Dr. David Bundle - Recipient

Since then, his carbohydrate research has taken different directions. In February 2000, he and his team were published in the prestigious Nature, a magazine notorious for the rigour of its acceptance standards. The piece in question focused on the discovery of the Starfish molecule, a carbohydrate structure that is a million times more active than anything previously found. What is particularly noteworthy about Starfish is its ability to block the entry of E. coli toxin into cells. It and related bacterial toxins such as the one from cholera are potentially deadly to humans. Starfish has the ability to bond more strongly with the toxins in question than to the sugar molecules on the cell surface to which the toxin binds. The U of A researchers have refined this invention and are about to announce a new, more effect, less expensive molecule that is expected to lead to the development of a drug that successfully fights E. coli. Dr. Bundle chuckles as he remembers responding to the suggestion from his post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Pavel Kitov, that they consider the original Starfish research. “Don’t bother. It won’t work.” Good thing Dr. Kitov shares his professor’s pit bull-like determination and refusal to give up.

David is justifiably proud of his career but feels that his real success has come from his sons, Matthew, a professor of Biomechanics at the University of Wyoming, and Benjamin, a senior trademark examiner with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. A man of many interests, he enjoys photography, particularly when hiking in the Rockies. He’s also an avid gardener who loves music—nothing too sweet, despite his research into sugars—and listens to everything from Classical to Dylan to The Who and Motown. Though, of course, as part of England’s post-war generation, he loves the Rolling Stones. More than anything, however, his passion is his research. And for that we must be grateful when we consider the extraordinary potential Dr. David Bundle’s work has to impact us.