Chemistry Seminar Series: Dennis Hore

The Substance Project: Leveraging Analytics to Provide Rapid, Accurate, and Detailed Results for People Who Use Drugs

Dennis Hore
Professor, Department of Chemistry and Computer Science
University of VIctoria

Thursday, February 11, 2025
3:00 p.m.

QNC 1501

Abstract: Over the past 8 years, the illicit drug supply has been turned upside down because of potent synthetic actives such as fentanyl that have largely replaced heroin in many parts of the world. In Canada, deaths due to opioid toxicity are nearly the same those attributed to COVID-19. One of the consequences of a largely unregulated drug market is variability and unpredictability in the supply. Although our society has a decades-long history of advancement in chemical analysis, there is currently a gap in what can be offered in a timely way that reaches the population in need of such data. Since 2018, Substance, a team of chemists, social workers, and computer scientists has been working to provide a rapid and confidential drug-testing service on Vancouver Island. The goal is to develop technology to provide results that empower people who use drugs to make informed decisions based on the composition and potency of the substances. This requires a combination of suitable hardware, integrated software for data collection and reporting, and suite of machine learning algorithms that push the limits of the technology on all fronts. This presentation will highlight some of our efforts to date and provide glimpses into the future of point-of-care drug analysis platforms. More information about the project is available at the Substance website

Biography: Dennis Hore obtained a B.Sc. in chemistry from McMaster University, a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Queen's University (thesis advisors: Almeria Natansohn and Paul Rochon (RMC Physics)) and was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Oregon (advisor: Geraldine Richmond) before joining the Chemistry Department at the University of Victoria in 2007. He currently has two research groups:one develops advanced nonlinear optical methods and complementary theory to study molecules adsorbed at the solid-liquid interface. It was that work that resulted in the 2018 Keith Laidler Award, presented by the Canadian Society for Chemistry in recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of physical, theoretical, and computational chemistry in Canada. The second group, co-led with Prof. Bruce Wallace (UVic Social Work) provides drug checking technologies and services to communities across British Columbia