
Dr. Lara Mahal
Canada Excellence Research Chair in Glycomics
Lara K. Mahal is an expert in glycomics and systems-based approaches to understanding glycan regulation and function. She developed lectin microarray technology, a high-throughput method for glycomics that is now widely applied to understand a multitude of systems, from clinical cancer research to host-pathogen interactions. Lara is also known for her groundbreaking work on microRNA regulation of glycosylation.
Experience
As an undergraduate, Professor Mahal studied with Professor Rebecca Braslau, working in the area of pro-chiral carbon radical chemistry. She was a University of California Regents Scholar, and graduated with Highest Honors and a B.A in Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) in 1995.
She obtained her Ph.D. in Chemistry with Professor Carolyn Bertozzi at the University of California, Berkeley in 2000. Her work with Professor Bertozzi established the area of metabolic labeling using bio-orthogonal handles, demonstrating that ketones could be incorporated into cell surface sugars, e.g., sialic acids, through metabolic pathways. She was awarded an American Chemical Society (ACS) Predoctoral Medicinal Chemistry Fellowship for this work.
She then moved to New York City where she was a Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellow with Professor James Rothman at Sloan-Kettering Institute (2000-2003) studying the role of synaptotagmin I in calcium-dependent membrane fusion.
In 2003, she started her first independent position as an Assistant Professor in Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. Post-tenure in 2009, Professor Mahal moved to NYU, where she helped found the Biomedical Chemistry Institute. In 2016, she was promoted to Full Professor.
As of Fall 2019, she joins the faculty of the University of Alberta as the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Glycomics.
Awards
Goldstein Lectureship in Glycobiology (2021)
Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation Fellowship (2004)
NSF Career Award (2007)
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship (2008)
National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award (2008)
Horace Isbell Award for Carbohydrate Chemistry from the American Chemical Society (2017)
Experience
As an undergraduate, Professor Mahal studied with Professor Rebecca Braslau, working in the area of pro-chiral carbon radical chemistry. She was a University of California Regents Scholar, and graduated with Highest Honors and a B.A in Chemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) in 1995.
She obtained her Ph.D. in Chemistry with Professor Carolyn Bertozzi at the University of California, Berkeley in 2000. Her work with Professor Bertozzi established the area of metabolic labeling using bio-orthogonal handles, demonstrating that ketones could be incorporated into cell surface sugars, e.g., sialic acids, through metabolic pathways. She was awarded an American Chemical Society (ACS) Predoctoral Medicinal Chemistry Fellowship for this work.
She then moved to New York City where she was a Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellow with Professor James Rothman at Sloan-Kettering Institute (2000-2003) studying the role of synaptotagmin I in calcium-dependent membrane fusion.
In 2003, she started her first independent position as an Assistant Professor in Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. Post-tenure in 2009, Professor Mahal moved to NYU, where she helped found the Biomedical Chemistry Institute. In 2016, she was promoted to Full Professor.
As of Fall 2019, she joins the faculty of the University of Alberta as the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Glycomics.
Awards
Goldstein Lectureship in Glycobiology (2021)
Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation Fellowship (2004)
NSF Career Award (2007)
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship (2008)
National Institutes of Health Director’s New Innovator Award (2008)
Horace Isbell Award for Carbohydrate Chemistry from the American Chemical Society (2017)
Lab Members

