Our Team: J. Christopher Hall
Contact Chris Hall
PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, PlantForm Founder
Dr. Chris Hall is a professor and Canada Research Chair in Recombinant Antibody Technology in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Guelph. See his lab website.
As a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair since 2002, Dr. Hall is acknowledged as a world leader in his field. His research focuses on producing antibodies from plants (instead of animals) for a range of applications, including human immunotherapy.
In the early 1990s, Dr. Hall recognized the manufacturing and regulatory advantages of using tobacco plants to produce low-cost antibody drugs. His technology overcomes a number of issues associated with animal-derived antibody production: it allows for higher yields, lowers costs and eliminates animal welfare concerns.
Dr. Hall's research group also studies the large-scale production of antibodies in plants against food- and water-borne pathogens, biological weapons and environmental contaminants. His lab uses ribosomal-display and phage-display antibody libraries from mice, humans, and llamas to create antibodies against these antigens.
Dr. Hall's laboratory has published more than 150 papers in refereed journals.