John Honek

Professor, Department of Chemistry
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Contact Information

Emailjhonek@uwaterloo.ca

Professor | Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science

Professor Honek received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Chemistry from McGill University and undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT (USA). His research focuses on the application of chemistry to biological systems and includes investigations on advanced bionanomaterials. He was the recipient of the Canadian Society for Chemistry’s 2014 Bernard Belleau Award presented to a scientist residing in Canada who has made a distinguished contribution to the field of medicinal chemistry through research involving biochemical or organic chemical mechanisms. 

Graduate Supervision:  

Dr. Honek supervises graduate students within masters and doctoral programs in Chemistry through the Guelph-Waterloo Centre for Graduate Work in Chemistry and Biochemistry (GWC2). His students have been exploring enzyme inhibitors, bionanomaterials, computer modeling of materials and biological systems, and the relationship of protein structure to enzymatic function. 

Selected Publications:

  • A. Ratto and J. F. Honek, 2023, Oxocarbon Acids and Their Derivatives in Biological and Medicinal Chemistry. Current Medicinal Chemistry, in press. 

  • T. Urquhart, B. Howie, L. Zhang, K. T. Leung, and J. F. Honek, 2021, Bioconjugation of Bacteriophage Pf1 and Extension to Pf1-Based Bionanomaterials. Current Nanoscience, 17(1), 139-150  

  • Y. Hu, J. F. Honek, B. C. Wilson and Q-B. Lu, 2019, Synthesis and Photo-Cytotoxicity of Upconversion Nanoparticles: Potential Applications for Near-Infrared Photodynamic and Photothermal Therapy. Journal of Biophotonics, 12(11), e201900111.