Natalie Farra – Ph.D. Student, 2007 – 2012

Natalie Farra completed her B.Sc. at the University of Toronto. Her project was to study Rett syndrome using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from an animal model of this neurodevelopmental disease.

Farra also had a penchant for fashion in the lab, as evident by her fabulous mix and match outfits hidden beneath her lab coat.

Funded by Ontario Council on Graduate Studies Master’s Autism Scholars Award, Hayden Hantho OSOTF Award, and CIHR.

Next Position
Editor with Elsevier Publishers

Selected publications

Farra N, AK Manickaraj, J Ellis*, S Mital*. (2012) Personalized Medicine in the Genomics Era: Highlights from an International Symposium on Childhood Heart Disease.  *Equal corresponding authors. Future Cardiology. 8:157-60.

Farra N+, W Zhang+, P Pasceri, JH Eubanks, MW Salter*, J Ellis*. (2012) Rett Syndrome induced pluripotent stem cell derived neurons reveal novel neurophysiology alterations. +Equal first authors. *Equal corresponding authors. Molecular Psychiatry. 17:1261-71. Featured on cover art.

Hotta A, Cheung AY, Farra N, Garcha K, Chang WY, Pasceri P, Stanford WL, Ellis J. (2009) EOS lentiviral vector selection system for human induced pluripotent stem cells. Nature Protocols. 4:1828-1844.

Hotta A, Cheung AY, Farra N, Vijayaragavan K, Séguin CA, Draper JS, Pasceri P, Maksakova IA, Mager DL, Rossant J, Bhatia M, Ellis J. (2009) Isolation of human iPS cells using EOS lentiviral vectors to select for pluripotency. Nature Methods. 6:370-376. Featured on cover art.

Windpassinger C, Schoser B, Straub V, Hochmeister S, Noor A, Lohberger B, Farra N, Petek E, Schwarzbraun T, Ofner L, Löscher WN, Wagner K, Lochmüller H, Vincent JB, Quasthoff S. (2008) An X-linked myopathy with postural muscle atrophy and generalized hypertrophy, termed XMPMA, is caused by mutations in FHL1. The American Journal of Human Genetics. 82:88-99.