René Roy completed his Ph.D. in medicinal carbohydrate chemistry from Université de Montréal in 1980. He is a professor emeritus in the Department of Chemistry, at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). He is the founder and former director of PharmaQAM, a biopharmaceutical research center based at UQAM, focusing on the discovery of new bioactive molecules, their mechanism of action, and the vectorization of drugs. He is a pioneer in the development of synthetic glycoconjugate vaccines both for human and veterinary health, having co-developed the first and sole marketed semi-synthetic vaccine for human use, preventing bacterial meningitis and pneumonia in developing countries. He has published over 400 scientific peer reviewed publications. His current interests concern cancer vaccines, liposomal nanoparticles for drug delivery, and glycodendrimers. He is also co-founder of Glycovax Pharma Inc. which is presently undergoing clinical Phase I vaccine trials against Covid-19.