News
IRIC and the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Université de Montréal recruit Olivier Mailhot as Principal Investigator
Published on September 2, 2025
IRIC is proud to announce the arrival of Olivier Mailhot as a new Principal Investigator in the Computational Drug Discovery Research Unit. He will hold the position of assistant professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Université de Montréal (UdeM). Olivier Mailhot has also been appointed IVADO professor.
Unexpected opportunities in drug discovery
Professor Mailhot’s team’s research will focus on developing computational tools for discovering small molecules that modulate therapeutic targets involved in multiple diseases, including cancer. The laboratory will combine structure-based drug discovery, artificial intelligence, and close collaboration with experimental teams at UdeM and IRIC, particularly the Drug Discovery Unit, in order to more effectively identify new drug candidates.
“Over the past five to ten years, the maturation of several technologies, including combinatorial chemistry and artificial intelligence (AI), has greatly accelerated the early stages of drug discovery. These technologies therefore promise to reduce the costs of new treatments and accelerate the discovery of treatments for diseases that are currently incurable.” – Olivier Mailhot
A young researcher with very promising potential
Olivier Mailhot began his education at the Université de Montréal, where he completed a bachelor’s and doctoral degree in bioinformatics. During his postdoctoral studies in Brian Shoichet’s laboratory at UCSF (University of California, San Francisco), a world leader in computer-aided drug discovery, he specialized in the use of “make-on-demand” molecule libraries.
“We welcome Olivier Mailhot to IRIC and the Université de Montréal with great enthusiasm. His expertise will be highly sought after and will generate many opportunities for collaboration. We wish him every success as a Principal Investigator at IRIC.” – Philippe Roux, Scientific Director at IRIC
“We are very pleased to welcome Olivier Mailhot to the Faculty of Pharmacy and wish him a prestigious career at UdeM. His innovative research program on the use of AI for drug discovery is perfectly aligned with the Faculty’s research development priorities. There will be many opportunities for collaboration with professors, and his expertise in AI will certainly be in high demand.” – Lucie Blais, Vice-Dean of Academic and International Affairs, Faculty of Pharmacy, UdeM
