THE BEGINNING
On May 5th 2003, in a tiny room of a building called Place Toulon, close to the Old Forum in Montreal, a shipping box carrying the first pipette was unwrapped and placed on a pipette rack on a makeshift laboratory bench. And thus began the life of Jabado Lab from such humble beginnings, to present-day world leaders studying the genetics and the epigenetics of pediatric brain tumors.
Artwork Yelu Zhang
OUR MISSION
Our ground-breaking work has created a paradigm shift in cancer with the identification of histone mutations in human disease and we hope to translate these findings into optimal detection and therapeutic possibilities at the bedside. We are also exploring how best to engage children, parents and healthcare professionals in therapeutic decision-making based on the genetic make-up of the tumor.
DR. NADA JABADO, OC, MD, PhD
Dr. Nada Jabado is a Professor of Pediatrics and Human Genetics at McGill University and a staff physician in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
She began her career as an independent investigator in 2003 at the RI-MUHC, pioneering a research program in pediatric brain tumors, which is now unparalleled. Dr. Jabado's group was among the first to identify a histone mutation in human disease which has revolutionized this field. The epigenome was a previously unsuspected hallmark of oncogenesis and this discovery linked development and what we now know are epigenetic-driven cancers.
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Dr. Jabado has over 250 peer-reviewed publications to her credit in such prominent journals as Nature Genetics, Nature, Science and Cancer Cell. She is invited as keynote speaker to International symposia and top ranked universities and has been awarded funding from CIHR, Genome Canada, NIH, as well as a Large-Scale Genomics grant from Genome Canada. In 2021, Dr. Jabado was awarded the Canadian Cancer Society's Robert L. Noble Prize, given for outstanding achievements in basic biomedical cancer research.
OUR LATEST NEWS
September 15, 2025. Our study on the spatial immune profiling of pediatric low-grade gliomas, done in collaboration with the Dr. Till Milde at University Hospital Jena and Dr. Logan Walsh at McGill, is out online in Nature Immunology today!
​September 12, 2025. Dr. Jabado has been awarded the McLaughlin Medal by the Royal Society of Canada!
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The McLaughlin Medal was established in 1978 by the RSC through the generosity of the R. Samuel McLaughlin Foundation to recognize distinguished achievement in medical sciences in Canada. The medal is awarded for important research of sustained excellence in any branch of medical sciences.
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RI-MUHC press release: The Royal Society of Canada press release:
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December 18, 2024. We are excited to share the news of Dr. Jabado being named an Officer of the Order of Canada, one of our country's highest honours!
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​Since 1967, the Order of Canada honours people who make extraordinary contributions to Canada. The Officer of the Order of Canada (O.C.) is one of the three levels of the order and recognizes achievement and merit of a high degree, especially service to Canada or to humanity at large. Dr. Jabado's appointment was announced alongside 87 other appointments of the three levels of the Order.
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RI-MUHC press release: The Governor General of Canada press release:
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August 2024. Congratulations to our research associate Augusto Faria Andrade for landing an Assistant Professor position at the University of Calgary!
May 14, 2024. We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Jabado has been awarded the 2024 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Award for North America!
Since 1998, these awards recognize and support eminent women in science from five regions of the world. Dr. Jabado and the other awardees will be celebrated during week-long festivities in Paris between May 25 and 30, 2024, with the official award ceremony taking place on May 28. Join us in congratulating Dr. Jabado on this momentous achievement!
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#FWIS2024
#FondationLOreal
@FondationLOreal
@FONDATION L’ORÉAL
@4WOMENINSCIENCE
https://www.forwomeninscience.com/
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McGill University Health Centre press release: Montreal Children's Hospital press release:
On July 7, 2022, the Jabado lab celebrated the graduation of our PhD student Brian Krug. This was our first in-person PhD defence since the start of COVID-19 restrictions in March 2020. We look forward to many more such celebrations to come!