Len Luyt, PhD

Len Luyt is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Western Ontario.  He joined the University in 2005 as a faculty member in the Departments of Chemistry, Oncology, and Medical Imaging, with promotion to Full Professor in 2020. 

Dr. Luyt has published more than 75 journal articles, authored five book chapters, greater than 100 conference abstracts, and has 10 patents granted or applied for. He was awarded the Early Researcher Award (ERA) from the Ministry of Research and Innovation in 2009 and the Vanguard Innovator of the Year award in 2016. Luyt has held peer-reviewed grant funding from NSERC, CIHR, OICR, Prostate Cancer Canada, Cancer Research Society and other funding agencies.

His research program seeks to discover peptide therapeutics and molecular imaging agents for novel cancer targets, with research activities spanning from cyclic peptide methodology through to diagnostic and therapeutic evaluation. He collaborates closely with leading scientists in the areas of cancer biology and medical imaging. His lab also functions as a core facility at the Lawson Health Research Institute for peptide synthesis and for creating SPECT and PET molecular imaging agents.

Dr. Luyt received his PhD in chemistry from the University of Western Ontario and subsequently undertook a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He then led a research team as a Senior Medicinal Chemist with the pharmaceutical company Bayer-Schering.