Antoine Dufour, PhD

Assistant Professor, University of Calgary

Department of Physiology & Pharmacology

Dr. Antoine Dufour has joined the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology as an Assistant Professor.  Dr. Dufour obtained his BA (Hons.) in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Oswego, his MSc and PhD in Chemical Biology from the Stony Brook University (2010).  He completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biochemistry at the University of British Columbia in 2017 under the supervision of Dr. Chris Overall.  Antoine’s research is focused on the role of proteases in immunity and novel drug target identification in inflammatory musculoskeletal diseases, with a particular interest in quantitative mass spectrometry and systems biology. He owns two patents for the inhibitory methods of protease-mediated cell migration. His research program aims to understand the key mechanisms of inflammatory and immune responses in musculoskeletal diseases.  Antoine has already published >70 journal papers, 4 book chapters and has an outstanding track record of academic awards. Dr. Dufour’s lab and office space is located at the Centre for Mobility and Joint Health on the third floor of the HRIC building. Dr. Dufour was named as one of Calgary’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2020, was awarded the 2021 Young Investigator Award from the Canadian Society for Mass Spectrometry and the Groll Calpain award in 2022. 

Afshin Derakhshani

Graduate PhD student 

I obtained my M.Sc. in Medical Immunology from the Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran. After graduation in 2019, I joined as a junior research assistant at Immunology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. I had this chance to work there for about two years to learn, improve my academic resume, and mentor the master students, which gave me a deep insight for my future career while working on basic immunology, systems biology, and cancer. Then, I was encouraged to move to I.R.C.C.S. Cancer Institute "John Paul II" of Bari, Italy as a research assistant to characterize the immune landscape in peripheral blood of Pancreatic Cancer patients using single-cell RNA sequencing and flow cytometry. Currently, I am a Ph.D. student in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology under the supervision of Dr. Dufour, and I will apply multi-algorithm machine learning approaches, systems biology, and wet-lab techniques to determine biomarkers and novel aspects of macrophages in Cancer and Autoimmune Diseases.

Anjali Kapilan  

Graduate MSc Student (Co-supervised with Dr. Pina Colarusso)

Anjali obtained her Bachelor of Science (Hons) Degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, with minors in religious studies and bioethics, at Dalhousie University. Her honors research project focused on how the ablation of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter exacerbated calpain activity in mice subjected to an experimental model of multiple sclerosis. She has also conducted research with both Environment and Climate Change Canada, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Her Masters project will focus on discovering the role mitochondrial amidoxime reducing component 1 (MTARC1) plays on the body, through the analysis of proteomics and imaging of mitochondrial - ER contact sites. Through her research, she is hopeful to discover the role of this protein, and then move on to discovering the similarities and differences between MTARC1 and mitochondrial amidoxime reducing component 2 (MTARC2). She is an avid community volunteer and enjoys skiing and playing the fiddle in her free time.

Sonali Bhardwaj

Graduate MSc Student 

Sonali completed her Bachelor of Science in Microbiology with minor in agricultural sciences, at Lovely Professional University, Punjab, India. Her bachelor’s project focused on isolation and characterization of cellulase producing bacteria to produce bioethanol from rice straw. She is currently a master’s student in Dufour lab and Slater lab where she is dedicated to unravel the mysteries of pregnancy complications leading to preterm birth. Her project, led by Dr. Antoine Dufour and Dr. Donna Slater focuses on the fascinating field of proteomics and metabolomics profiling of first trimester maternal serum to bridge the gap in understanding between normal and adverse birth outcomes. Using the cutting-edge technology, mass spectrometry with both Data-Dependent Acquisition (DDA) and Data-Independent Acquisition (DIA) modes, she will be conducting in-depth analysis of serum samples to get a holistic view of the molecular landscape associated with preterm birth outcomes. 

Isabella Orchard

Undergraduate Student

Isabella Orchard is an undergraduate student studying Biomedical Science at the University of Calgary. Her research surrounds finding biomarkers in participants’ plasma which correspond to changes in cognitive function after an aerobic exercise intervention. Outside of academics Isabella enjoys ultimate frisbee, painting, and volunteering.

Colton Dietrich

Undergraduate Student

Colton is an undergraduate Co-op student at the University of British Columbia currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science with a specialization in Behavioural Neuroscience. He is passionate about researching neurodegenerative diseases and the ways that proteolytic events contribute to neuronal death. Currently, he is expanding on his laboratory skills and hopes to use N-terminomics to further research the role calpain-3 has on limb-girdle muscular dystrophies. Outside of school, Colton enjoys playing and watching sports as well as spending time with friends and family.