1. Ongoing Research Projects 

Extracellular vesicles in diabetes (Funding: CIHR, CFI)
A central area of our research is exploring the impact of diabetes on circulating and urinary extracellular vesicles. We have shown that levels of circulating and urinary EVs are increased in diabetes and may reflect target organ damage. Diabetes also appears to alter EV protein composition and bioactivity. We have also shown in diabetes in pregnancy that high levels of circulating endothelial EVs is predictive of adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Relevant Publication(s)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36902363/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35563365/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34488911/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28601907/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28004150/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24676640/

Assessing the impact of renal replacement on extracellular vesicles (KFoC, Ottawa Department of Medicine, Dr. Marcel Ruzicka)
In collaboration with Dr. Marcel Ruzicka we are studying the impact of renal replacement on microparticles. We have focused our studies in two areas: 1) peritoneal dialysis where we provided the first evidence that the solutions used for peritoneal dialysis cause stress to the peritoneum resulting in microparticle formation and 2) The impact of hemodialysis on extracellular vesicles.

Relevant Publication(s)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28540060
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31375072/

Urinary microparticles in renal disease (KFoC with Drs. Christopher Kennedy and Janusz Feber)
We have a longstanding interest in understanding the role of urinary large extracellular vesicles (microparticles) as markers and mediators of kidney disease. While we have historically focused on animal and human diabetes, more recently we have studied urinary EVs in childhood nephrotic syndrome (with Drs. Christopher Kennedy and Janusz Feber) and in COVID-19 (with Dr. Thalia Medeiros). We are also actively involved in international standardization efforts for the study of urinary extracellular vesicles. 

Relevant Publication(s)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37120731/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36359444/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34035881/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33037887/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31990489/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36916183/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36821616/

Extracellular vesicles in aging and senescence (NSERC, NRC with Dr. Arsalan Haqqani)
We have a longstanding interest in the impact of aging and cellular senescence on extracellular vesicle formation. We are currently assessing changes to vesicle formation and composition in the context of premature aging.

Relevant Publication(s)

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23130145/


2. Other Research Interests

a. Therapeutic potential of vascular progenitor-derived exosomes
b. Defining the basic physical properties of extracellular vesicles
c. Novel techniques for submicron particle assessment