Robert Sladek, M.D. Associate Professor, Departments of Medicine and Human Genetics Tel: 514-398-5458 robert.sladek [at] mcgill.ca |
Biographical Sketch
Rob Sladek is Associate Professor of Human Genetics and Medicine (Endocrinology) at the 鶹AV and Génome Québec Innovation Centre. He completed undergraduate degrees in Engineering Science and Medicine and a clinical fellowship in Endocrinology, all at the University of Toronto. His postdoctoral training explored the role of the Estrogen-related receptors in the regulation of fat metabolism (Err-alpha) and trophoblast formation (Err-beta); as well as and the application of high-throughput genomics technologies to study complex traits. He leads the Diabetes Gene Discovery Group – a project to identify risk loci for Type 2 diabetes that was sponsored by Genome Canada and Génome Québec. Rob's current research centers on developing and applying new technologies to study gene transcription networks and protein function in living cells in order to understand how genetic risk loci influencing T2D risk or the host response to tumors exert their effects.
Keywords
Genetics of Type 2 diabetes, transcriptional regulatory networks, chromatin structure, live-cell imaging, living microarrays, long-read sequencing technologies, single-cell genomics, proteomics of complex disease, nanotechnology, cancer cachexia
Research or Clinical Activities
Research in the Sladek lab focuses on learning how genetic mutations cause diabetes and other complex diseases. To do this, his group has developed new approaches to identify genetic changes across the whole human genome that are associated with Type 2 Diabetes and also to identify the effects of genetic variation on RNA splicing and gene activation in mouse strains and human populations. Current projects in the lab center on developing new experimental techniques to learn how genetic changes within individual genes and proteins can impair cell metabolism and cause diabetes. Reflecting the increasing impact of diabetes and obesity on global health, much of the group's research in the genetics of diabetes takes place as part of research teams that involve scientists in America, Europe and Asia.
Selected Recent Publications
Berard DJ, Michaud F, Mahshid S, Ahamed MJ, McFaul CM, Leith JS, Bérubé P,Sladek R, Reisner W, Leslie SR. Convex lens-induced nanoscale templating.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Sep 16; 111(37):13295-300.
Boivin GA, Pothlichet J, Skamene E, Brown EG, Loredo-Osti JC, Sladek R, VidalSM. “Mapping of clinical and expression quantitative trait loci in asex-dependent effect of host susceptibility to mouse-adapted influenzaH3N2/HK/1/68.” Journal of Immunology. 2012 Apr 15; 188(8):3949-60.
Rajan S, Chu Pham Dang H, Djambazian H, Zuzan H, Fedyshyn Y, Ketela T, MoffatJ, Hudson TJ, Sladek R. “Analysis of early C2C12 myogenesis identifiesstably and differentially expressed transcriptional regulators whoseknock-down inhibits myoblast differentiation.” Physiological Genomics. 2012Feb 1; 44(2):183-97.
Rajan S, Djambazian H, Dang HC, Sladek R, Hudson TJ. “The livingmicroarray: a high-throughput platform for measuring transcription dynamicsin single cells.” BMC Genomics. 2011 Feb 16; 12:115.
Rung J, et al. “Genetic variant near IRS1 is associated with type 2diabetes, insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia.” Nature Genetics. 2009Oct; 41(10):1110-5.
PubMed Publications –