Soheila Karimi, PhD
Professor, Dept. of Physiology and Pathophysiology
Director, Manitoba Multiple Sclerosis Research
Center
Chair, Departmental Awards and Recognition Committee
Principal Investigator, Spinal Cord Research Center
Scientist, Manitoba Institute of Child Health
Faculty of Medicine
University of Manitoba
Soheila.Karimi@umanitoba.ca
Positions outside the University of Manitoba:
- Board of Directors and Secretary-Elect, the
Canadian Association for Neuroscience (CAN)
- Advisory Board and Secretary of the International
Neurotrauma Society (INTS)
- Executive Committee of International Women in
Multiple Sclerosis (iWiMS)
- Associate Editor: Frontiers in Neurology
(Neurotrauma Section)
- Editorial Board: Journal of Neurotrauma
Soheila Karimi received her PhD degree in
Neuroscience from the University of Saskatchewan in
2001. She then undertook a Postdoctoral Fellowship
in Spinal Cord Injury and Stem Cell Research at the
Toronto Western Research Institute. During her
graduate and postdoctoral training, Soheila received
a number of research awards including postdoctoral
fellowships from the CIHR, the Ontario Neurotrauma
Foundation and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. In
2006, she was the recipient of the prestigious
Synthes Award from The American Association of
Neurological Surgeons in USA for her work on spinal
cord injury and neural stem cell therapy. In
2007, Soheila joined the Department of Surgery at
the University of Toronto as an adjunct Assistant
Professor until 2009 when she moved to the
University of Manitoba. She has had a long term
interest in spinal cord repair and regeneration with
a special focus on the application of neural stem
cells for the treatment of spinal cord injury.
Current research in her neuroscience laboratory has
focused on
uncovering disease
mechanisms and development of
regenerative medicine strategies for tissue regeneration and
recovery of function after spinal cord injury and
multiple sclerosis. Her laboratory is physically
located within the Regenerative Medicine Program at
the University of Manitoba. Karimi's program is
affiliated with the Neuroscience and Spinal Cord
Injury Division of the Department of Physiology
and Pathophysiology in the Faculty of Medicine
at the University of Manitoba. Soheila has
been supported continuously by national and
international funding from the Canadian Institute of
Health Research (CIHR), the MS Society of Canada,
NSERC, Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the
Canadian Paraplegic Association and several US and
European foundations.
She has also received several
awards including Merit Award from the University of
Manitoba for her outstanding contributions to
research, teaching and service, and the 2017
Ed Kroeger Award for Distinction in Mentorship of
graduate students. Soheila has been also been
actively involved in national and international
collaborations and leadership programs to serve the
neuroscience community. She currently serves in the
Board of Directors of the Canadian Association for
Neuroscience (CAN), Secretary of the International
Neurotrauma Society (INTS) and the Executive
Committee of the International Women in Multiple
Sclerosis (iWiMS), in addition to serving in several
academic and peer-review committees. She has
organized and chaired high-profile local, national
and international symposiums. She serves as
associate editor for two neuroscience journals and
has performed peer-review for over 30 scientific
journals. Soheila was named among the Canada's Top
100 Most Powerful Women in 2020.
Research
Staff and Trainees
Shiva Nemati, PhD
Research Associate, 2023
Postdoctoral Fellow,
2020-2023
Shiva.Nemati@umanitoba.ca
Shiva Nemati received her PhD in Biochemistry in
2016 from Iran. Her research mainly focused on
exploring the role and behaviour of neural stem
cells in neurodevelopment. Through her affiliation
with Royan Institute in Tehran (2008-2020), she
gained extensive experience in generation and large
scale expansion of the regional specific neural stem
cell lines derived from pluripotent stem cells, and
isolation of NSCs from rodents and human brain
autopsies. Shiva has also contributed to development
of cellular therapies for spinal cord injury in
non-human primate models. More recently, Shiva has
focused on generation and characterization of human
cerebral organoid models that can be exploited for
studying neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative
mechanisms of the CNS. Shiva joined Karimi’s lab in
2020 as a postdoctoral research fellow and
transitioned to Research Associate position in the
lab. . She studies neural stem cell mechanisms with
a focus on neurogenesis and its impact on behavioral
impairments associated with multiple sclerosis by
employing relevant in vitro and animal models of MS.
