Cancer stem cells expert Dr. Nadeem Moghal appointed Principal Investigator

Dr. Nadeem Moghal

Dr. Nadeem Moghal, a developmental biologist known for his work in C. elegans genetics and human lung stem/progenitor cell biology, has come to Ontario to be part of the growing community of cancer stem cell experts in Toronto.

Moghal was appointed a Principal Investigator by the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research earlier this year. He is also a Scientist with the Ontario Cancer Institute’s Division of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto.

“Toronto is really a superlative choice for a research environment,” says Moghal. ”Collectively, the community has great expertise in areas like growth factor signalling, developmental genetics, and stem cell and cancer stem cell biology.”

Moghal is interested in the specifics of how stem/progenitor cells function in the human body. Moghal’s laboratory has established a living culture system that allows researchers to isolate and study the expansion and differentiation of normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) stem/progenitor cells outside the human body.

Currently, the lab employs both standard and high-throughput approaches to characterize the stem/progenitor populations in adult human airways and the pathways that regulate their behaviour. Moghal will apply information from these studies into therapies to treat lung cancer, as well as other disease such as cystic fibrosis.

Moghal completed a PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Harvard University, working in the laboratory of Dr. Benjamin Neel (Dr. Neel also relocated to Ontario this year). He has worked in the laboratory of Dr. Paul Sternberg at the California Institute of Technology’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Pasadena. Before coming to Ontario, he served as an Assistant Professor at the Huntsman Cancer Institute and University of Utah Department of Oncological Sciences.