Dr. Nadine Kolas

Biography

Nadine Kolas has over 15 years of experience working at the interface of science and policy, primarily with Health Canada. She has led efforts in science and regulatory policy, particularly in the context of advanced cell therapies and gene therapies regulated under the Food and Drugs Act. Her expertise includes the classification of products and contributing to Health Canada's position on the use of autologous stem cells for therapeutic purposes. A research scientist by training, Kolas has a background in DNA damage response, contributing to our understanding of genetic diversity in healthy germ cell development and cancer progression. Her work has involved mouse models of disease and high-throughput human cell genomics approaches. She completed her PhD in molecular genetics under Dr. Paula Cohen at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, followed by post-doctoral work in the Durocher lab at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute in Toronto, discovering novel genes that modulate DNA repair. Kolas's research has been published in notable journals like Science and Cell. In recognition of her contributions, she received the 2008 Polanyi Award in medicine/physiology from the Ontario government and has held fellowships with CIHR and the Terry Fox Research Institute. In her transition towards research policy, she aims to apply her scientific knowledge practically within regulatory frameworks.

Research Interests