Brenda Andrews

Brenda Jean Andrews is a Canadian academic, researcher and biologist specializing in systems biology and molecular genetics.

Andrews is known for her studies on cell cycle-regulated transcription and protein kinase function in yeast and for pioneering work.

In 2015, Andrews co-led a team of biology scientists at the University of Toronto's Donnelly Centre to create the first ever fully detailed protein map of a cell, the map showed the location of all protein in a cell, the project aimed to benefit and help increase research for cancer cells. The research consisted of data gatherings from 20 million cells. Andrews' research aims at showing the complexity of a single gene and how it interacts with multiple genes. She is noted for her research and publications relating to genetics and genetic disorders. In 2017, Andrews was named as a university professor, the highest faculty honor at the University of Toronto. In 2020, she was honoured to be an international member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Education Andrews graduated from the University of Toronto where she received a Bachelor of Science in zoology in 1980 and later with a PhD in medical biophysics in 1986. She later went to the University of California, San Francisco for her post-doctorate training directed by geneticist Ira Herskowitz in 1991. She later returned to the University of Toronto for teaching and researching positions, where she became an assistant professor and later became chair for the Department of Medical Genetics.

She is the current and founding editor-in-chief of open access scientific journal G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics by the Genetics Society of America.

Awards In December 2015, Andrews was awarded the Order of Canada as a companion, the highest grade of the order, for her contributions in systems biology research and contributions to research in molecular genetics. Andrews was elected as a fellow for the Royal Society of Canada in 2005 and holds numerous awards and memberships relating to the sciences including elected fellow of the American Society for Microbiology, fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and senior fellow at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research where she became the director for the institute's genetics research area. Other awards includes: Premier's Research Excellence Award Fellowship & scientist at the Medical Research Council of Canada (now known as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research) Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research, 2025