Our Team

Terry Hébert’s research focus is on the ontogeny, formation and trafficking of GPCR-based signalling complexes with a view toward understanding the architecture, wiring and integration of individual GPCR signalling pathways both at the cell surface and in the nucleus. Our primary focus is in the context of cardiovascular disease. He has developed new methods for in cellulo measures of protein/protein interactions and is highly involved in the development of new multiplexed signalling assays for drug discovery. The lab is now poised to exploit patient-derived iSPC lines to develop personalized understanding of disease and its treatment.

Contact:

Email: mrm.coordinator@mcgill.ca

Phone: 514-398-7595

Natasha Chang received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from McGill University and pursued her postdoctoral fellowship at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. She joined McGill as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry in 2019. Research in the Chang laboratory focuses on understanding the molecular signalling mechanisms that regulate muscle stem cell function and how these pathways are altered in the context of muscle degenerative disease and muscle cancer. The ultimate goal for her research team is to identify molecular targets to improve endogenous stem cell regenerative capacity as well as strategies to improve stem cell transplantation therapy.

My lab research focuses on defining basic mechanisms involved in the disruption of immune tolerance in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We are specifically interested in understanding the role that adult stem cells have in initiating and perpetuating this disease. Ongoing studies aim to characterize the biology of human hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells in patients with recent onset and established RA, the cross talk between stem cells and other immune cells, and the impact that interventions targeting stem cells have on the restoration of immune function.

As an assistant professor at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) and McGill University, my research focus is on applying patient-derived stem cells towards the development of phenotypic discovery assays and 3D mini-brain models for both neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders. As group leader of the iPSC platform at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), I oversee a team of 30 research staff and students and growing, committed to applying novel stem cell technology, combined with CRISPR genome editing, mini-brain models and new microfluidic technologies towards elucidating the underlying causes of these complex disorders. Leading the SGC tissue platform, NeuroSGC; I oversee a team committed to assay development, in parallel with leading the establishment of NeuroCDRD, towards the automation of our open assays for small molecule screens. In addition, I am also part of antibody validation efforts between the MNI, Oxford and the Karolinska to generate CRISPR KO cell-lines for validating commercial antibodies against high-value ALS targets. Combined with new approaches in the group towards building multiomic profiles on the patient-derived IPSC cells within the group, the long-term strategy over the coming years is to identify new personalized precision therapies that can be applied towards building clinical trials on a dish.

Dr. Nicoletta Eliopoulos is an Investigator at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research (LDI), Jewish General Hospital (JGH), and Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Research, at McGill University in Montreal. She is also the Laboratory Director of the JGH Cell Processing Center, a clinical-grade cell handling facility which is committed to fostering early-phase trials testing cell-based technologies.
Dr. Eliopoulos has a B.Sc degree in Physiology from McGill University, M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Pharmacology from the Université de Montréal, and received her postdoctoral training at the LDI in the laboratory of Dr. Jacques Galipeau.
Dr. Eliopoulos is a scientist with expertise in adult stem/progenitor cells for cell and gene therapy of various diseases, such as kidney injury and cancer. Her research laboratory currently performs studies on the pre-treatment, gene-enhancement and therapeutic use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).

One of the extraordinary abilities of all living creatures is their capacity to repair damaged tissues following injury. This regenerative property is in large part due to the existence of stem cells that are defined by their ability to replace themselves through division, as well as giving rise to specialized cell types through a process known as differentiation. Unfortunately, once stem cells acquire mutations that cause them to proliferate incessantly, they can also fuel cancer growth. My lab focuses on the stem cells in the epithelial lining of our intestinal tract. By constantly replenishing the gut epithelium, intestinal stem cells ensure proper nutrient uptake and barrier formation against environmental toxins and pathogens throughout life. My interests lie in understanding the signals that control gut stem cell behaviour and how these signals become misregulated in diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer.

Terry Hébert’s research focus is on the ontogeny, formation and trafficking of GPCR-based signalling complexes with a view toward understanding the architecture, wiring and integration of individual GPCR signalling pathways both at the cell surface and in the nucleus. Our primary focus is in the context of cardiovascular disease. He has developed new methods for in cellulo measures of protein/protein interactions and is highly involved in the development of new multiplexed signalling assays for drug discovery. The lab is now poised to exploit patient-derived iSPC lines to develop personalized understanding of disease and its treatment.

The Stem Cell Bioprocessing Laboratory works on engineering bioreactors for stem cell culture. We apply engineering approaches to design, optimize and scale up stem cell production systems. We are currently investigating the effects of various biomaterials and 3D culture on pluripotent stem cell differentiation into pancreatic cells as well as vascular endothelial cells. The main areas of applications of our research are diabetes cellular therapy and the development of vascular substitutes to treat cardiovascular disease.

David Juncker, PhD, is a Full Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering at McGill University, and holds a Canadian Research Chair in Bioengineering. He leads the Micro and Nano-bioengineering lab that develops new technologies for multimodal biomarker discovery, including multiplex protein analysis, capture of circulating tumor cells and clusters, and single exosome analysis. David’s current interests are in the miniaturization and integration in biology and medicine, which includes the engineering and utilization of novel micro and nanotechnologies for manipulating, stimulating and studying oligonucleotides, proteins, cells, and tissues. The emerging field of nanobiotechnology, in a broad sense, is the most exciting to David, and is also key to tackle some of the major challenges in biology and medicine, for example identifying novel biomarkers for early disease diagnosis and developing low-cost point-of-care diagnostics. He has 78 publications and his work has been cited over 4645 times, with H-index 31 since 2001. He has 8 patents filed since 2014. Inventions from his research group have led to 3 active spin-offs.

