Dr. Mallory Downie, MD, PhD

Principal Investigator

Mallory Downie is a Junior Scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Genetics at McGill University. She is also a paediatric nephrologist at Montreal Children's Hospital. She has trained in genetics, bioinformatics, biostatistics, paediatrics, and nephrology. After receiving her BSc in 2008 in chemistry from McGill University, she obtained her MD in 2012 from the University of Toronto. She then completed her paediatrics residency in 2016 and paediatric nephrology fellowship in 2018 at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. She then completed her PhD in 2022 at University College London, UK studying the genetics of childhood nephrotic syndromes. She also received further clinical training in paediatric nephrology from Great Ormond Street Hospital, London while in the UK. Her research program focuses on the identification of new genes and genetic risk factors in childhood kidney disease.

Daniel Heydari

PhD Student

Hello! My name is Daniel and I am a PhD candidate in the Downie Lab, researching the genetic causes of nephrotic syndrome. I did my BSc in Bioinformatics at the University of Toronto and worked at Public Health Ontario before my time at McGill. Outside of the lab I love cooking, sports, and biking around Montreal.

Sheldon Langlois

MSc Student

Hi, my name is Sheldon. I’m currently pursuing my MSc in the Downie lab, where I am researching the relationship between genetic variants and the phenotype of nephrotic syndrome. I completed my undergraduate degree in microbiology at the University of British Columbia's Okanagan campus. Since then, I have worked in clinical laboratories within Interior Health Authority and Alberta Precision Labs. In my free time, I enjoy swimming, traveling, and exploring new cuisines.

mahboobeh

Mahboobeh Norouzi

Bioinformatician

Hi! My name is Mahboobeh, and I am a Bioinformatician in the Downie Lab. I am currently investigating the genetic architecture of nephrotic syndrome by integrating polygenic risk scores and large-scale genomic datasets. Before joining McGill, I completed my Master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Manitoba, where I focused on developing interpretable deep learning models for biomedical data analysis. I have also conducted research at Mila and the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, working with multimodal genomic and proteomic datasets. Outside of research, I love traveling, discovering new restaurants, and spending time in nature.  

Undergraduate Students

Verina Takla, summer/fall/winter medical undergraduate research student (2025 - present)

Ryaad Ashfaqullah, summer medical undergraduate research student (2025 - present)

Harshita Arora, undergraduate research student (2024 - present)

Charles Hughes, summer medical undergraduate research student (2024)

Sahar Hajzargarbashi, summer/fall medical undergraduate research student (2024 - present)