Paul McLaren
Head of host genomics program, studying how human genome variation influences health and disease at the National HIV and Retrovirology Laboratory
Current research and/or projects
Dr. McLaren’s group applies the tools of systems biology (including genomics, transcriptomics and microbiome studies) to questions surrounding differential susceptibility to infection.
In particular, Dr. McLaren is interested in using human genetic information to identify potential drug targets, improve vaccine responsiveness and improve patient response to therapy using a precision medicine approach.
Research and/or project statements
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Heads the host genomics program, using bioinformatics and molecular techniques to study how to leverage the human genome to inform knowledge of drivers of infection susceptibility, disease progression and response to treatment
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Developing in-house gene editing assays merging large-scale human genomic databases with genome-wide screens to identify host proteins that can be developed as drug targets to treat and prevent infections
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Developing multi-scale analyses tools to mine sets of large and diverse data types to understand how the human immune system interacts with the microbiome and impact immune function and infection susceptibility
Professional activities / interests
Mentors FSWEP, co-op, undergraduate and graduate students and PhD candidates.
Journal reviewer for multiple journals including Nature Medicine, PLoS Pathogens, and Clinical Infectious Diseases and Immunity.
Invited conferences and seminars internationally on genomics and HIV
Education and awards
Education
Post-doctoral research at the Brigham and Women’s hospital/Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute examining how the human genome contributes to elite HIV control.
Ph.D. Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, university of Manitoba, 2008
B.Sc. (Hons.) Microbiology, University of Manitoba, 1999
Awards
2012 Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery Young/Early Career Investigator Award
2011 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections Young Investigator Award
2008 Apotex Fermentation Major Thesis Award for Molecular Biology
International experience and/or work
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Junior Group Leader in Bioinformatics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, 2012 - 2015
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Established an international consortium of infectious disease researchers focused on studying the human genomics of infection involving collaborators on five continents.
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Active International collaborations:
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Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (South Africa), University of Nairobi (Kenya), Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (Colombia),Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (Switzerland), National Cancer Institute (USA), Texas Biomedical Research Institute (USA), HIV Vaccine Trials Network (USA), Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (UK), International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (UK)
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Additional links
Key publications
Tough, R.H., McLaren, P.J. Interaction of the host and viral genome and their influence on HIV disease. 2019 Frontiers in Genetics, 10(JAN).
http://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2018.00720
Raisaro, J.-L., McLaren, P.J., Fellay, J., (...), Klersy, C., Hubaux, J.-P. Are privacy-enhancing technologies for genomic data ready for the clinic? A survey of medical experts of the Swiss HIV Cohort Study. 2018 Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 79, pp. 1-6.
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbi.2017.12.013
McLaren, P.J., Pulit, S.L., Gurdasani, D., (...), De Bakker, P.I.W., Fellay, J. Evaluating the impact of functional genetic variation on HIV-1 Control. 2017 Journal of Infectious Diseases, 216(9), pp. 1063-1069.
http://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jix470
Bartha, I., McLaren, P.J., Brumme, C., (...), Telenti, A., Fellay, J. Estimating the Respective Contributions of Human and Viral Genetic Variation to HIV Control. 2017 PLoS Computational Biology, 13(2),e1005339.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005339
Asgari, S., McLaren, P.J., Peake, J., (...), Fellay, J., Schlapbach, L.J. Corrigendum: Exome sequencing reveals primary immunodeficiencies in children with community-acquired pseudomonas aeruginosa sepsis. 2016 Frontiers in Immunology, 7, 357, (2016).
https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2016.00357
Asgari, S., McLaren, P.J., Peake, J., (...), Baer, W., Relly, C. Exome sequencing reveals primary immunodeficiencies in children with community-acquired Pseudomonas aeruginosa sepsis. 2016 Frontiers in Immunology, 7(SEP),357.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2016.00357
Martinez-Picado, J., McLaren, P.J., Erkizia, I., (...), Izquierdo-Useros, N., Telenti, A. Identification of siglec-1 null individuals infected with HIV-1. 2016 Nature Communications, 7,12412.
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12412
Mclaren, P.J., Raisaro, J.L., Aouri, M., (...), Hubaux, J.-P., Telenti, A. Privacy-preserving genomic testing in the clinic: A model using HIV treatment. 2016 Genetics in Medicine, 18(8), pp. 814-822.
https://doi.org/10.1038/gim.2015.167
McLaren PJ, Coulonges C, Bartha, I, (…), Zagury JF, Fellay J. Common variants of large effect explain the majority of the host genetic contribution to HIV-1 control. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2015 Nov 24;112(47):14658-63.
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1514867112
Pereyra F*, Jia X*, McLaren PJ* (…), and The International HIV Controllers Study*. The major genetic determinants of HIV-1 control affect HLA class I peptide presentation. Science. 2010 Dec 10;330(6010):1551-7.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1195271
Contact
Research facility
ORCIDExpertise
Affiliations
Adjunct Professor, Departments of Medical Microbiology and infectious Diseases, College of Medicine Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba