People

Principal Investigator,
Mari T. Kaartinen, PhD

Dr. Kaartinen is an Associate professor at McGill University in the Faculties of Dentistry (Division of Biomedical Sciences) and Medicine (Division of Experimental Medicine) (Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology). She has an MSc degree in Organic Chemistry from University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, and a PhD-degree (1999) in Biochemistry from the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology in University of Kuopio, Finland (currently University of Eastern Finland). She completed her postdoctoral training in bone and extracellular matrix biology in the Faculties of Medicine and Dentistry at McGill University, and joined McGill University as an Assistant Professor in 2002 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2009. She has acted as Director of Biomedical Sciences in the Faculty of Dentistry and is interested in promoting critical thinking and academic integrity. Dr. Kaartinen has worked on transglutaminases, their substrates and roles in cellular differentiation for over 20 years and acted as the Chair of Gordon Research Conference on Transglutaminases in Human Disease Processes in 2018. She is a member of the Editorial Board for Cell Death and Disease

Other Kaartinen sites:
https://www.mcgill.ca/expmed/dr-mari-kaartinen
https://www.mcgill.ca/dent-biomedical/research-axes-and-researchers/mari-kaartinen

Research Assistant
Aida Kasaei-Roodsari, DVM, MSc

Aida Kasaei, a Doctor in Vetenary Medicine, is a Research Assistant in Dr. Kaartinen’s lab. She finished her veterinary medical degree in Iran and continued to complete a MSc degree in Kinesiology at the Université de Montréal gaining expertise in exercise physiology, preeclampsia, IUGR, pre-term birth and breast cancer on animal models. She investigates the roles of Factor XIII-A and plasma fibronectin in the etiology of obesity and type 2 diabetes in conditional knockout mice and mouse models of obesity and diabetes. She is an expert in live animal tests and animal surgery.

PhD Candidate
Huifang Sun, BDS, MSc

Huifang Sun has a BSc-degree in Dental Surgery from Zhengzhou University and a MSc degree in Dental Science from Wuhan University, China. Her MSc studies aimed at understanding how the primary cilia of human periodontal ligament cells sense and transduce orthodontic forces and she has also worked on bone matrix proteins. Huifang joined the Kaartinen lab at McGill University for her PhD studies in Craniofacial Health Sciences in the Faculty of Dentistry. She is studying the role of transglutaminases in osteoclastogenesis and osteoclast function and uses biochemical and chemical biology methods in primary monocyte and macrophage cultures.

MSc student
Preeti Bhatt, B. Tech

Preeti Bhatt has an BTech-degree in Biotechnology from Amity University, India, and she is enrolled in the MSc program of the Division of Experimental Medicine, in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill. Her project is aimed at investigating the role of plasma fibronectin in bone marrow adipogenesis and in bone loss and she is working with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and mouse models of osteoporosis. Preeti is cheerful and enjoys meeting new people and gathering new experiences. She loves to spend her time doing experiments and is also passionate about different forms of dance.

MSc student
Mansi Arora, B. Tech

Mansi Arora has BTech-degree in Bioinformatics from Jaypee University of Informational Technology, India, and she was a gold medalist graduate from her program. She was the recipient of Summer Research Fellowship Program through Indian Academy of Sciences and Indian Institute of Science with a selection rate of 5%. She is pursuing a MSc-degree in Experimental Medicine at in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill. Her project is a computational study involving examining links and associations of F13A1 gene expression with markers and pathways leading to metabolic disturbances in humans. She is skilled in computational genomics, structural bioinformatics, biostatistics and programming in multiple languages. She is optimistic, and always seeking new challenges and opportunities in her professional life.