Contact info

Dr May Faraj
Clinical Research Institute of Montreal (IRCM)
110, Pins Avenue West - Office 1770.2
Montréal, QC H2W 1R7

Tel: 1-514-987-5655
Fax: 1-514-987-5645
E-mail: may.faraj@umontreal.ca

Research keywords

May Faraj obtained her MSc in Nutrition and her PhD in Experimental medicine from McGill University in Montreal under the supervision of Dr Katherine Cianflone. Her graduate work investigated the regulation of lipoprotein lipase activity, lipoprotein metabolism and fatty acid trapping in adipose tissue using cell, mice and human models. In 2004, she joined the lab of Dr Remi Rabasa-Lhoret, Department of Nutrition, University of Montreal, as a CIHR-postdoctoral fellow exploring insulin action and sensitivity in human. In 2007 she obtained CIHR New Investigator Award and an academic position as junior scientist in the Department of Nutrition, University of Montreal. She then joined Clinical Research Institute of Montreal (IRCM) in 2008 as an invited scientist, where she started her lab funded by CIHR operating grant and CFI leader's opportunity funds, and in collaboration with Dr Rabasa-Lhoret and IRCM physicians. Her clinical and basic research explores a hypothesis she instigated in 2006 linking the number of apoB-lipoproteins to the promotion and prevention of type 2 diabetes in humans. She is a member of L'Ordre Professionnel des Diététistes du Québec since 1999.

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Dr Faraj research focuses on investigating the mechanisms linking the number of atherogenic or apoB-lipoproteins (measured as plasma apoB) to the promotion of inflammation, ineffective fatty acid trapping in adipose tissue and insulin resistance in obese subjects. Accordingly she investigates whether targeting subjects with the hyperapoB phenotype (i.e. elevated plasma apoB) by hypocaloric-dietary interventions may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes maximally in obese subjects, particularly in post-menopausal women. To investigate these hypotheses, she utilizes complementary in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro techniques to follow the metabolism of dietary fat (stable and radioactive isotopes studies), to assess inflammation (immunohistochemistry and gene expression), to fractionate and characterize lipoproteins (ultracentrifugation, FPLC, gel electrophoresis) and to assess insulin secretion, sensitivity and action (Botnia clamp and insulin-induced glucose/lipid cellular metabolism).