Mehrdad Kazemi Selected as a Trainee Under the STAGE Program.

CANSSI Ontario STAGE is pleased to announce that Mehrdad Kazemi has been selected as a CANSSI Ontario STAGE Trainee with his project “Towards Solving the Variant-to-Function Problem for Human Blood Traits.” Mehrdad is currently a PhD student in the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto. His STAGE mentors are Drs. John Morris and Michael Wainberg.

Mehrdad’s research focuses on the variant-to-function problem: understanding how noncoding genetic variants identified through genome-wide association studies influence gene regulation and contribute to complex traits. His work integrates large-scale population genetics data with deep learning models to prioritize and interpret regulatory variants, particularly within the hematopoietic system.

Through the CANSSI Ontario STAGE program, Mehrdad is developing a framework that connects population-scale genetic signals with experimental validation. His project combines genomic deep learning with the quantitative design and analysis of single-cell CRISPR base editing screens, enabling the systematic evaluation of predicted causal variants.

CANSSI Ontario STAGE is proud to support Mehrdad’s research and looks forward to its contributions toward advancing the interpretation of noncoding genetic variation and its role in human disease