Department head and professor
Max Rady College of Medicine
Immunology
473 Apotex Centre - 750 McDermot Avenue
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 0T5
Phone: 204-272-3082
aaron.marshall@umanitoba.ca
Aaron Marshall, BS (Hons), PhD
Cross-appointments
- Department of biochemistry and medical genetics
- Department of internal medicine
Accepting graduate students
- Master's - yes
- PhD - yes
Research themes
- Immune cell biology
- Cancer
- Chronic inflammatory diseases
- Biotechnology
Research interests
- B lymphocytes
- Signal transduction
- Immune regulation
- Cancer immunology
- Autoimmune diseases
Research affiliations
- Adjunct senior scientist, Research Institute In Oncology And Hematology, CancerCare Manitoba
- Vice-president, Canadian Society for Immunology
Research groups
- Manitoba chronic lymphocytic leukemia cluster
- Human immunology team - prediction and prevention of rheumatoid arthritis in first nations people
Research summary
Dr. Marshall’s research group is working to decode the intracellular signals that control the activities of immune cells during both healthy immune responses and in various disease states.
His laboratory applies advanced molecular and cell biology approaches to understand the signaling networks operating in immune cells, with a focus on antibody-producing cells called b lymphocytes.
Dr. Marshall focuses on enzymes that modify certain lipids in the plasma membrane to generate docking sites for intracellular signaling proteins.
He has discovered that specific genes and protein in this signaling pathway are abnormally activated in cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, and as well as autoimmune diseases, and is working to decipher their functions.
Dr. Marshall’s work has attracted continuous national funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and many other organizations.
Biography
Dr. Marshall is passionate about mentoring young scientists in the fascinating field of immunology and pushing the boundaries of technology to answer key biological questions in this field.
He earned his undergraduate degree in microbiology at the University of Saskatchewan and completed PhD studies in immunology at the University of Toronto working with Drs. Gillian Wu and Christopher Paige.
During a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Washington he furthered his studies in the field of b lymphocyte molecular biology, founding a research program focused on signal transduction pathways that control various aspects of b lymphocyte biology, including cell migration, adhesion, antigen presentation, germinal center responses and antibody production.
He is director of the Max Rady College of Medicine’s flow cytometry core platform and has expertise in confocal imaging to visualize cellular processes operating in live cells.
He is involved in several multi-disciplinary teams applying knowledge of immune cell biology to better diagnose and treat diseases such as cancer and autoimmunity.
Education
- Postdoctoral fellowship, University of Washington (2000)
- PhD, immunology, University of Toronto (1997)
- B.Sc. (Honours), microbiology and immunology, University of Saskatchewan (1992)
Awards
- Canada Research Chair
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator Award
- American Association of Immunologists Junior Faculty Travel Award
- Outstanding Young Alumni Award, University of Saskatchewan
- Medical Research Council of Canada graduate studentship and post-doctoral fellowship
Contact us
Immunology
Max Rady College of Medicine
Apotex Centre
Room 471, 750 McDermot Avenue
University of Manitoba (Bannatyne campus)
Winnipeg, MB R3E 0T5 Canada
204-789-3509
204-789-3921
204-480-1347