Elisabet
Jakova, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2023
Elisabet.Jakova@umanitoba.ca
Elisabet Jakova obtained her Ph.D. from the Department of
Surgery, Program of Health Sciences at the
University of Saskatchewan in September 2023.
Elisabet is a current Postdoctoral Fellow under the
supervision of Dr. Soheila Karimi in the Department
of Physiology and Pathophysiology in the Rady
Faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of
Manitoba. She joined the Karimi’s laboratory in
November 2023. She has had a long-term interest in
the field of Neuroscience focusing on regenerative
medicine from her doctoral research in Parkinson’s
disease to her recent focus on multiple sclerosis.
Elisabet has received a Postdoctoral Fellowship from
the Stem Cell Network and Multiple Sclerosis Canada,
and she will focus on the development of stem
cell-based regenerative medicine therapies for
progressive multiple sclerosis using preclinical
models. Her previous work focused on the development
of disease models and regenerative therapies for
alpha-synucleinopathy and Parkinson’s disease.
During her graduate training, Elisabet was the
recipient of several studentships and research
awards including the College of Medicine Graduate
Student Award, the Department of Surgery Faculty
Research Day Awards, and the Life EXPO Health
Sciences Symposiums. Elisabet has contributed to
high-impact publications in Neuroscience.
Mojtaba Hosseini is currently a PhD student in
Karimi's laboratory. Mojtaba graduated from Medicine
in 2016 from Shiraz University of Medical Science in
Iran. Mojtaba worked extensively on neural stem
cells and neurotrauma research during his medicine
program and afterwards in collaboration with Royan
Institute in Tehran. Mojtaba joined Karimi’s
laboratory in May 2019 as a MSc student and
transferred to the PhD program in September 2020.
Mojtaba has obtained several studentships and awards
including Will-to-Win/Manitoba Paraplegic
Foundation, University of Manitoba Graduate Students
Fellowship and the 2021 Hillary Kaufman Lerner
Memorial Award. more notably, Mojtaba has received a
prestigious international fellowship from the Wings
For Life Spinal Cord Injury foundation. Mojtaba
leads several projects in Karimi's lab that develops
combinatorial approaches to optimize the
regenerative capacity of neural stem cell
endogenously and in transplantation studies in
spinal cord injury. His first article was published
in the Journal of Neuroscience in 2022.
Amir Ziaee, MD PhD Student
Zaieea@myumanitoba.ca
2021
Amir Ziaee joined the Karimi laboratory as an MSc
student in 2021 and tranfered to the PhD program in
2022. Amir graduated with an MD degree in 2016 from
Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in Iran.
During his years as a medical student, Amir gained
basic experience in neuroimmunology and stem cells
through his participation in research projects.
Amir’s thesis evaluated the role of a TNF-family
member, APRIL (A proliferation-inducing ligand) in
certain brain tumors. In his PhD project, Amir will
investigate the role of CNS innate immune cells in
pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis using parallel
preclinical animal models and in vitro platforms.
Amir already published a review article and has
received several awards including has received
several studentships and awards including MS Canada
Doctoral Studentship, Research Manitoba, RFHS
Studentship, University of Manitoba Graduate
Fellowship, Research Manitoba and the 2022 Hillary
Kaufman Lerner Memorial Award in multiple sclerosis.
Lab
Graduates and Alumni (Gone but
not forgotten)
Maria Astrid Bravo Jimenez,
BSc
MSc Student
2021-2023
Astrid Bravo joined the Karimi
laboratory as a MSc student in 2021. Astrid
received a Bachelor degree in Biological and
Pharmaceutical Chemistry at University La Salle in
Mexico in 2018. She participated in research
programs developing and synthesizing novel
potential compounds with pharmacological activity
for the treatment of metabolic syndrome. Astrid
was a MITACS funded intern in Karimi's lab in
2018. Astrid has received MITACS Globalink
Graduate Fellowship, Research Manitoba Graduate
Studentship and the 2023
Hillary Kaufman Lerner Memorial Award in multiple
sclerosis for her MSc project. Astrid studies the
mechanisms underlying oligodendrogenesis in
progressive multiple sclerosis using in vitro, ex
vivo and animal models.
Shraman Jana
MITACS Globalink Intern
2023
Shraman Jana is currently pursuing
Integrated BS-MS degree in Biological
Sciences at Indian Institute of Science
Education and Research Kolkata. He joined
the Karimi Lab through MITACS Globalink
summer internship programme in May 2023.
Shraman participate in a project
investigating pro-regenerative phenotype of
astrocytes in spinal cord injury and is
currently learning some techniques
associated with the project. Previously,
he participated in a summer research
programme at Bose Institute Kolkata on a
project about elucidation of prognostic
biomarkers in non small cell lung cancer by
bioinformatics and systems biology
approaches.
Harini
Gopalakrishnan
MITACS Globalink Intern
2022
Harini
is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree on
Biotechnology from Bannari Amman institute of
technology, Anna University, India. She has been
working on research projects that focus on
developing eco-friendly and biocompatible
nanomaterials for environmental remediation and
biosensing. She joined the Karimi laboratory in
2022 as a MITACS Globalink research intern. She
is enrolled in a project that involves
developing therapies for Multiple sclerosis and
she’s learning several techniques in
neuroscience associated with the project.
Hardeep Kataria, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2015-2018
Research Associate, 2018-2022
Hardeep Kataria received his PhD in Life Sciences in
2012 from India, with focus on Neuro-oncology and
Neuroprotection. During his PhD, Hardeep received
IBRO-APRC exchange fellowship and Japan Neuroscience
society (JNS) travel award. In 2013, he joined
Center for Molecular Neurobiology Hamburg (ZMNH),
Germany as Postdoctoral research fellow. He worked
on regenerative potential of small molecule agonists
of cell adhesion molecule L1 using in vitro and in
vivo functional assays.
Hardeep joined Karimi’s lab in 2015 as Postdoctoral
research trainee and in 2018 became a research
associate. He was a recipient of Research
Manitoba/Rick Hansen Institute Postdoctoral
Fellowship Award (2015). Hardeep leads several
projects aimed at understanding the role and
mechanisms of neuroinflammation, oligodendorgenesis
and remyelination in multiple sclerosis unsing
complementary in vitro and preclinical
animal models. Hardeep led and contributed to
s high impact publications in Karimi's lab. Please
refer to our publication page.
Khashayar
Akbari-Kelachayeh, BSc
Medical Student
akbarik1@myumanitoba.ca
2021
Khashayar is currently a medical student at the
University of Manitoba. He received a Bachelor of
Health Sciences honours degree at McMaster
University. During his undergraduate, Khashayar
spent three summers in Karimi's lab from
2016-2018. He received an NSERC Undergraduate
Research Award, and also participated in one of
the lab's publications as a co-author. Khashayar
has returned to the lab as a medical student
thorough the MED Summer Research Program. His MSRP
project has focused on myelin repair in models of
multiple sclerosis.
Rachel Wang, BSc
Medical Student
wangr322@myumanitoba.ca
2021
Rachel is currently a medical student at the
University of Manitoba. Prior to entering medical
school, she completed a Bachelor of Science degree
majoring in Microbiology from the University of
Manitoba. Rachel will be in the Karimi lab for two
summers as a part of the BSc. Med program. Her BSc
Med project will focus on neuronal differentiation
of human neural stem cells in vitro and in spinal
cord injury. Rachel will perform tissue
analysis to evaluate the potential of neural stem
cells in conjunction with other treatments in
promoting neuronal replacement and restoration of
neural network in spinal cord injury.
