Elena Torban

Dr. Elena Torban is an Associate Professor of Medicine at McGill University and a basic scientist in the Division of Nephrology at the McGill University Health Centre. She received her PhD in kidney development at McGill and completed postdoctoral training at the Montreal Neurological Institute and at McGill, where she studied the novel planar cell polarity pathway in development.

Dr. Torban's laboratory pursues two major research programs. One focus is on pathogenic mechanisms of kidney birth defects in humans, which arise when specific genes do not function properly. Her team studies how a novel planar cell polarity pathway is involved in normal mammalian development and how its dysfunction contributes to the kidney defects. The second program investigates glomerulus. Some people feel well for many years until unexpectedly their kidneys stop working: they start losing protein from blood and may develop irreversible changes in the kidney filtration unit. These patients suffer from idiopathic focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a condition that progressively leads to kidney failure, necessitating dialysis and transplantation. Her team focuses on elucidating cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie this acquired kidney disease. Her lab uses many molecular and biochemical methods, unique cells and mouse models of disease, searches for genetic mutations, and screens patient sera to ascertain underlying pathogenic mechanisms in order to find efficient novel treatments.