News

2025

October 2025

Suleima was awarded the prize for the best talk at the Canadian Translational Geroscience Network meeting in Toronto. Congratulations Suleima!

Six members of the lab were chosen to give talks at the Canadian Translational Geroscince Network meeting including Mutian, Maisha, Suleima, Ulrich, Aura and Alibek. Alibek was given a full length talk for Bright Young Minds. Great job everyone!

Suleima won the prize for the best poster at the 5th Interventions in Aging Conference in Malta. Great job Suleima!

September 2025

Two new students, Grant Booth and Jiaxi (Effy) Guan joined the laboratory for their graduate studies. Welcome Grant and Effy.

August 2025

Abdel successfully defended his Ph.D thesis. Congratulations Dr. AlOkda!

Aura was awarded an Internal Studentship from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Congratulations Aura!

May 2025

Mutian Feng rejoined the laboratory as a summer undergraduate intern. Welcome back Mutian!

April 2025

Ulrich successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis. Congratulations Dr. Anglas!

Jeremy’s NSERC Discovery grant entitled “Molecular mechanisms by which mitochondrial network connectivity affects organismal physiology, stress resistance and lifespan” was funded for five years.

Maisha was awarded an FRQS doctoral award. Congratulations Maisha!

Suleima was awarded an FRQS doctoral award. Congratulations Suleima!

March 2025

Our manuscript “Mild activation of the mitochondrial unfolded protein response increases lifespan without increasing resistance to stress” was accepted for publication in Open Biology. Congratulations to first authors Alexa and Claire as well as Abdel, Aura and Shusen.

January 2025

Three members of the lab were awarded the EDI prize for Academic Excellence including Aura, Maisha and Abdel. Congratulations!

Our manuscript “Intestine-specific disruption of mitochondrial superoxide dismutase extends longevity” was accepted for publication in Free Radical Biology and Medicine. Congratulations to co-first authors Thomas, Megan and Shusen, as well as contributing authors Suleima, Ulrich, Annika and Sonja.

2024

September 2024

Our undergraduate summer intern Ekin was awarded the prize for the best junior scientist talk at the Canadian Translational Geroscience Network meeting.

Our paper entitled “Synchronization by bleaching does not affect longevity” was accepted at Micropublication Biology. Congratulations to Aura, Abdel and Suleima!

July 2024

Jeremy was awarded a new CIHR project grant on pathways of cellular resilience.

Jeremy was award a Mid-Career Researcher award from the CIHR Institute of Aging.

Aura was award a Ph.D. studentship award from HBHL. Congratulations to Aura!

Our paper entitled “Developmental disruption of the mitochondrial fission gene drp-1 extends the longevity of daf-2 insulin/IGF-1 receptor mutant” was accepted at Geroscience. Congratulations to Annika and Aura!

Our paper entitled “Overexpression of mitochondrial fission or mitochondrial fusion genes enhances resilience and extends longevity” was accepted at Aging Cell. Congratulations to Annika, Allison, Abdel, Suleima, Aura, Shusen and Zenith!

Jun 2024

Yancheng Li, a medical student from the University of Sherbrooke, will join the laboratory next month for the summer. Welcome Yancheng.

May 2024

Ekin Celtikcioglu started in the lab as an undergraduate researcher. Ekin was successful in obtaining a NSERC Undergraduate student research award.

April 2024

Alibek was awarded an FRQS doctoral award. Congratulations Alibek!

Claire was awarded an FRQS doctoral award. Congratulations Claire!

Annika successfully defended her Ph.D. and began a job at the National Research Council of Canada. Annika finished her Ph.D. with 14 publications, and more on the way – a new record for the Van Raamsdonk lab. Congratulations and good luck Annika!

February 2024

Aura Tamez González started in the lab as a direct entry Ph.D. student. Welcome Aura.

Our incoming Ph.D. student Maisha Maliha Promi was awarded an IPN Recruitment award and an International Fee Differential award.

Jeremy was awarded a bridge grant from the CIHR on the role of biological resilience in longevity and neuroprotection.

