Nadia Jahroudi

Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Medicine Dept

Contact

Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry - Medicine Dept
Email
jahroudi@ualberta.ca
Phone
(780) 492-7428
Address
261C Heritage Medical Research Centre
11207 - 87 Ave NW
Edmonton AB
T6G 2S2

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

Endothelial cell biology Gene regulation


About

Dr. Jahroudi is a basic scientist currently appointed as Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology. She has a PhD in Molecular Biology.

Research

Our main focus of research is the mechanism of endothelial cell specific gene regulation. Endothelial cells participate in many physiological and pathophysiological processes. Their specific characteristics provide the basis for their specialized function within each organ. Nonetheless, the molecular components that characterize the endothelial cell phenotype and regulate endothelial specific gene expression have not yet been identified. We aim to determine the mechanism of regulation of endothelial specific gene expression and develop gene therapy approaches to specifically target endothelial cells for expression of desired molecules. A commonly considered molecular marker for endothelial cells is von Willebrand factor (VWF) that is only expressed in endothelial cells and megakaryocytes. We are currently studying the mechanism of the regulation of VWF gene expression. The goal of our studies is to provide insight into the complex mechanism of endothelial specific gene regulation as well as offer methods to target the expression of transgenes to endothelial cells of specific organs for the purpose of gene therapy.

Current projects in our group involves:

1) Determining the mechanism of VWF transcriptional regulation during differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells into endothelial cells

2) Determining the molecular basis of organ-specific expression of VWF and its regulation in response to hypoxia

3) Determining the mechanism and functional consequences of VWF expression by cancer cells  


Teaching

Teaching is primarily supervision of graduate students, Discovery Learning, and reading courses.