BIOCAPS Spotlight: Dr. Edwin Moore
Professor and Former Department Head
As Dr. Edwin Moore concludes a distinguished career at UBC, we celebrate more than three decades of scientific discovery, academic leadership, and mentorship.
Dr. Moore earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Physiology from the University of Toronto and completed his Ph.D. in Pharmacology at the Mayo Clinic. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, he joined UBC as an Assistant Professor in 1995 and was promoted to Professor in 2010.
Throughout his career, Dr. Moore served in several leadership roles, including as the inaugural Academic Director of the Centre for Disease Modeling. He was Interim Head of the Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences from 2016 to 2018 and served as Department Head from 2018 to 2025.
Dr. Moore was also a long-time member of the Biophysical Society. Its annual meeting and the two biannual Gordon Conferences on Cardiac Regulatory Mechanisms and Excitation-Contraction coupling, where Dr. Moore was often an invited speaker as a pioneer in cardiac structure-function relationships, were the main venues for presenting and discussing the lab’s work. There were numerous awards in the early graduate and post-doctoral period and an MRC Scholarship after joining UBC in 1995.
Scientific highlights and impact:
- Helped develop techniques to analyse the some of the first high-resolution 3D digital images acquired, resulting in landmark papers in Nature and Science.
- Built the first such system in Canada.
- Discovered the distribution of estrogen receptors and glucose transporters in vascular endothelium. The latter led to a new understanding of how hyperglycemia might damage coronary endothelial cells.
- Developed novel mathematical tools to analyse fluorophore localization and colocalization.
- In collaboration with the late Dr. Keng Chou the lab built and developed analytical tools for a custom-built dSTORM super-resolution microscope.
- Using a combination of electron tomography, live cell fluorescence microscopy and the dSTORM microscope, the lab made fundamental discoveries about the molecular architecture of the cardiac dyad overturning and replacing the existing paradigm.
- The lab demonstrated that the cardiac dyad is highly dynamic, changing its molecular architecture and size within minutes, dependent on the stimulus. These discoveries have changed our understanding of the classic b-adrenergic ‘fight or flight’ response and led to landmark papers in Circulation Research, eLIFE, and J. Gen. Physiology.
What has been the most rewarding part of working in the department?
People! One of the most important aspects of any job is the people with whom you work. I’ve had great people in the lab and in the department to work with, a topic that I’ll speak about.
What will you miss most about the department?
The casual conversations that occur with faculty, staff and students just walking down the hall, or stopping by their office for a quick chat. These have been both personal and scientific, and I will miss those the most.
As you move into retirement, is there a message you’d like to share with CPS members?
The capacity in which faculty serve society is extraordinary. We have the privilege of exploring whatever scholarly questions and problems we choose and in whatever way we choose, and then to pass that knowledge onto future generations. We do this in one of the best Universities in the world, and in one of the best cities and countries in the world in which to live. Our salaries place us in the top 3% of the country’s income tax filers, and its almost impossible to be fired. I am extraordinarily grateful to have had these privileges.
What inspired you to take on the role of Department Head?
That’s simple, the faculty wanted me to do it.
Looking back, what are you most proud of from your time as the Head?
There are two things of which I’m particularly proud.
1) Hiring 10 new faculty members to help forward our research and educational missions: Chris W, Christina, Mark, Hilla, Brett, Ryan, Arun, Frank, Mikaela and Yu-Chen. Faculty replacement was a priority for me and I’m pleased with what I accomplished, but wish I could have hired more.
2) The new Majors and Revised Honours program. It was a pleasure interacting with the Provost’s office and FoM finance to spearhead its development; both were incredibly helpful. Then I got to work closely with Barry, Christina and Doug; talented, dedicated and creative faculty, to complete the program and get it through the Fac of Med, Fac of Sci and Senate. It would have been impossible without them. As much work as it was, I truly enjoyed our time together and will always look back on it with pleasure and pride.
What did you find more challenging during your time as the Head?
Unfunded salary increases and their impact on our ability to replace retiring faculty.
Looking back, would you choose to take on the Head role again?
Yes, without hesitation. Its incredibly rewarding to be entrusted with leadership by your colleagues and to see our plans come to fruition.