Senior Scientist, Chronic Disease Program
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Associate Professor, Department of Medicine & Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology
University of Ottawa

Dr. Zha obtained her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) with Dr. George Morrison, studying secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). She then pursued postdoctoral research in cell biology with Dr. Fred Maxfield at Columbia University in New York City, where she used advanced fluorescent microscopy to study cellular membrane dynamics. It is during this period that she developed interests in cholesterol and, particularly, how cholesterol dis-regulation impacts on human diseases such as atherosclerosis.

1. Singh RK, Haka AS, Bhardwaj P, Zha X and Maxfield FR, “Dynamic Actin Reorganization and Vav/Cdc42-dependent Actin Polymerization Promote Macrophage Aggregated LDL Uptake and Catabolism” Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology (ATVB), 2019, Feb; 39(2): 137-149.

2. Courtney KC, Fung KYY, Maxfield FR, Fairn GD, Zha X, “Comment on “Orthogonal lipid sensors identify transbilayer asymmetry of plasma membrane cholesterol.”” eLife, 2018, Nov. 13; 7-10.

3. Courtney KC, Pezeshkian W, Raghupathy R, Zhang C, Darbyson A, Ipsen JH, Ford DA, Khandelia H, Presley JF, Zha X, “C24 Sphingolipids Govern the Transbilayer Asymmetry of Cholesterol and Lateral Organization of Model and Live-Cell Plasma Membranes.” Cell Reports, 2018 Jul 24;24(4):1037-1049.

4. Eid W, Dauner K, Courtney, Gagnon A, Parks R, Sorisky A, Zha X, “mTORC1 Activates SREBP-2 by Suppressing Cholesterol Trafficking to Lysosomes in Mammalian Cells”, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2017, Jul 25;114(30):7999-8004.

5. Dauner K, Eid W, Raghupathy R, Presley JF, Zha X, “mTOR complex 1 activity is required to maintain the canonical endocytic recycling pathway against lysosomal delivery”. J. Biol. Chem., 2017, April 7;292(14):5737-5747.