Faculty of Medicine

Biomarkers in Huntington disease

I work on using neuroimaging to better understand ALS and related disorders. My projects include applying machine learning to study neurodegeneration, exploring fMRI as a possible clinical trial tool, investigating MRI and PET biomarkers, using texture analysis to detect subtle changes, and developing staging and prognosis models that may help design more precise trials.

Investigating novel molecular therapeutics for Huntington disease using preclinical mouse models

Skin Disease Diagnosis &  AI

Maternal weight gain is closely monitored during pregnancy, because as pregnancy weight gain increases, so does the risk of maternal postpartum weight retention, diabetes, and high blood pressure. While lower weight gain may prevent these health outcomes, it may also increase risk of fetal growth restriction and perinatal death. Thus, public health recommendations on optimal pregnancy weight gain that balances these risks are important, especially in countries as Canada, where the proportion of overweight and obesity among women and children has been increasing.

Dr. Yasir Mohamud is an early career researcher at the Centre for Heart Lung Innovation (HLI) – St. Paul’s Hospital, where he is the recipient of the prestigious Michael Smith Health Research BC / St. Paul’s Foundation / Centre for Heart Lung Innovation Research Trainee award. Dr. Mohamud is also the recipient of the inaugural CIHR Research Excellence, Diversity, and Independence (REDI) Early Career Transition Award.

Modelling return on investment for women's health research in Canada.
Women’s health research has been historically neglected and remains underfunded in Canada. We are aiming to investigate the impact of increasing research funding for women’s health research by simulating effects on individual outcomes.

My research focuses on (1) identifying early signs of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) with the goal of facilitating earlier diagnosis and intervention and (2) understanding the neural basis of DCD through MRI, in order to better characterize the brain mechanisms underlying motor difficulties in children with DCD.

Our DNA contains genes that provide instructions for making proteins essential for life. However, genes alone aren't enough – they need switches that control when and where they turn on or off. These switches, called regulatory elements, are scattered throughout our DNA, often far from the genes they control. About 650 000 potential regulatory elements have been identified in human DNA. However, we don't understand how they choose which genes to control or how they work. This is important because genetic changes in regulatory elements can lead to diseases, including cancer.

My broad scientific interests include fetal/developmental origins of disease and social determinants of heath, with a particular focus on intergenerational transmission of disease risks. The overaching goal is to enhance knowledge about how parental socioeconomic and health disadvantages before childbirth influence health and developmental outcomes in children during childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, and across the life course. My postdoctoral project aims to investigate the role of maternal chronic diseases in the fetal origins of long-term offspring health outcomes.