Biography:

 

I am an early career researcher in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of British Columbia, and the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair for Understanding Gene Expression in the Brain. My research focuses on gene regulatory mechanisms in microglia – the resident immune cells of the brain – and how perturbations to microglial regulation impact brain function and behaviour. Using next generation sequencing, advanced bioinformatics and in vivo and in vitro mouse models, my lab investigates novel questions about microglial gene regulation.

Since establishing my lab in 2019, my research program has uncovered novel regulatory mechanisms for histone acetylation and chromatin remodeling in microglial development and inflammation regulation. We have also built a series of new open-science tools for analyzing microglial gene expression and morphology that are now widely used across the field. More recently, we have expanded our work into the gut-brain axis to examine how the gut microbiome can regulate microglia. This work has revealed several new mechanisms for microbiome regulation of the neuro-endocrine system, sex specific developmental programs and Alzheimer’s disease. Together, my lab’s work aims to understand the fundamental regulatory mechanisms governing gene expression in the brain and how disruption of gene regulation contributes to brain disorders.