Sirui Zhou
Assistant Professor, Department of Human Genetics
Email: sirui.zhou@mcgill.ca
Phone: (514) 398-8364
740 Dr Penfield Ave, Room 7101
Montréal, Québec, Canada, H3A 0G4
Sirui Zhou joined the Department of Human Genetics and the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Genomic Medicine as an assistant professor in January 2022. She obtained her PhD from the Université de Montréal in 2017, under the supervision of Dr. Guy Rouleau at the Neuro. Her PhD trainings were focused on the genetic architecture of Nunavik Inuit and intracranial aneurysms in founder populations of Quebec. Later, she pursued her studies in the lab of Dr. Brent Richards at the LDI, as a CIHR postdoctoral fellow. She leveraged multi-omics data and used genetic epidemiological methods to identify tractable biomarkers for osteoporosis, and during the pandemic, to identify potential drug targets for severe COVID-19.
Research Interests
Blood proteins can reflect the biological processes in tissues and thus are the first indicators of disease. They could be directly targeted for therapeutic intervention if the causal relationship between proteins and diseases are elucidated. Environmental and genetic factors associated with different ancestries may also reflect the change in proteomics and interactions between different omics, which could be leveraged to identify targets for disease. Currently, I am interested in using the proteomic, metabolomic and genomic data from the BQC19 (Banque québécoise de la COVID-19) and other large biobanks to explore potential targets that contribute to the risks to severe SARS-CoV2 infection and other related traits in multiple populations
Recent Publications
- Sun, J, Guo, H, Nie, Y, Zhou, S, Zeng, Y, Sun, Y et al.. Deciphering the heterogeneity dominated by tumor-associated macrophages for survival prognostication and prediction of immunotherapy response in lung adenocarcinoma. Sci Rep. 2024;14 (1):9276. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-60132-4. PubMed PMID:38653742 PubMed Central PMC11039664.
- Zhu, W, Zhou, S, Zhang, J, Li, L, Liu, P, Xiong, W et al.. Differentiation of Native Vertebral Osteomyelitis: A Comprehensive Review of Imaging Techniques and Future Applications. Med Sci Monit. 2024;30 :e943168. doi: 10.12659/MSM.943168. PubMed PMID:38555491 PubMed Central PMC10989196.
- Li, J, Wang, F, Li, Z, Feng, J, Men, Y, Han, J et al.. Integrative multi-omics analysis identifies genetically supported druggable targets and immune cell specificity for myasthenia gravis. J Transl Med. 2024;22 (1):302. doi: 10.1186/s12967-024-04994-2. PubMed PMID:38521921 PubMed Central PMC10960998.
- Ling, Z, Zhou, S, Zhou, Y, Zhong, W, Su, Z, Qin, Z et al.. Protective role of madecassoside from Centella asiatica against protein L-isoaspartyl methyltransferase deficiency-induced neurodegeneration. Neuropharmacology. 2024;246 :109834. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2023.109834. PubMed PMID:38181970 .
- Butler-Laporte, G, Farjoun, J, Nakanishi, T, Lu, T, Abner, E, Chen, Y et al.. HLA allele-calling using multi-ancestry whole-exome sequencing from the UK Biobank identifies 129 novel associations in 11 autoimmune diseases. Commun Biol. 2023;6 (1):1113. doi: 10.1038/s42003-023-05496-5. PubMed PMID:37923823 PubMed Central PMC10624861.
- Lu, T, Forgetta, V, Zhou, S, Richards, JB, Greenwood, CM. Identifying Rare Genetic Determinants for Improved Polygenic Risk Prediction of Bone Mineral Density and Fracture Risk. J Bone Miner Res. 2023;38 (12):1771-1781. doi: 10.1002/jbmr.4920. PubMed PMID:37830501 .
- Tan, X, Xu, Y, Zhou, S, Pan, M, Cao, Y, Cai, X et al.. Advances in the Study of Plant-Derived Vesicle-Like Nanoparticles in Inflammatory Diseases. J Inflamm Res. 2023;16 :4363-4372. doi: 10.2147/JIR.S421124. PubMed PMID:37795493 PubMed Central PMC10547002.
- Nakanishi, T, Willett, J, Farjoun, Y, Allen, RJ, Guillen-Guio, B, Adra, D et al.. Alternative splicing in lung influences COVID-19 severity and respiratory diseases. Nat Commun. 2023;14 (1):6198. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-41912-4. PubMed PMID:37794074 PubMed Central PMC10550956.
- COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative. A second update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19. Nature. 2023;621 (7977):E7-E26. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06355-3. PubMed PMID:37674002 PubMed Central PMC10482689.
- Zhou, S, Zhou, Y, Zhong, W, Su, Z, Qin, Z. Involvement of protein L-isoaspartyl methyltransferase in the physiopathology of neurodegenerative diseases: Possible substrates associated with synaptic function. Neurochem Int. 2023;170 :105606. doi: 10.1016/j.neuint.2023.105606. PubMed PMID:37657764 .