Full Name
Mari DeMarco
Job Title
Clinical Chemist
Company/Org.
PHC
Speaker Bio
With a strong interest in bridging protein biochemistry and laboratory medicine, Dr. DeMarco’s research group focuses on building new biofluid tests for direct translation into patient care (www.DeMarcoLab.ca). Biomarker projects in the DeMarco group are driven by clinical demand, that is, they work collaboratively with health care providers and patients to build biofluid diagnostics to fill unmet needs in medicine.
Important contributions of her research group include streamlining proteomic workflows to enable implementation by clinical labs. By re-evaluating the status quo, the approaches and workflows developed by Dr. DeMarco’s group have helped launch many new diagnostic tests in the healthcare system. The specialized expertise of group has enabled important contributions to the first Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guideline on quantitative protein mass spectrometry; guidelines which are used by the regulatory agencies (e.g., US Food and Drug Administration) in the approval of new diagnostic tests.
A particular area of interest for her research group is in advancing biomarker diagnostics for neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease. The goal of this program of research is to ensure that new biomarker tools make the challenging jump from research into healthcare. As an example, Dr. DeMarco leads a Canada-wide study investigating the impact of Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers in medical care (www.impactAD.org) – a major outcome of which was the launch of the national Alzheimer’s disease biomarker testing program which provides access to medical testing for the core Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers to physicians across Canada.
Reflecting her group’s research accomplishments, Dr. DeMarco is the recipient of the University of British Columbia’s Early Career Excellence in Research and Discovery, the American Association of Clinical Chemist’s Outstanding Scientific Achievements by a Young Investigator award, and the Association for Mass Spectrometry and Advances in the Clinical Lab’s Michael S. Bereman Award for Innovative Clinical Proteomics.
Important contributions of her research group include streamlining proteomic workflows to enable implementation by clinical labs. By re-evaluating the status quo, the approaches and workflows developed by Dr. DeMarco’s group have helped launch many new diagnostic tests in the healthcare system. The specialized expertise of group has enabled important contributions to the first Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guideline on quantitative protein mass spectrometry; guidelines which are used by the regulatory agencies (e.g., US Food and Drug Administration) in the approval of new diagnostic tests.
A particular area of interest for her research group is in advancing biomarker diagnostics for neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease. The goal of this program of research is to ensure that new biomarker tools make the challenging jump from research into healthcare. As an example, Dr. DeMarco leads a Canada-wide study investigating the impact of Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers in medical care (www.impactAD.org) – a major outcome of which was the launch of the national Alzheimer’s disease biomarker testing program which provides access to medical testing for the core Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers to physicians across Canada.
Reflecting her group’s research accomplishments, Dr. DeMarco is the recipient of the University of British Columbia’s Early Career Excellence in Research and Discovery, the American Association of Clinical Chemist’s Outstanding Scientific Achievements by a Young Investigator award, and the Association for Mass Spectrometry and Advances in the Clinical Lab’s Michael S. Bereman Award for Innovative Clinical Proteomics.
Speaking At