Maryn Woo
Undergraduate Student
woom@myumanitoba.ca
2022
Maryn is currently an undergraduate student at the
University of Manitoba, pursuing a Bachelor of
Health Sciences with a Concentration in Biomedical
Sciences. She joined the Karimi laboratory in 2022
as a University of Manitoba Undergraduate Research
Award recipient. Maryn is a University of Manitoba
President’s Scholar, a recipient of the UM Queen
Elizabeth II Entrance Scholarship – Tier 1, and
has received the MSBI Scholarship, UMSU
Scholarship, and President’s Scholarship annually
since her first year at the University of
Manitoba. During her time in the Karimi lab, Maryn
will learn concepts and research techniques
relevant to neuroscience and will aid in cellular
and histopathological assessments of neural stem
cell treatments for spinal cord injury.
María Del Toro
MITACS
Globalink Intern
2021
María Del Toro is a MITACS Globalink funded summer
research intern in Karimi’s Laboratory. She joined
the lab in July 2021 to work on a project that
investigate the therapeutic potential of neural
stem cells in spinal cord injury. Maria is a
Biotechnology Engineering undergraduate student
minoring in Molecular Biology at Tec de Monterrey,
Campus Monterrey, in Mexico. She has previously
participated in a summer research immersion
program in the Biomedical Engineering Department
at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA),
where she was involved in the device innovation
lab for regenerative medicine specifically working
on human dental pulp stem cells and biomaterials.
Narjes Shahsavani,
MSc
MSc Graduate
2018-2021
Narjes Shahsavani is a
master's graduate from Karimi's
laboratory. She obtained her BSc and
MSc degrees from Isfahan University
and Shahid Sadoughi University of
Medical Sciences, respectively, in
Iran. In January 2018, Narjes joined
Karimi’s laboratory as a M.Sc.
student. Narjes has been
successful in obtaining Will-to-Win/Manitoba
Paraplegic Foundation studentship
and Manitoba Graduate
Fellowship. Narjes leads an
important project in Karimi's lab
that investigates the role of
Neuregulin-1 in neuronal injury and
regeneration after traumatic spinal
cord injury. Narjes'
work was selected for a podium presentation at the
2019 Canadian Spinal Cord Injury Meeting in
Vancouver. Narjes has contributed to several
publications, and received the Dean of Medicine
Poster Prize and travel award during Manitoba Poster
Competition in 2021. Narjes graduated in the summer
of 2021
Harshita Chaudhary, PhD
Research Associate
2020-2021
Harshita Chaudhary received her PhD in Life Sciences
in 2012 from India, with focus on rodent model for
hepatocarcinogenesis and multidrug resistance. In
2013, she joined Center for Molecular Neurobiology
Hamburg (ZMNH), Germany as Postdoctoral research
fellow. She worked on the interaction and regulation
of cell adhesion molecule CHL1 with
serotonin/dopamine receptors and expression analysis
of cell adhesion molecule L1 in tissue microarray
from neurofibromatosis patients. Later she joined
Exigence Technologies, Winnipeg as Life Science Lead
Scientist where she led and participated in the
evaluation and development processes for existing
and new products. Harshita joined Karimi’s lab in
January, 2020 as a research associate. She is
involved in assisting with several projects related
to multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury. .
Ben Borys, BSc
Medical Student
borysb@myumanitoba.ca
2020
Ben Borys is a medical student at the University
of Manitoba. He joined Karimi’s lab for the
summer of 2020 through a RFHS Summer Research
Program. Ben project focusing on neural stem
cells. He contributed to a review article as a
co-author and assisted with cellular analysis of
neural stem cells. Ben received the Best Basic
Science Award for his Med Summer Research
Program.