January 2024

Suleima was awarded the Fiera Capital Prize.

2023

September 2023

Our incoming graduate student Aura Tamez Gonzalez was awarded an Entrance Award from the IPN program as well as an International Fee Differential Award.

June 2023

Alibek was awarded an HBHL doctoral studentship award! Congratulations to Alibek.

May 2023

Our paper entitled “RNA sequencing of pooled samples effectively identifies differentially expressed genes” was just accepted at Biology. Congratulations to Claire, who was the first author on this manuscript.

Rebecca Li competed in the National Science and Technology fair in Alberta. She was given a Silver Award of Excellence and also received multiple offers of scholarships to attend University at different institutions. Great work Rebecca!

Our paper entitled “Endosomal trafficking protein TBC-2 is required for the longevity of long-lived mitochondrial mutants” was just accepted for publication at Frontiers in Aging. Congratulations to the authors: Annika, Hazel, Zenith, Abdel and Claire.

Alexa DiPede joined the lab from McMaster University as a summer intern. Alexa is the recipient of an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA). Welcome and congratulations Alexa!

April 2023

Alison Keil joined the lab for a research rotation. Welcome Allie!

Abdel was award a 4-year Ph.D. studentship award from the FRQS. Great job Abdel!

Zenith successfully renewed their postdoctoral fellowship from FRQS.

Our review paper entitled “Evolutionarily conserved role of thioredoxin systems in determining longevity“ was accepted for publication at Antioxidants. Congratulations to Abdel!

Our review paper entitled “Biological Resilience and Aging: Activation of stress response pathways contributes to lifespan extension“ was accepted for publication at Aging Research Reviews. Congratulations to Sonja, Zenith, Claire, Alibek and Abdel!

Jeremy’s last first author paper from his doctoral studies was accepted for publication! The paper is entitled “Huntingtin Decreases Susceptibility to a Spontaneous Seizure Disorder in FVN/B Mice” and was accepted at Aging and Disease.

January 2023

Suleima Jacob-Tomas joined the lab as a Ph.D. student. Suleima is a CIHR Vanier scholarship recipient. Welcome Suleima!

Claire was awarded a studentship award from the RI-MUHC. Congratulations Claire!

2022

March 2022

Congratulations to Annika for passing her PhD candidacy examination!

April 2022

Annika Traa received a Canada Graduate Scholarship award from the CIHR and was also awarded a Doctoral Research Award from the FRQS, which she had to decline. Great job Annika!

May 2022

Our paper entitled “Mitochondrial thioredoxin system is required for enhanced stress resistance and extended longevity in long-lived mitochondrial mutants” was accepted for publication at Redox Biology. Congratulations to Namasthee, Annika, Abdel, Alibek, Ulrich and Sonja!

June 2022

Sonja Soo successfully defended her Ph.D. after less than three years in the lab. Congratulations to Sonja and best of luck in your career ahead.

A collaborative paper with Chris Rocheleau’s lab entitled “The Rab GTPase activating protein TBC-2 regulates endosomal localization of DAF-16 FOXO and lifespan” was accepted for publication at PLoS Genetics. Congratulations to Thomas!

The lab has moved to a new location with more space. We can now be found at E02.3358.

July 2022

Abdel was awarded an HBHL scholarship award and a Faculty of Medicine Internal scholarship award (declined). Congratulations to Abdel!

Claire Ko joined the lab as a Ph.D. student in the IPN program. Welcome to the lab Claire!

Shusen Zhu joined the lab as a research assistant/lab manager. Welcome to the lab Shusen!

September 2022

Our paper entitled "Effect of DMSO on lifespan and physiology in C. elegans: Implications for use of DMSO as a solvent for compound delivery" was accepted at microPublication Biology. Congratulations Abdel!

Rebecca Li joined the lab as a student intern. Welcome Rebecca!

October 2022

Our paper entitled "Genetic basis of enhanced stress resistance in long-lived mutants highlights key role of innate immunity in determining longevity" was accepted for publication in Aging Cell. Congratulations to Sonia, Annika, Zenith and Alibek!

