Biography
Dr. Mary-Ellen Harper is a University Research Chair in Mitochondrial Bionergetics. She is also Director, Metabolomics Advanced Training and International Exchange (Matrix), an NSERC-CREATE program; as well as, Director, Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology.
Research Interests
Mammalian Bioenergetics: Metabolic Significance and Control of Uncoupling Proteins
Energy conversion processes in mammalian cells are far from perfect. The research conducted in Dr Harper's laboratory focuses specifically on the metabolic pathways that affect efficiency of energy transduction processes within different cells of the body. The cellular organelle 'charged' with the responsibility of energy conversion is the mitochondrion. It is there that the oxidation of various energy substrates converges for the production of the universal energy currency of cells, ATP. The efficiency of mitochondrial ATP synthesis, or oxidative phosphorylation, varies between different tissues of the body; between different metabolic states; and between different disease states (e.g., thyroid disorders).
The overall aim of the research projects conducted in the Harper lab is to better understand the control of cellular energy transduction processes in health and disease.
In particular, Dr. Harper's laboratory investigates the metabolic significance and control of the uncoupling of oxidation (‘fuel burning’) from ATP production and energy storage. This process is also called mitochondrial proton leak. Proton leak is controlled by the uncoupling proteins (UCPs), especially by UCP1 in brown adipose tissue, and is controlled by the adenine nucleotide translocator (ANT). UCPs and ANTs are subfamilies of the mitochondrial carrier protein family and are located in the mitochondrial inner membrane. During proton leak states, fuel is oxidized, and the energy is released (or "wasted") as heat, instead of being converted to ATP. The molecular control and functions of such seemingly wasteful processes are major interests of the lab. Recent work also focuses on the formation of mitochondrial supercomplexes, which also affect efficiency of cellular energy transduction. The research has important implications for metabolic diseases including obesity and diabetes, as well as cardiovascular diseases, and other diseases in which mitochondrial dysfunction is of importance.
Graduate Student and Postdoctoral Fellow Supervisions
Completed:
21 M.Sc. Shadi MONEMDJOU, 1998; Manon GAGNÉ, 1999; Andreas ANTONIOU, 2001; Darcy MacLELLAN 2007; Sean CRAWFORD, 2009; Carmen ESTEY 2009; Adrienne GOWING, 2010; Cynthia MOFFAT, 2010; Rui ZHANG, 2012; Cyril ADJEITEY, 2013, Skye McBRIDE, 2014; Lucien NADEAU, 2017(co-supervised with Dr. Céline Aguer); Awa LIAGHATI, 2017; Nina HADZIMUSTAFIC, 2020; Ziyad EL HANKOURI, 2021; Gaganvir Singh PARMAR, 2021 (best 2021 MSc thesis award); Breana HOOKS, 2022 (nominated for best MSc thesis); Mitali UPPAL (2023); Nidhi KUKSAL (2024); Ella McILROY (2024); Stephanie MYERS (2024)
9 Ph.D. Shadi MONEMDJOU, 2002; Tia MOFFAT, 2007 (co-supervised with Dr. Steffany Bennett); Lisa BEVILACQUA, 2007, Sheila COSTFORD, 2008; Brittany BEAUCHAMP, 2015; Ghadi ANTOUN, 2017 (MD-PhD; best PhD thesis award, 2017); Abi RAJKUMAR, 2018 (co-supervised with Dr. Frédérique Tesson); Georges KANAAN, 2018; Rajaa SEBAA, 2020
11 PDF. Dr. Céline AGUER; Dr. Véronic BEZAIRE; Dr. Martin GERRITS (deceased 2019); Dr. Ryan MAILLOUX; Dr. Fiona McMURRAY; Dr. Erin SEIFERT; Dr. Brianne THRUSH; Dr. Neoma BOARDMAN (visiting PDF from University of Tromso, Norway); Dr. Denis BLONDIN; Dr. David PATTEN; Dr. Jens Frey HALLING (visiting PDF from University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
Current (In progress):
4 Ph.D.: Michel KANAAN; Claire FONG-McMASTER; Dhanu MOHOTTALAGE (MD-PhD); Luke KENNEDY. Matthew MAGDA; Charbel KARAM; Valeria VASILYEVA (Co-supervised with Dr. Michele Ardolino), Ella McILROY
1 PDF.: Dr. Chantal PILEGGI
Technician: Jian Ying Xuan
Undergraduate Research Thesis Student Supervision:
2024-2025: Lauren HAMILTON and Michelle LEVESQUE; 2023-2024: Lillian ABEBE, Gurrose GAHLA; 2022-2023: Stephanie MYERS, Charbel KARAM; Ella McIlroy; 2020-21: Hussein ELKHATIB; 2019-20: Breana HOOKS; 2018-19: Gaganvir PARMAR; Nina HADZIMUSTAFIC; Ziyad EL HANKOURI; Baher MIGALLY 2017-18: Daniella FEBBRARO; 2016-17: Megan MacFarlane; Karan Gandhi; 2015-2016: Bianca ICHIM; Kijoo KIM; Cecile LE; 2014-15: Kris KOMM; Alyssa PEIXOTO; Jessica QUIZI; 2013-14: Olivier CHARETTE; 2012-13: Dhiya HASSAN, William CHEN, 2011-12: Melissa PASQUA, Aline PFEFFERLE; 2010-11: Naveen VENAYAK; 2009-10: Mark BASTIENELLI; Cyril ADJEITEY; Daniela GAMBAROTTA; 2008-9: Marisa ROSSI; Brittany BEAUCHAMP; 2007-8:Sean CRAWFORD, Samantha PREVOST, Benny HILL, Neha SARNA; 2006-7: Carmen ESTEY, Anastasia TOUR; 2005-6: Mitra ABAIEAN, Dimitre RANEV; 2004-5: Basil HUBBARD, Shehla CHAUDHRY; 2003-4: Matthew NIEDZWIECKI, Julie BEAULIEU; 2002-3: Nausheen SIDDIQUI, Marianne McGEE; 2001-2: Audrey NUK, Lorenne DOUCET; 2000-1: Lisa BEVILACQUA; 1999-2000: Veronic BEZAIRE; 1998-9: Andreas ANTONIOU, 1997-8: Shirin LAL; 1996-7: Manon GAGNE, 1995-6: Shadi MONEMDJOU
Current Research Funding
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR); Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC); Canadian Nuclear Laboratories; National Research Council of Canada.