Arsalan Alizadeh, MD, PhD
PhD
Graduate
2012-2018
Research Associate 2018-2020
Arsalan Alizadeh graduated with a MD degree from
Gilan university of Medical Sciences in Iran in
2010. He started as a M.Sc. student in Karimi's lab
in 2012 and transferred to PhD program in 2014.
Arsalan defended his PhD and graduated in July 2018.
He was in a research associate in Karimi's lab from
2018 to 2020.
Arsalan’s PhD thesis investigated the mechanisms
and therapeutic potential of Neuregulin-1 for
the repair of spinal cord injury. Arsalan is
recipient of numerous awards including the 2017
Drewry Award for Excellence of Research in the
Health Sciences, Excellence in Translational
Research from the Diagnostic Services Manitoba, two
Research Manitoba studentships, the Larry Jordan
Award of Excellence in Neurophysiology, CIHR Gold
Poster Award in the 2017 Canadian Student Health
Research Forum, two Gold and Silver Medals in
CHRIM Research Day in 2014 and 2015, and Poster
prize at Manitoba Neuroscience Network in 2015.
Arsalan has contributed to numerous high impact
publications. Please refer to our publication page.
Christopher Hart, BSc , PhD
PhD Graduate
2014-2020
Christopher Hart graduated from Miles Macdonell
Collegiate through the International Baccalaureate
program in April 2009, and completed a BSc. Honours
Degree in Genetics (First Class) at the
University of Manitoba in February 2014.
Christopher started as a Masters student in
Karimi’s lab in the Department of Physiology and
Pathophysiology in 2014, investigating the
modulatory role of astrocytes in neural stem cell
(NSC) differentiation following spinal cord injury
(SCI). In 2015, Chris transitioned to a PhD program.
Chris is the recipient on NSERC and Research
Manitoba Studentships in 2015 and 2017. Chris has
also received the Nick Shepel poster award at
the 2017 Manitoba Neuroscience Network Meeting as
well as gold poster prizes in the 2018 Manitoba
Health Research Forum and the Canadian Student
Health Research Forum, as well as the Larry Jordan
Award of Excellence in Neurophysiology in 2019.
Chris contributed to several publications in the
lab. He defended his PhD thesis in May 2020
Axel Honore, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow 2019
Axel Honoré received his PhD in cell Biology in 2017
at the University of Rouen, France. During his PhD,
Axel studied the effect of transplanted olfactory
ensheathing cells on resident ependyma neural
precursor cells after spinal cord injury. For the
first time, using hFoxJ1-CreERT2 and rasless mouse
models, Axel showed that olfactory ensheathing cells
can act directly on the proliferation and
differentiation of ependymal cells in vitro and in
vivo. This provides a beneficial environment for
neuronal survival. Axel was in Karimi’s lab as a
post doctorate fellow from April to June 2019 to
study neural stem cells in spinal cord injury.
Jessica
Franco Undergraduate
MITACS Student 2019
Jessica Franco is an undergraduate student from
Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Querétaro, México
pursuing a Bachelor in Biotech Engineering. Jessica
has received a scholarship from the Neurobiology
Institute of the National Autonomous University of
México with the project: "Extraction and
purification of RNA to evaluate the expression of
the housekeeping genes of mouse liver and chicken
cardiomyocytes", being only two people working on
this project at the national level and is the actual
president of the International Biotechnology
Congress Quorum.
Jessica joined Dr. Karimi’s lab in May 2019 in the
Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology and the
Regenerative Medicine Program where she worked as an
intern for the Mitacs Globalink Research Internship
in the areas of spinal cord injury and multiple
sclerosis. Jessica contributed to
immunohistochemistry, imaging and tissue/cell
quantification in a project related to our multiple
sclerosis research.
