Proteomics Project, Guangzhou, China (2023 – ). 
 
 
 
 
Links: 

 

• Summary of Research Interests/Research Highlights
• The Overall Lab (www.clip.ubc.ca)
• View Dr. Overall's Profile at LinkedIn.com