The Team
Dr. Samira Ghorbani
Principal Investigator
Dr. Ghorbani is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga. She received her PhD in Immunology from Tehran University of Medical Sciences and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Calgary under the supervision of Dr. V. Wee Yong.
Contact information:Email: samira.ghorbani@utoronto.ca
Research Awards & Funding
Current:
- Tier 2 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Myelin Repair and Matrix Biology of Aging
- NSERC Discovery Grant (2025)
- MS Canada Catalyst Research Grant (2025)
- Research and Scholarly Activity Fund (RSAF), University of Toronto Mississauga (2025)
Previous Fellowships
- CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (2021 - 2023)
- MS Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (2021 - 2023)
- Hotchkiss Brain Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (2019 - 2021)
Dr. Majid Ghareghani
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Ghareghani earned his doctorate from Laval University in Canada, where his research focused on multiple sclerosis. He then completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in Alzheimer’s disease in the laboratory of Dr. Serge Rivest at CHUL Research Center. In May 2025, he joined our lab to continue his postdoctoral research, now focusing on regenerative capacity of CNS in multiple sclerosis.
Contact information:Email: m.ghareghani@utoronto.ca
Recent Publications
His full list of publications can be found on his PubMed profile or Google Scholar profile.
- Ghareghani M, Arneaud A, Rivest S. The evolution of mesenchymal stem cell-derived neural progenitor therapy for Multiple Sclerosis: from concept to clinic. Front Cell Neurosci. 2024.
- Ghareghani M, Rivest S. The Synergistic Potential of Combining PD-1/PD-L1 Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors with NOD2 Agonists in Alzheimer's Disease Treatment. Int J Mol Sci. 2023.
- Ghareghani M et al. Inhibiting nighttime melatonin and boosting cortisol increase patrolling monocytes, phagocytosis, and myelination in a murine model of multiple sclerosis. Exp Mol Med. 2023.
- Ghareghani M et al. Melatonin and vitamin D, two sides of the same coin, better to land on its edge to improve multiple sclerosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2023.
Research Awards & Funding
- 2023 Alzheimer's Disease Research Award - Lemaire Family Foundation (2023)
- Ven-Huguette-Anil-Murthy Success Scholarship (Neurodegenerative diseases) (2022)
Graduate Students
Carol Shiu
PhD Student
Carol is a first-year PhD student in the Department of Immunology. Her research focuses on restoring the lipid homeostasis of lipid-laden or foamy microglia identified at the rim of chronic active lesions in progressive multiple sclerosis.
Contact information:Email: carol.shiu@mail.utoronto.ca
Daniel Pourrahimi
MSc Student
Daniel is a masters student who completed his HBSc at UTM majoring in biology for health sciences. He started in the lab as a BIO481 thesis student focusing on aging in MS, primarily through changes in oligodendrocyte populations and senescent phenotypes.
Contact information:
Jia Vedante
MSc Student
Jia is a master’s student who completed her HBSc at the University of Toronto St. George campus with a double major in Neuroscience and Cell & Molecular Biology (Focus in Stem Cells and Developmental Biology), along with a minor in Physiology. She completed her undergraduate research thesis and UTEA placement in the Peever-Fraigne Lab, where she studied SLD astrocytic involvement in the regulation of REM sleep. At the Ghorbani Lab, her research focuses on telomere shortening in oligodendrocyte precursor cells and its impact on remyelination in multiple sclerosis mouse models.
Contact information:Email: jia.vedante@mail.utoronto.ca
Undergraduate Students
Lauren Flemming
BIO399 ROP Student
Lauren is a fourth-year undergraduate student pursuing an HBSc in Neurosciences and Biology for Health Sciences at the University of Toronto after transferring from University of Amsterdam. She joined the Ghorbani Lab in May 2026 as a BIO399 ROP student. Her research focuses on quantifying senescent and immune cells in white matter lesions versus normal appearing white matter to identify lesion-specific differences.
Mona Lotfi
BIO399 ROP Student
Mona is an undergraduate student at UTM, pursuing a Specialist in Biology with a minor in Chemistry, and entering her fourth year. She began in the lab as a volunteer and is now a research student. Her work focuses on how aging mechanisms such as cellular senescence may impair myelin repair. Former volunteer
Volunteers
- Mahdi Azarmi (2025-) Former BIO481 Undergraduate Thesis Student, UTEA Undergraduate Researcher & BIO399 ROP Student
- Daniel Ali (2026-)
Lab Alumni
- Joy Oghogho Bello-Osagie, Former BIO481 Undergraduate Thesis Student & CIHR-USRA Undergraduate Researcher (2025-2026)
- Mary Nguyen, Former BIO399 ROP Student & Volunteer (2025)
- Mridula Shivaram, ISSRP Undergraduate Researcher (2025)
- Riyam Ojaimi, Volunteer (2025)
- Ayesha Tanveer, HMB496 Undergraduate Thesis Student & Volunteer (2024-2025)
- Ayaan Haji, Research Assistant (2024-2025)