Khuong Le, BSc Technician 2018-2019
Khuong Le was a research technician in Karimi’s lab
from July 2018-2019. Khuong received his BSc in
Biochemistry at the University of Manitoba. Soon
after graduation, he joined Dr. Shiu and Dr. Peter
Watson labs in the Department of Physiology,
University of Manitoba as a technician. Then, from
1993 to 2005, he worked at the cancer research
institute, Novopharmaceutical Bitotech, in Winnipeg
first a R&D technician and then as a senior
research associate. From 2005 – 2018, Khuong worked
in Dr. Mohammed Moghadasian as a research
technician in the areas of cardiovascular diseases
and diabetes. Also during 2014 – 2018, Khuong was a
part-time technician in Dr Eftekharpour. In Karimi's
lab, Khuong performed basic histology, PCR and
Western blot techniques.
Shana Kahnamoui, MSc
Technician 2019
Shana Kahnamoui Shana was a
technician in Karimi’s laboratory from
May-August 2019. Shana graduated from
Azad University-Tehran Medical Science branch in
2014, where she received a BSc degree in Cellular
and Molecular Biology. Throughout her
undergraduate degree Shana worked in different
laboratories to learn practical skills. After
graduation, she started her research work at the
Cancer Institute of Iran by focusing on the
molecular pathways underlying programmed cell
death and epigenetics in cancer biology. In 2016,
Shana started M.Sc. program in the Department of
Physiology and Pathophysiology at the University
of Manitoba under the supervision of Dr. Richard
Keijzer. Her project was focused on identifying
the role of non-coding RNAs in normal and
hypoplastic lung development due to Congenital
Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH). In Karimi's Lab Shana
performed basic immunohistochemistry and Western
blot techniques.
Brahim Gargouri, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow 2019
Brahim Gargouri was born and raised in Sfax,
south of Tunisia. He did His Bachelors’ degree in
Molecular and cellular Biology and biotechnology
from Faculty of Sciences of Sfax. Brahim joined
Prof. Fetoui’s Lab for his MSC studies in
neurotoxicology, and neurobehavioral, in which he
studied the effect of occupational pesticides on
human health. After the successful completion of
Masters studies in genomics and proteomics, Brahim
joined Dr. Fiebich’s laboratory in Albert-Ludwigs
Uin neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. Brahim
received his PhD in 2018. Brahim was a member of Dr.
Karimi’s Laboratory in 2019.
Ghazaleh Shahriary, MSc
MSc Graduate
2015-2018
Ghazaleh joined the Karimi Laboratory in September
2015 after receiving a MSc degree from Shahid
Chamran University, Ahvaz in Iran. Ghazaleh is
working towards a MSc degree under the supervision
of Dr. Karimi. Her project elucidate the role of
Neuregulin-1 in regulating microglia. Ghazaleh is a recipient of Research Manitoba
studentship and a gold poster medal at the
2016 CHRIM Research Day. Ghazaleh completed her MSc thesis and
graduated in August 2018. Ghazalehhas also
contributed to several original research articles
in the lab. Please refer to our publication
page.
Scott Dyck, BSc, PhD
PhD Graduate
2012-2018
Scott Dyck graduated from North Dakota State
University (NDSU) in May 2008 where he received a
degree in Zoology with a minor in microbiology. At
NDSU, Scott was a student athlete participating in
baseball and has received multiple awards for
academic excellence and community service. Scott has
previous research experience at NDSU and the
University of Manitoba as an undergraduate student.
Scott Joined Karimi’s lab in 2012 as a Masters
student and transferred to a PhD program in 2014.
His PhD project is focused on understanding the role
of a glycoprotein, chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan,
in modulating the response of neural precursor cells
following spinal cord injury. Scott is the recipient
of numerous awards including NSERC and three
Research Manitoba studentships, the LSAM Most
Promising Student Award form Life Science
Association of Manitoba in 2017, Larry Jordan Award
of Excellence in Neurophysiology, Manitoba Medical
Services Foundation Research award, Gold Medal in
Manitoba Student Research Poster Competition and
Silver Medal in CIHR Student Poster Competition.
