The laboratory of Prof Catherine Laprise focuses on human genomic and genetic. Prof Laprise is the chairholder of the Canada Research Chair on Environment and genetics of respiratory diseases and allergy. She focuses her work on the identification of genes associated to asthma and a better comprehension of their role in the development of asthma and associated clinical manifestations. Another great portion of her research work is dedicated to asthma epigenetic, which represents the marks left by the environment on the genome. Particularly, Pre Laprise is interested in DNA methylation marks involved in this pathology, a specific epigenetic mechanisms that can be measured easily. Her work on asthma and allergy also aim to integrate various types of “omics” data (genetics, genomics, transcriptomics and epigenetics) in order to better understand asthma pathophysiology.

Furthermore, Prof Laprise is also leading projects on rare diseases. Thus, she identified the causal mutation of the mucolipidosis type II within the Saguenay─Lac-St-Jean population and lead a project on agenesis of the corpus callosum. She is one of the researchers of the Lactic acidosis consortium for which her laboratory is hosting the Lactic acidosis biobank. She is also leading a research program on epidermolysis bullosa simplex, a rare dermatologic disease. The main goal of her researches on rare diseases is to identify causal mutations and to contribute to the comprehension of the disease’s biology to ultimately develop novel therapeutic approaches. Prof Laprise laboratory possesses cutting-edge technologies and provides an inspiring and productive environment for researches on genetics.