Assistant Professor
|
Principal Investigator
Khalid Al-Zahrani
Department of Molecular Genetics
PhD
Address
Room 308
Research Interests
Functional Genomics, Mouse Models of Cancer, and Genomic Instability
Appointment Status
Primary
Qualification
- Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 2019-2025
- University of Ottawa, PhD in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, 2018
- University of Ottawa, BSc in Biochemistry, 2012
The Al-Zahrani Lab aims to develop and apply new high throughput in vivo functional genomics tools. We study how large-scale chromosomal alterations drive tumorigenesis and can be leveraged as a therapeutic vulnerability in cancer. While chromosomal instability is a hallmark of cancer, identifying which genes drive tumorigenesis is complicated by the fact that these unstable regions span hundreds-to-thousands of genes which can be lost, gained and/or re-arranged.
To overcome this challenge, we perform multiplexed CRISPR screens in mouse models of disease to simultaneously assess the tumorigenic potential of all affected genes to identify cancer-specific drivers and vulnerabilities within the context of a native tumor microenvironment.