Moe Mahjoub | The Quarmby Lab

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I am proud to have been one of the first members of the SFU incarnation of the Quarmby lab. I joined the lab as an undergraduate volunteer in the fall of 2000, working in the lab part-time while trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. It’s not an exaggeration to say that joining the lab changed my life in a dramatic way, and science (research) became my passion. I instantly fell in love with my project, and decided to stay on as a graduate student and completed my Ph.D. dissertation in 2007. The focus of my Ph.D. thesis was to determine the role of a NIMA-family kinase, Fa2p, in regulating ciliary disassembly and mitotic progression using our favorite little green algae, Chlamydomonas, as a model organism.

My graduate training in the Quarmby lab really whet my appetite, and I wanted to further understand the relationship between centrosomes-cilia, cell division and differentiation in mammalian cells, particularly as it relates to problems in human health. I moved to California to pursue my postdoctoral studies in Tim Stearns’ lab at Stanford. In the Stearns lab my postdoctoral research is focused on: (1) Identifying regulators of centrosome and cilium assembly, this time using an innovative mouse tracheal epithelial cell culture system, and (2) Determining the consequences of abnormal centrosome and cilium function in human disease, particularly cancer. I am currently applying for faculty positions, and hope to one day follow in the footsteps of my wonderful mentor Lynne!

[UPDATE: Moe has accepted a position as Assistant Professor at Washington University Renal Division of the School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. Congratulations, Moe!]