Dr. Evangelos D. Michelakis

The CTV article Small molecule offers hope for cancer treatment said

In findings that “astounded” the researchers, the molecule known as DCA was shown to shrink lung, breast and brain tumors in both animal and human tissue experiments.
 
“You typically get this eureka type of feeling. It’s the most exciting thing a scientist can get,” Dr. Evangelos Michelakis, a professor at the University of Alberta department of medicine and a key study author, told CTV News.
 
The study was published Tuesday in the journal Cancer Cell.
 
The molecule appears to repair the damage that cancer cells cause to mitochondria, the units that convert food into energy.
 
“Cancer cells actively suppress their mitochondria, which alters their metabolism, and this appears to offer cancer cells a significant advantage in growth compared to normal cells, as well as protection from many standard chemotherapies,” Michelakis said.

Evangelos D. Michelakis, M.D., FACC, FAHA is Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Alberta, Director, Pulmonary Hypertension Program, Dep. Director, Tomorrow’s Research Cardiovascular Health Professionals, and Senior Fellow and Founding Member, Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute. He is also Member, Vascular Biology Group and Director of CIGNET. He earned his MD from the University of Patras in 1990. Following a research fellowship at the University of Texas in Galveston, he completed his Internal Medicine and Cardiology training at Yale University and the University of Minnesota.
 
Selected committees/editorial boards:

• Associate Editor of Pharmacology & Therapeutics
• Editorial Board Member, The Canadian Journal of Cardiology
• Editorial Board Member, Open Pharmacology Journal
• Abstract Review Committee: American Heart Association
• External Scientific Expert Reviewer, Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research
• Grant Review Committee, Cardiovascular System “C”, CIHR
• Grant Review Committee 4b: Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation
• Grant Review Committee: Research Council of Norway
• Program Committee, Cardiopulmonary and Critical Care Council, American Heart Association
• Research Committee, Department of Medicine, University of Alberta
• Scientific Advisory Board, International Academy of Cardiology.

Evangelos coauthored A mitochondira-k(+) channel axis is suppressed in cancer and its normalization promotes apoptosis and inhibits cancer growth, Gene therapy targeting survivin selectively induces pulmonary vascular apoptosis and reverses pulmonary arterial hypertension, Dichloroacetate prevents and reverses pulmonary hypertension by inducing pulmonary artery smooth muscle cell apoptosis, Use of sildenafil for safe improvement of erectile function and quality of life in men with New York Heart Association classes II and III congestive heart failure; a prospective, placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover trial, Long-term treatment with oral sildenafil is safe and improves functional capacity and hemodynamics in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, and Voltage-gated potassium channels in human ductus arteriosus.
 
His patents include “A Method of Treating Cancer using Dichloroacetate” and “Augmentation of K+ channel expression using adenoviral vectors”. He is a Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA) and a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC). Watch his CNN interview and Global Edmonton News interview. Read coverage of his work in Newsweek, NewScientist, and the Economist.