Pouladi Lab

Mahmoud is an Associate Professor of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia (UBC), an Investigator at the BC Children’s Research Institute (BCCHRI), a member of the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics (CMMT) and the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health (DMCBH), and a Michael Smith Health Research BC Scholar.

Twitter: @pouladi

Bernice oversaw our cloning efforts for a range of genome engineering projects. She was also in charge of lab management.

Amberlyn was in charge of our animal colony management, and assisted with our preclinical therapeutic studies.

Roy led studies focused on characterization myelination abnormalities and white matter plasticity deficits in animal models of Huntington disease.

Yihui was a research officer (2012-2016) assisting with a range of Huntington disease projects.

Jolene led a number of projects focused to deciphering HTT CAG repeat length effects in Huntington disease using isogenic human stem cells and unbiased omics analyses.

Yi Lin was investigating the pathogenic mechanisms underlying myelination deficits and white matter pathology in Huntington disease. She also worked on developing novel approaches to silence HTT.

Marta spearheaded our in vivo target validation and preclinical therapeutic studies using behavioural and neuropathological assessments of rodent models of HD.

Xiaohong was leading projects focused on validation of putative therapeutic targets in human neurons using TALEN and CRISPR-based genome editing and directed neuronal differentiation of HD patient hiPSCs.

Kagistia oversaw the development of human stem cell-based experimental systems aimed at identifying and validating therapeutic targets for Huntington disease and Fragile X Syndrome.

Dr. Ferrari Bardile was a post-doctoral fellow investigating white matter pathology in Huntington disease. Using rodent and human pluripotent stem cell models of HD, her studies aimed to examine the aetiology and consequences of oligodendroglial pathology in HD. Dr Ferrari Bardile is the recipient a Hereditary Disease Foundation Fellowship Award.

Jinqiu developed forward genetic screens in human Huntington disease neural cells that aim to uncover the determinants of selective neuronal vulnerability in HD. She also led our stem cell-based disease modeling efforts using cerebral organoids.

Harwin led projects focused on developing zebrafish models of Huntington disease, and in particular the white matter abnormalities and myelination deficits. 

Ruizhu spearheaded projects investigating the role of neuro-inflammatory processes in Huntington disease using human stem cell and rodent-based experimental systems.

Amin was a SINGA scholar and his projects focused on discovering and modeling genetic forms of white matter disease.

Carola was an ARAP PhD Scholar. Her studies focussed on evaluating white matter plasticity in response to environmental factors in Huntington disease. She successfully defended her PhD in 2017, and joined Imperial College London as a Research Associate in 2018.

Qiyu assisted with our genome engineering and human stem cell-based disease modeling projects. She moved to the Weizmann Institute of Science to start PhD studies in 2017. 

Bryan assisted with our target validation studies using neurons differentiated from human stem cells. He moved to the University of Oxford to start PhD studies in 2017. 

Amirah assisted with a number of Huntington disease animal and hPSC studies and in particular assessments of neuropathological measures in our therapeutic studies in mice and genome editing in hPSCs.

Georgia was a SINGA scholar studying Fragile X Syndrome (FXS). Using isogenic pluripotent stem cell-derived human neurons, her PhD studies focused on delineating pathogenic mechanisms contributing to neuronal dysfunction in FXS.

Dr. Sequiera is pioneering approaches and assays to investigate neurological disorders using human pluripotent stem cells (joint post-doc with the Hayden lab). He is the recipient of the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute Bertram Hoffmeister Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Eugene assisted with a number of projects that employ genome editing and pluripotent stem cells to investigate mechanisms of disease. He moved to the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University of Cambridge to start PhD studies in 2019.

Oguz is a graduate student in Medical Genetics and a CIHR CGS-M awardee investigating the pathogenesis of CLDN11-related hypomyelination leukodistrophy (HLD22).

Lily was a SINGA scholar studying white matter disorders. Using genomic, cellular and biochemical approaches, her PhD studies examined the functional significance of natural variation in white matter-linked genes.

Jocelyn obtained a BSc from the University of Guelph and an MSc in Cell & Developmental Biology from UBC. She assisted with a range of projects and admin matters.

Skyla was a graduate student in Medical Genetics and a Syd Vernon Scholarship & BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute Masters Studentship Awardee. She investigated developmental abnormalities using human pluripotent stem cell-derived brain organoids.

Shaima is a graduate student in Medical Genetics and the recipient of a Medical Genetics Graduate Program Entrance Award. She is investigating the aetiology of white matter abnormalities in fragile X syndrome.

Dr Feng is a Research Associate who specializes in using human pluripotent stem cells and animal models to investigate the cellular mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders. Her primary goal is to identify potential therapeutic strategies for these disorders.

Ryan is a PhD student in the Graduate Program in Neuroscience. He is the recipient of a BC Graduate Scholarship as well as the Faculty of Medicine Graduate Award (2023-2024). He is using human pluripotent stem cells and genome editing to delineate genotype-phenotype relationships for rare neurological disorders.

Katherine is a research assistant and plays a critical role across multiple research projects. She leads our cloning efforts and facilitates a number of genome editing projects.

Ekroop is an undergraduate student at UBC. She is assisting with a number of projects involving establishment of patient-derived pluripotent stem cells for neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders.

Tatiana is a graduate student in the Graduate Program in Neuroscience. In her project, she will investigate the interplay between genetics and environmental factors in the development of Multiple Sclerosis.

Sophie is a graduate student in Medical Genetics and the recipient of a BC Graduate Scholarship (2022-2023). She is developing therapeutic approaches to treat rare neurodevelopmental disorders.

Angeline is an undergrad at the University of British Columbia and has been assisting with a number of projects related to neurodevelopmental disorders including fragile X syndrome and CLDN11-related hypomyelinating leukodystrophy.