Tigist Batu

Duong Bui

Thu Chu

Helia Dehghan Harati

Nethmi Harindra

Faezeh Jame-Chenarboo

Asad Khan

Jung Ah Kim

Xinghai Liu

Xuan-Lan Mai

Niloufar Mir Fallah

Ifthiha Mohideen

Joseph Reyes

Kathryn Robinson

Sumona Sarker

Fatema Tuz Zohora

Thusini Uggalla Arachchige

Syeda Zainab Ali
Staff

Tabea Adam

Ayodeji Kulepa

Dr. Dawn Macdonald

Hoi Hei (Hallie) Ng

Simon Pojasok

Dr. Angela Sacher

Stephanie Stitt

Nicholas Twells

CK Wong
Alumni
Affiliate Researchers
Dr. Praveen Agrawal (joint with Laboratory of Prof. Eva Hernando, NYU Langone Medical School)
Dr. Mohamed Elaish (joint with Laboratory of Prof. Tom Hobman, Dept of Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, UAlberta)
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Joao Ribeiro – Scientist, Valneva Austria GmbH
Dr. John Rakus – Assistant Professor, Biochemistry, Marshall College
Dr. Aditya Sanki – Senior Principal Investigator at Syngene International Limited
Dr. Claudia Acevedo-Morantes – Research Associate, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry
Dr. Praveen Agarwal – Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Dr. Dimitra Lamprinaki – Research Scientist, Quadram Institute, Norwich, England
Graduate Students
Ms. Jennifer Rummpe
Mr. Alexander Preston (MA 2008)
Ms. Lisa Alexander (MA 2009)
Ms. Susan Anderson-Dixon (MA 2009)
Ms. Megan Brown (MA 2009)
Dr. Ken (Ku-Lung) Hsu (PhD 2009) – Associate Professor of Chemistry, University of Virginia
Dr. Lakshmi Krishnamoorthy (PhD 2009) – Postdoctoral Fellow, Prof. Chris Chang, U.C. Berkeley
Dr. Luz Carrillo (PhD 2010) – Assistant Professor of Chemistry-Palomar College
Dr. Kanoelani Pilobello (PhD 2011) – Research Associate, Wyss Institute, Harvard
Dr. Daniel Propheter (PhD 2011) – Postdoctoral Fellow, Prof. Laura Hooper, U.T. Southwestern
Dr. Bianca Batista (PhD 2011) – Professor of Practice, Southern Methodist University
Dr. Yaxuan Liang (PhD 2015) – Investigator, iCarbonX/Shenzen Digital Life Institute, Shenzen, Guangdong, China
Dr. Linlin Wang (PhD 2015) – Research Scientist, Y-mAbs Therapeutics, Inc.
Dr. Tomasz Kurcon (PhD 2016) – Scientist, Cellectis. Mr. Zhongyin Liu (M.Sc. 2016)– SynBio Tech
Dr. Christopher Vaiana (PhD 2016) – Postdoctoral Fellow, Prof. Christopher Voight, MIT
Dr. Lawrence Meche (PhD 2017)
Dr. Sujeethraj Koppolu (PhD 2018) – Bioinformatics Scientist, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Lauren Zhang (PhD 2018) – Senior Project Manager, Protheragen
Dr. Daniel Heindel (PhD 2020) – Postdoctoral Fellow, Prof. Catarina Hioe, Icahn School of Medicine (Mount Sinai)
Ms. Amaani Patel (2022)
Dr. Shuhui Chen (PhD 2022)
Dr. Ric (Rui) Qin (PhD 2022) – Senior R&D Scientist (Bioinformatics), Nova Medical Testing
Undergraduate Students
Carolin Aizouki, Sarah Abbassi, Tommy Cai, Chris Leija, Andersen Lee, Louis Lee, Abdullah Jeroudi, Sasir Mallela, Natalie Ramirez, Deepika Slawek, Lisa Thoyakulathu, Brooke Todd, Domini Maddox, Prathiba Pandian, Luat Pham, Zafar Syed, Joshua Froemming, Monika Abramczuk, Rui Yang, Lauren Lashua, Aaron Barnett, Lisa Shah, Anika Paradkhar, William Pau, Zain Javaid, Vittoria Boni, Farzana Mohamed, Jay Nigam, Kimberley Chen, Salankara Bandyopadhyay, Meagan McDermot, Ayushi Mathur, David Christian.
Research Staff
Parisa Raeisimakiani, Tanya de Silva, Guanmin Meng
Get in Touch
- mahaladm@ualberta.ca
- (780) 492-5847
- W3-39B Chemistry Centre, 11227 Saskatchewan Drive NW, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G2
F.A.Q.
The Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) Program awards universities up to $10 million over seven years to support world‑renowned researchers and their teams to establish ambitious research programs at Canadian universities.
Located in beautiful Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the Chemistry Department at the UofA is renown for its active research. It is one of the best equipped and well funded departments in Canada.
It is a glycomic technology developed in the Mahal Lab, provide a rapid analysis of the glycome (1-3). These microarrays utilize immobilized carbohydrate-binding proteins at high spatial density to give specific information on the repertoire of glycans present.
miRNA can be used to identify glycosylation enzymes and their corresponding glycans that drive disease states.
At the UofA, you do not have to find a supervisor in order to apply. The department has a process in place for students to find a supervisor and join a research group once they arrive to start their program. However, it is recommended for applicants to contact chemistry faculty members whose areas of research are of interest to you. Information about requirements and how to apply can be found here.