Scientific Highlights
Dr. Pshezhetsky made a substantial contribution in discovery of clinical genes for lysosomal storage diseases, hereditary conditions of children previously felt to be untreatable. His studies have changed the view on the organization and functioning of the lysosomal matrix enzymes, had a major impact on the fundamental biology, and explained the pathogenic mechanism of several human genetic diseases.

Dr. Pshezhetsky have also established a proteomics core facility at Sainte-Justine Hospital and started a new research program, which aims to use the proteomics-based technology for diagnostics and for discovery of targets for treatment and prevention of children's diseases. In particular Dr. Pshezhetsky has intensive collaborations with researchers from gastroenterology (proteomics of disorders of the bile ducts leading to liver transplantation), genetics (proteomics of the fat cell implicated in the current epidemics of pediatric obesity), medicine (proteomics of the blood vessel wall in hypertension), and pediatric oncology (proteomics of leukaemia cells).

Research Team
Dr. Pshezhetsky actively supervises graduate students and was a director of 7 Ph.D. and 10 M.Sc. students and 9 post-doctoral fellows.

Postdoc.	M.Sc.	Ph.D.	Tech	Other
9	10	7	6	4

Publications

Dr. Alexey Pshezhetsky graduated from the Department of Chemistry, Moscow State University in 1985. In 1989 he obtained his Ph.D. in chemical kinetics and catalysis from the same university. In 1989-1990 Dr. Pshezhetsky was a post-doctoral fellow in Moscow Institute of Medical and Biological Chemistry, Russian Academy of Medical Science. During this time he studied the lysosomal storage diseases, a group of severe progressive diseases of children caused by the inherited deficiencies of lysosomal enzymes. Dr. Pshezhetsky continued his studies of lysosomal enzymes as a researcher in the A. N. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Moscow State University, where he also investigated inverse immunoregulation of alcohol consumption.

In 1993 Dr. Pshezhetsky joined Montreal University (Department of Pediatrics and Department of Medical Genetics, Ste-Justine Hospital) where he was promoted to Assistant professor and subsequently to Associate professor. He is also affiliated with the Department of Biochemistry, Montreal University. Since 1998 he is a Scientific supervisor of Medical Genetics Diagnostic Laboratory at Ste-Justine Hospital. Dr. Pshezhetsky is also a director of a Proteomics Core Laboratory at Ste-Justine Hospital Research Center. The research of Dr. Pshezhetsky has been acknowledged by many national and international agencies including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Genome Canada, Genome Quebec, Valorisation Research Quebec, Vaincre les Maladies Lysosomales (France), Sanfilippo foundation and others. Dr. Pshezhetsky received many career awards and fellowships including FRSQ Scholarships, Chercheur-boursier junior 2 and Chercheur-boursier senior. In 2001 he received an Award of Excellence in Pediatric Research from Foundation for the Research in Children's Disorders and, in 2002, became a recipient of a National Investigator Award from FRSQ.

In JRDF center Dr. Pshezhetsky is a Director of Core Proteomic Laboratory and in collaboration with other researchers he uses proteomics to identify candidate genes for susceptibility to T2DM.