Brendan McKeown joined the Gunawardena Lab in May 2024 as a Postdoctoral Fellow. His primary research interests involve the discovery and development of biologically active natural products for the treatment and prevention of cancer. Using molecular biology techniques, Brendan seeks to understand the mechanisms through which these natural products exert their effects. As a member of the Gunawardena Lab, Brendan is working to develop a suspension cell culture with the Madagascar lace plant (Aponogeton madagascariensis) to further enhance the lace plant as a model for programmed cell death and to more efficiently produce bioactive anthocyanins for experimentation into their anti-cancer activity. He is also investigating the anti-cancer activity of traditional Sri Lankan herbal preparations As such, Brendan brings an interdisciplinary approach to the Gunawardena Lab by combining the basic sciences, natural product discovery, and the health sciences.

Brendan has completed a BSc in Biology at the University of New Brunswick, a BA in English and MSc in Human Biology at the University of Prince Edward Island, and a BSc in Pharmacy and PhD in Pharmacology at Dalhousie University. During his MSc, Brendan investigated the anti-cancer effects of magnolol, a compound found in the roots and bark of the magnolia tree (Magnolia officinalis), and whole cranberry extract from the American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) in human prostate cancer cells in vitro. Brendan’s PhD work involved the investigation of the in vitro anti-breast cancer activity of another natural product, jadomycin B, produced by the soil bacterium Streptomyces venezuelae. Throughout his studies, Brendan has published 10 peer-reviewed journal articles (5 as first author), presented his work at 7 international and Canadian research conferences, and worked as a Sessional Lecturer with the College of Pharmacy at Dalhousie University. Brendan has received several awards including the University of Prince Edward Island’s Office of Graduate Studies Award of Distinction for Science, the Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute’s Cancer Research Training Program Award, and the Canadian Society of Pharmacology and Therapeutics’ 2021 Rhoderic Reiffenstein Trainee Presentation Award and 2022 Canadian Publication Award for best publication in a Canadian academic journal.

When not in the laboratory, Brendan can be found reading a variety of novels (with subject matter ranging from classical literature to pulpy science fiction), working on wooden ship models, or wandering through the beautiful wilderness that Nova Scotia has to offer.