Scott has contributed to numerous high impact
publications. Please refer to our publication page.
Scott successfully completed his PhD degree in March
2018.
Santhosh Kallivalappil, PhD
Research Associate
2013-2018
Santhosh Kallivalappil obtained Undergraduate and
Master’s degrees in Biochemistry and Ph.D.
degree for thesis entitled “Dopamine D2 receptor
functional regulation: cAMP and IP3 in
Pancreatic regeneration” in 2006 from Cochin
University of Science and Technology, Cochin, India.
He joined the Dept. of Physiology, University of
Manitoba in 2006 for Post Doctoral research training
with scholarship from the Manitoba Institute of
Child Health. During Post Doctoral research, he
worked on “Molecular pharmacology of G-protein
coupled receptors (GPCRs)”. Studies were focused on
post translational modifications that effect the
thromboxane receptor kinetics during pulmonary
hypertension in neonates.
Santhosh joined Karimi's laboratory in the
Regenerative Medicine Program as a Research
Associate in 2013. His current research is focused
on developing clinically-relevant bioengineering and
pharmacological approaches for drug and stem cell
delivery in spinal cord injury. Santhosh has
contributed to several publications in the lab.
Please refer to our publication page.
Khashayar Akbari
Undergraduate Student
2016-2018
Khashayar is an Undergraduate student at
McMaster University pursuing a Bachelor of Health
Sciences honours degree. Khashayar has been a summer
student in the lab since 2016. He has learned
several techniques in neurosciences and stem cell
research. He has also contributed to several
projects in the lab on spinal cord injury. Khashayar
has received an NSERC Undergraduate Summer
Studentship. Khashayar contributed a high impact
article in our lab.
Graham McLeod, BSc
BSc Med Graduate
2017-2018
Graham is a medical student at the University of
Manitoba. He first joined Karimi’s lab in the summer
of 2015 and contributed to a project that
investigates the role of astrocytes and glial scar
on the behavior of neural stem cells. He has
returned to the lab for a two-year BSc Med program
focusing on multiple sclerosis research.
Graham has received several awards for his academic
achievements and community service, including the
Isbister Scholarship and the UMSU Student
Contribution award. Graham is a 2015 recipient of
the Undergraduate Research Award.
Maria Astrid Bravo Jimenes
Undergraduate MITACS Student
Astrid is an undergraduate student pursuing a
Bachelor in Biological and Pharmaceutical Chemistry
at University La Salle in Mexico. She has been in
summer research programs developing and synthesizing
novel potential compounds with pharmacological
activity since 2015. She joined Dr. Karimi’s lab as
a summer MITACS student. She is learning techniques
in neurosciences and taking part on the research of
Multiple Sclerosis.
Peiyu Wang
Undergraduate MITACS Student
Peiyu Wang is an undergraduate student from Wuhan
University majoring in biology. He joined Karimi's
lab through Mitacs Globlink Research Internship.
Peiyu has won a silver medal in iGEM competition of
MIT as a member of a team, and also received some
scholarships from Wuhan University. In Karimi's lab,
he enrolled in a project working on Nrg-1, received
some training and learned concepts in Neuroscience.
Chenxi (Lillian) Li
Undergraduate MITACS Student
2017
Chenxi
(Lillian) is an undergraduate student majoring
in clinical medicine in Shandong University in
China. She has won Outstanding Student
Scholarship of Shandong University for two
times. Chenxi joined Karimi’s lab as a
summer student through MITACS and is supported
by both MITACS and China Scholarship Council.
She has learned several techniques in
neurosciences and stem cell.
Ryan Henrie, BSc
BSc Medical Student Graduate
2015-2016
Ryan is a medical student at the University of
Manitoba. He completed a BSc in 2014 and joined the
Karimi ab as a student of the BSc (Med) program for
2015-2016. His work is supported by the
Manitoba Medical College Foundation - Anna Widiner
BSc Med and American Academy of Neurology
Scholarships. Ryan is a recipient of several
academic awards. Ryan contributes to a project
that investigate the impact of neuregulin-1 on
promoting remyelination following spinal cord
injury. To complement his research training, Ryan is
also completing a Summer Early Exposure in the
Multiple Sclerosis Clinic at Health Sciences Centre.
