Stephanie Zandee, PhD

The Zandee lab has the goal of understanding multiple sclerosis (MS) brain lesion evolution (formation, destruction, repair) at the transcriptomic and proteomic level using single-cell approaches and machine learning (ML) methods. To achieve this, they are using fluorescent imaging in conjunction with single-cell and bulk RNA-sequencing, tissue clearing with light sheet microscopy plus machine learning on images to discover patterns in lesions. A specific interest of the lab is understanding the role of the novel anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-37 in human brain homeostasis and inflammation in the context of MS.

To achieve this, the Zandee lab is using human MS brain tissue, mouse models of MS (called experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis; EAE), confocal microscopy, cell culture of human primary brain cells and flow cytometry on rapid autopsy brain tissue. Prior to joining McGill, Zandee completed a postdoctoral fellowship and a research associateship at the Centre de Recherche du CHUM (Université de Montréal) in the lab of Alexandre Prat, where she was also leading the Prat lab MS and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)  brain bank and rapid autopsy program.