Researcher Bios

Alexander Baker, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Dalhousie University (July 2023). The grant funded Baker Research Group specializes in biomaterials specifically hydrogels prepared using oxime click chemistry and mussel foot protein inspired adhesives containing non-canonical amino acids. Dr. Baker pursued undergraduate studies (B.Sc.) as a combined Honors in Chemistry, Biochemistry at Dalhousie University, before proceeding to a PhD in Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry with a Collaborative Specialization in Biomedical Engineering. The focus of his research involved click chemistry hydrogels and 3D in vitro drug screening models for cancer at the University of Toronto. Dr. Baker completed two postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Toronto concentrating on the design of an intraocular hydrogel to treat retinal detachment and to develop multiplexed diagnostics and expansion of the genetic code with non-canonical amino acids for therapeutic applications. Dr. Baker’s long-term research vision is to enable biomaterial design by control of dynamic covalent chemistry and to encode new chemical functionality into proteins through non-canonical amino acids with click chemistry to create adaptive, programmable materials that actively regulate biological systems.

Brooke Lawrie is a Master of Science candidate in the Chemistry Department at Dalhousie University (September 2025). Brooke previously graduated from St. Francis Xavier University (B.Sc.) where she worked as a summer research student with Dr. Erwan Bertin and Dr. Geneice Hallett-Tapley, investigating photothermal degradation of PFAs using silver nanoparticles. In the Baker lab, Brooke's research focus is on oxime click chemistry for the production of next-generation hydrogels​​.