Rate My Professor Joanne Lemieux

M. Joanne Lemieux is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Alberta and serves as Vice-Dean of Research (Biomedical) in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. She earned a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from Dalhousie University in 1991, an M.Sc. from Dalhousie University in 1994, and a Ph.D. from New York University in 2002. Following her doctorate, she completed postdoctoral training at the University of Alberta. Lemieux began her independent research career in December 2007 and previously held positions including Director of the Membrane Protein Disease Research Group from 2018 to 2023 and Director of the PRAIRIE Hub for Pandemic Preparedness starting in 2022. Her research focuses on the structural biology of membrane proteins and proteases using X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM, and biophysical methods, with applications to drug design for viral proteases such as the SARS-CoV-2 main protease and rhomboid intramembrane proteases linked to diseases including Parkinson’s and cancer. She has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, including key papers in Science (2003) on the GlpT transporter structure and PNAS (2007) on the hiGlpG rhomboid peptidase. Lemieux has mentored more than 70 trainees and previously held a CIHR New Investigator award, an AMFMR Scholar award, and a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair. She received the Faculty of Medicine Award for Excellence in Mentoring in 2022 and the Women in Science Excellence Award from the International Society for Antiviral Research in 2023. She teaches courses including BIOCH 420/520 on protein structure and function and BIOCH 641 on biological membranes.