Dr. Alexander Baker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Dalhousie University (July 2023). He pursued undergraduate studies (B.Sc.) as a combined Honors in Chemistry, Biochemistry at Dalhousie University, before proceeding to a PhD in Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry with a Collaborative Specialization in Biomedical Engineering. The focus of his research involved click chemistry hydrogels and 3D in vitro drug screening models for cancer with Dr. Molly Shoichet at the University of Toronto. As a postdoctoral fellow Dr. Baker concentrated on the design of an intraocular hydrogel to treat retinal detachment in Dr. Shoichet’s lab. He later joined Dr. Keith Pardee’s synthetic biology research group (University of Toronto) as a postdoctoral fellow. Here research focus included developing a multiplexed diagnostic and expansion of the genetic code with non-canonical amino acids for therapeutic applications.