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THE FAIZ LAB
Our lab is interested in brain repair. We are especially interested in astrocyte heterogeneity and how it is established, the roles of astrocytes in the injured/diseased brain, and how this knowledge can inform future therapeutic interventions. We are also fascinated by the gut-brain axis, and how the gut can mediate recovery from brain injury, which, who knows, may turn out to involve astrocytes!
RESEARCH AREAS
We have three main areas of research in here at the Faiz Lab:
1) Generating neural stem cell-derived astrocytes
2) Direct lineage reprogramming of astrocytes to other neural cell types
3) Investigating the gut-microbiota-brain axis in CNS disease/injury
STEM CELL DERIVED ASTROCYTES
Some key questions we aim to address are:
1. What is the role of neural stem cell derived reactive astrocytes after injury?
2. How are subsets of cortical astrocytes established in development from neural stem cells?
DIRECT LINEAGE REPROGRAMMING
We love the idea that cell fate acquisition can go "forwards, backwards or even sideways" We are interested in converting astrocytes to other CNS cell types for brain repair
GUT-MICROBIOTA-BRAIN AXIS IN CNS DISEASE
What does the gut have to do with the brain? This exciting new field is full of questions about how the gut can influence the outcome of CNS diseases such as stroke and multiple sclerosis.
GET IN TOUCH
Medical Science Building, Room 4266
University of Toronto,
1 King's College Circle, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A8