December 2022

Our paper entitled “Endosomal trafficking protein TBC-2 modulates stress resistance and lifespan through DAF-16-dependent and independent mechanisms” was accepted for publication in Aging Cell. Congratulations to Annika, Sonja, Abdel and Claire. This paper was a collaboration with Chris Rocheleau’s lab.

Our paper entitled “Exercise preserves physical fitness during aging through AMPK and mitochondrial dynamics” was accepted for publication in PNAS. Congratulations to Juliane and Annika! This paper was a collaboration with Keith Blackwell’s lab.

2021

January 2021

Alibek Moldakozhayev joined the Van Raamsdonk laboratory as a Ph.D. student in the IPN program. Welcome Alibek!

Our paper “Beneficial and detrimental effects of reactive oxygen species on lifespan: A comprehensive review of comparative and experimental studies” was published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. Congratulations to Hazel and Annika!

April 2021

Hazel completed her undergraduate program and will be starting an M.Sc. degree with Joe Dent in the Department of Biology at McGill.

Congratulations to Sonja for passing her PhD candidacy examination!

Paige was awarded a Postdoctoral training award from FRQS. Congratulations Paige!

Jeremy was awarded a Research Scholar award from the FRQS at the Senior Scientist level

Our paper “Targeting mitochondrial network disorganization is protective in C. elegans models of Huntington’s disease” was published in Aging & Disease. Congratulations to Paige, Annika, Sonja and Ulrich

Our paper “Multiple genetic pathways regulating lifespan extension are neuroprotective in a G2019S LRRK2 nematode model of Parkinson's disease” was published in Neurobiology of Disease.

June 2021

Congratulations to Ulrich for passing his PhD candidacy exam!

August 2021

Alibek was awarded an internal Scholarship from the McGill Faculty of Medicine. Congratulations Alibek!

September 2021

Welcome to the lab Abdel! Abdel is joining the lab as a PhD student.

Our paper “Mild mitochondrial impairment enhances innate immunity and longevity through ATFS‐1 and p38 signaling” was published in EMBO Reports. Congratulations to Juliane, Paige and Sonja!

Our paper “Activation of mitochondrial unfolded protein response protects against multiple exogenous stressors” was published in Life Science Alliance. Congratulations to Sonja, Annika and Paige!

Our paper “High confidence ATFS-1 target genes for quantifying activation of the mitochondrial unfolded protein response” was published in uPublication biology. Congratulations to Sonja!

Alibek’s paper “Applying deductive reasoning and the principles of particle physics to aging research” was published in Aging. Congratulations Alibek!

October 2021

Annika was selected by the IPN and McGill to compete for the prestigious Vanier Scholarship for academics, research and leadership. Great job Annika!

December 2021

Our paper “Identification of Novel Therapeutic Targets for Polyglutamine Diseases That Target Mitochondrial Fragmentation” was published in International Journal of Medical Science. Congratulations Annika, Paige and Sonja!

2020

March 2020

Hazel was awarded an Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) from NSERC. Congratulations Hazel!

April 2020

Annika was awarded a Master’s training award from FRQS. Congratulations Annika!

Sonja was awarded a Master’s training award from FRQS. Congratulations Sonja!

Our paper “Disruption of mitochondrial dynamics increases stress resistance through activation of multiple stress response pathways” was published in FASEB J. paper. Congratulations to Thomas, Paige and Annika!

May 2020

Namasthee completed her undergraduate program and has been accepted into the IPN at McGill to work on her M.Sc. degree with Nicolas Cermakian.

June 2020

Our paper “Compounds that extend longevity are protective in neurodegenerative diseases and provide a novel treatment strategy for these devastating disorders” was published in Mechanisms of Aging and Development. Congratulations to Sonja, Annika, Paige, Namasthee and Hazel!

August 2020

Thomas completed his thesis and graduated with his M.Sc. degree. Thomas is off to Boston to complete a Ph.D. at Boston University with Alla Grishok.

November 2020

Jeremy was promoted to Associate Professor.

Lab News