In summer of 2016, Ryan received three Awards
from the Faculty of Health Sciences for his BSc Med
project including top BSc Med Student Award to
present at National Student Research Forum in
2017 in the USA, which he received the
Outstanding Poster Award from the American Society
for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2017 in
Texas. Ryan has contributed to a major publication
in our lab as a co-author.
Shekoofeh
Saboktakin Rizi, MSc
Medical Student
2016
Shekoofeh is a medical student at the
University of Manitoba. She graduated with a
M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from the
University of Manitoba in 2011. Her thesis was
focused on formulating a novel characterization
method for electromagnetic field sensors. She
received her B.Sc. degree in Electrical
Engineering from Amirkabir University of
Technology in 2007.
As a MED II Summer researcher in
Karimi’s Lab, Shekoofeh will be working on
investigating the role of neuregulin-1
in oligodendrocyte differentiation in models
of multiple sclerosis. At
the end of her term, Shekoofeh received an
award for her MedII project. She is
also a co-author in a high impact publication
in the lab.
Davood Mehrabani is an Assistant Professor in
Pathology and Principal Investigator in Stem Cell
and Transgenic Technology Research Center, Shiraz
University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. He
received his PhD degree in Pathology from Shiraz
University in 2008. Davood is a recipient of a
number of research awards including Iran Talent
Organization, Office of Research of Iran Presidency
and Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. His
Current research has focused on mesenchymal stem
cells and regenerative medicine. In January 2015,
Dr. Mehrabani joined Karimi's Lab in Regenerative
Medicine Program and Department of Physiology and
Pathophysiology, University of Manitoba to share Dr.
Karimi’s experience in regenerative medicine
strategies and application of neural stem cells in
spinal cord injury in order to establish a neural
stem cell lab in Shiraz University for future
collaboration.
Byung Heon Cho, BSc
Undergraduate Student
2015
Byung Heon Cho is an Undergraduate student at the
University of Manitoba where he is pursuing a BSc.
Honours Degree in Microbiology. Byung joined
Karimi’s lab in the summer of 2015 and contributed
to a project that investigates the role of
neuregulin-1 on axonal ensheathment and myelination.
Byung Heon has received
multiple undergraduate awards, including the
Undergraduate Research Award in 2015. Byung is
currently a medical student at the University of
Manitoba.
Marie-Krystel Gauthier, MSc
Research Technician
(2011-2013)
Marie-Krystel received the Research Associate and
Technician Poster Competition Award- MICH Child
Health Research Day in two consecutive years in 2011
and 2012. Marie is the leading author of an original
article in our lab. She left the lab to accept a
governmental position.
Dung Hoang Nguyen, MSc , MD
BSc Med Student
(2012-2013)
Hoang received undergraduate awards from the
CIHR and the American Academy of
Neurology in 2012 and 2013. He also received
Neuroscience Society Winnipeg Chapter Award
and J.R. Nicholson for Greatest Scientific Merit
Award in 2013 for his BSc Med project. Hoang is a
co-author of a major article in our lab.
Hoang obtained his Medical degree in May 2015 and
was accepted into Neurology at U of M.
Evan Proulx,
BSc
Undergraduate Student (2013)
Recipient of the U of M Undergraduate
Research Award
Laura
Tapley, BSc
Undergraduate CO-OP student,
U of M (2011) Currently a Medical Student at U of
M
Kamilla Kosciuczyk, BSc
Undergraduate CO-OP student,
U of M (2011) Currently a graduate student at U of
M
Elisabet
Jakova, PhD
Ben Borys, BSc
Peiyu Wang
Shekoofeh
Saboktakin Rizi, MSc