Distinctions
- Tier 1 Canada Research Chair: Mitochondrial Bioenergetics and Metabolic Health 2024-2031
- Lifetime Achievement Award, Diabetes Canada; 2021
- University Research Chair in Mitochondrial Bioenergetics. 2016-2021; 2021-2024
- College of Reviewers, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) 2014 -
- Visiting Research Scholar, Joslin Diabetes Research Center, Harvard Medical School. Boston, MA. Jan. – Dec. 2014
- Elected as the Canadian Representative on the (North American) Obesity Society Council. 2012-2015
- Elected to the Board of Governors, Canadian Obesity Network, 2012-
- Canadian Society for Nutritional Sciences Centrum Award, 2003
- Laura and Arthur Colwin Endowed Summer Research Fellowship, and HB Steinbach Fellowship in Physiology, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts. 2002.
- Premier's Research Excellence Award, 2000.
- Canadian Foundation for Innovation Researcher, New Opportunities Award, 1998.
- John Charles Polanyi Prize - Physiology and Medicine. 1995.
- Research Associateship, Girton College, University of Cambridge. 1992.
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1991-3.
Selected Publications (ten recent papers; full list is available through ORCID)
(Dr. Harper has published 215 peer-reviewed papers that have been cited over 20,750 times, with and H index of 73 and an i10 index of 184.)
- Michel Kanaan*, Chantal Pileggi*, Charbel Karam*, Claire Fong-McMaster*, Luke Kennedy*, Miroslava Cuperlovic-Culf, and Mary-Ellen Harper. (2024) Cystine/glutamate antiporter xCT controls skeletal muscle glutathione redox, bioenergetics and regeneration. Redox Biol. 73:103213. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2024.103213.
- Gaganvir Parmar*, Claire Fong-McMaster*, Chantal A Pileggi*, David A Patten*, Alexanne Cuillerier, Stephanie Myers*, Ying Wang, Siegfried Hekimi, Miroslava Cuperlovic-Culf and Mary-Ellen Harper. (2024) NDUFB4 participates in mitochondrial complex I supercomplex formation. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 300(2):105626. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2024.105626. * also selected for paper of the year award for the first author, former student in the Harper laboratory; MSc category.
- Chantal Pileggi*, Hussein Elkhatib*, Corrine M Stewart, Irena Alecu, Marceline Côté, Steffany AL Bennett, Jagdeep K Sandhu, Miroslava Cuperlovic-Culf** and Mary-Ellen Harper**. (2023) The SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein interacts with MAO-B and impairs mitochondrial energetics. Current Res Neurobiol. 5:100112. doi: 10.1016/j.crneur.2023.100112. ** Co-Senior and Co-corresponding authors.
- Luke Kennedy*, Jagdeep K Sandhu, Mary-Ellen Harper**, and Miroslava Cuperlovic-Culf.** Mapping relationships between glutathione and SLC25 transporters in cancers using hybrid machine learning models. BioRxiv. Preprint posted Sept 21, 2023. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.09.20.558442 ** Co-Senior and Co-corresponding authors.
- Chantal A. Pileggi*, Denis P. Blondin, Breana G. Hooks*, Gaganvir Parmar*, Irina Alecu, David A. Patten*, Alexanne Cuillerier, Conor O’Dwyer, A Brianne Thrush*, Morgan D. Fullerton, Steffany A.L. Bennett, Éric Doucet, François Haman, Miroslava Cuperlovic-Culf, Ruth McPherson, Robert R.M. Dent, and Mary-Ellen Harper. (2022) Exercise training enhances muscle mitochondrial metabolism in diet-resistant obesity. 83:104192. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104192.
- Chantal A. Pileggi*, Breana G. Hooks*, Ruth McPherson, Robert R.M. Dent and Mary-Ellen Harper. (2022) Targeting skeletal muscle mitochondrial health in obesity. Clinical Science (Portland Press) 136:1081-1110.
- Alameen Damer*, Sherif El Meniawy, Ruth McPherson, George Wells, Mary-Ellen Harper**, and Robert Dent** (2022) Association of muscle fibre type with measures of obesity: A systematic review.Obesity Reviews. 23(7):e13444.
- Robert Dent, Ruth McPherson and Mary-Ellen Harper. (2020) Factors Affecting Weight Loss Variability in Obesity. Metabolism. 113:154388.
- David A Patten*, Shawn McGuirk, Ujval Anilkumar, Ghadi Antoun*, Karan Gandhi*, Gaganvir Parmar*, Mohamed Ariff Iqbal, Jacob Wong, Richard B Richardson, Julie St-Pierre, Ruth S Slack, Mary-Ellen Harper. (2020) Altered mitochondrial fusion drives defensive glutathione synthesis in cells able to switch to glycolytic ATP production. BBA - Molecular Cell Research. Jan;1868(1):118854; PMID: 32926942.
- Mary-Ellen Harper* and Mary Elizabeth Patti. (2020) Metabolic Terminology: What’s in a name? Nature Metabolism. 2(6):476-477.