Jo Anne Stratton’s research interests are inspired by the complex and context-dependent interactions of immune cells within the nervous system which function to modulate regeneration and plasticity, but can also underlie pathologies such as demyelination and axonal degeneration leading to cognitive impairment and sensory/motor deficits. Her research platform spans basic in vitro cell culture interrogation of cellular interactions, to transgenic animal models which recapitulate responses to different injuries and diseases, to human cellular and histological analyses.

Michel L. Tremblay, Ph.D. is a James McGill Professor and former director of the Goodman Cancer Research Centre His laboratory works on characterizing the function and regulation of several members of the Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase (PTP) gene family using both biochemical and genetic approaches. The Tremblay lab is also developing several new approaches towards PTP inhibition, as well as large siRNA gene family screens in order to uncover potential applications of these in various diseases (diabetes, obesity, spinal cord injury, neural degenerative diseases, intestinal bowel diseases and other inflammatory diseases), particularly in human cancers.

My laboratory focuses on the utilising the latest advances in stem cell biology, materials science and manufacturing to generate lung and airway tissue ex vivo. Bioengineering tissue in the laboratory holds immense promise for designing tissue that could one day be transplanted into patients with acute and chronic lung diseases, for which there are currently no therapies. As a few notable examples, we have developed techniques to 3D bioprint small airways as well as to encapsulate single cells in hydrogels for exploration as transplantatable small tissue units. In addition, these novel ex vivo models of lung and airway tissue offer a unique opportunity to study lung disease and regeneration at the molecular level, especially when human cells and tissue are used. We use techniques such as 3D bioprinting and microfluidics to build these advanced models of human tissue. These models are particularly advantageous for better identifying and validating potential compounds to treat human disease with and allow for advanced techniques, such as a variety of ‘omics’ techniques to be applied to better understand regenerative processes in human lungs.

Contact:

Email: mrm.coordinator@mcgill.ca

Phone: 514-398-7595

Terry Hébert’s research focus is on the ontogeny, formation and trafficking of GPCR-based signalling complexes with a view toward understanding the architecture, wiring and integration of individual GPCR signalling pathways both at the cell surface and in the nucleus. Our primary focus is in the context of cardiovascular disease. He has developed new methods for in cellulo measures of protein/protein interactions and is highly involved in the development of new multiplexed signalling assays for drug discovery. The lab is now poised to exploit patient-derived iSPC lines to develop personalized understanding of disease and its treatment.

Dr. Nicoletta Eliopoulos is an Investigator at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research (LDI), Jewish General Hospital (JGH), and Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Surgical Research, at McGill University in Montreal. She is also the Laboratory Director of the JGH Cell Processing Center, a clinical-grade cell handling facility which is committed to fostering early-phase trials testing cell-based technologies.
Dr. Eliopoulos has a B.Sc degree in Physiology from McGill University, M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Pharmacology from the Université de Montréal, and received her postdoctoral training at the LDI in the laboratory of Dr. Jacques Galipeau.
Dr. Eliopoulos is a scientist with expertise in adult stem/progenitor cells for cell and gene therapy of various diseases, such as kidney injury and cancer. Her research laboratory currently performs studies on the pre-treatment, gene-enhancement and therapeutic use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).

Jo Anne Stratton’s research interests are inspired by the complex and context-dependent interactions of immune cells within the nervous system which function to modulate regeneration and plasticity, but can also underlie pathologies such as demyelination and axonal degeneration leading to cognitive impairment and sensory/motor deficits. Her research platform spans basic in vitro cell culture interrogation of cellular interactions, to transgenic animal models which recapitulate responses to different injuries and diseases, to human cellular and histological analyses.

Ma’n H. Zawati (LL.B., LL.M., Ph.D. (DCL)) is an Assistant Professor at McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine and the Executive Director of the Centre of Genomics and Policy in the Department of Human Genetics. He is also an Associate Member of the Biomedical Ethics Unit and the Division of Experimental Medicine at McGill University. His research concentrates on the legal, ethical and policy dimensions of health research and clinical care, with a special focus on biobanking, data sharing, professional liability, stem cell and regenerative medicine, and the use of novel technologies (e.g. mhealth apps, WGS, WES) in both the clinical and research settings. Prof. Zawati is funded by Fonds de Recherche du Québec, the Stem Cell Network, Genome Quebec and Genome Canada. His work is interdisciplinary, drawing together perspectives from law, ethics, bioinformatics, genomics, and policy. He’s also a frequent presenter on a variety of the most critical and topical issues in healthcare and biosciences. He has appeared at 150+ international conferences, symposia, and meetings, and has shared his expertise with universities, research ethics boards and law firms. Prof. Zawati has published 17 book chapters and 64+ peer-reviewed articles in leading publications such as Nature Reviews Genetics, the Canadian Medical Association Journal, and the Journal of Law and the Biosciences. Prof. Zawati is co-investigator on the Examining engineered hematopoietic stem cells as vehicles for next-generation therapies project and on Responsible pathways for pediatric cell therapies, both of which are based at the Université de Montréal and will advance Prof. Zawati’s interests in the important legal and ethical dimensions of novel stem cell research and regenerative medicine. In 2015, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship (stay at Oxford University) and was named a Royal Society of Canada Delegate for the IAP Young Scientists of the Year international symposium. In 2021, Prof. Zawati received his J1 FRQS Career Award.