Bernice Lo, PhD
Principal Investigator | Program Lead – Immune Dysregulation Clinical Research Program
Laboratory of Immunoregulation
- Email: blo(@) sidra.org
- Phone: +974 4003 7385
Dr. Bernice Lo is a Principal Investigator in the Translational Medicine Division at Sidra Medicine and a Joint Assistant Professor at Hamad bin Khalifa University (Doha, Qatar). She has contributed to the discovery, diagnosis, and molecular understanding of inherited autoimmune disorders. Bernice performed her post-doctoral training under the leadership of Dr. Michael Lenardo in the Laboratory of Immunology at the National Institutes of Health in the US. She is trained in cell and molecular biology and genomic approaches for genetic diagnosis. During her fellowship, she helped discover and understand the etiology of two new diseases of immune dysregulation. She received her Ph.D. in Cell Biology at Duke University under the mentorship of Dr. Jo Rae Wright, where she began her appreciation for the immune system and the critical role of immune tolerance and regulation.
The research focus of Dr. Lo’s laboratory is on understanding the molecular mechanisms of immune regulation and tolerance. Her approach includes identifying the genetic basis of disease in patients with immune dysregulation and autoimmunity with the ultimate goal of elucidating the molecular pathways involved and, therefore, revealing new therapeutic targets for disease treatment or novel drugs for immunomodulation.
Dr. Lo’s lab specializes in using cellular and biochemical techniques to uncover the role of newly discovered gene mutations in causing disease and in understanding the function of these genes in immune regulation. Her research interests also include identifying modifier genes and elucidating their functional role in immunologic disorders with incomplete penetrance. She is also interested in developing methods for disease diagnosis or evaluating treatment efficacy by assessing immune biomarkers.
Rafah Mackeh, PhD
Staff Scientist
Email: rmackeh (@) sidra.org
Nourhen Agrebi, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: nagrebiepmansour (@) sidra.org
Satanay Hubrack, MSc
Research Specialist
Email: shubrack (@) sidra.org
Ahmad Al-Shaibi, MSc
Research Specialist
Email: aalshaibi (@) sidra.org
Amera Sadoun, MSc
Research Specialist
Email: asadoun (@) sidra.org
Mohamed Alsabbagh, MSc
Research Specialist
Email: malsabbagh (@) sidra.org
Jona Dioso
Lab Assistant
Email: jdioso (@) sidra.org
Selected publications (†co-first, *corresponding):
- Mackeh R, El Bsat Y, Elmi A, Bibawi H, Karim MY, Hassan A, Lo B*. Novel Synonymous Variant in IL7R Causes Preferential Expression of the Soluble Isoform. J Clin Immunol. 2024 Apr 8;44(4):96. doi: 10.1007/s10875-024-01688-8.
- Salter CG†, Cai Y†, Lo B†, Helman G†, et al. Biallelic PI4KA variants cause neurological, intestinal and immunological disease. Brain. 2021 Dec 31;144(12):3597-3610. doi: 10.1093/brain/awab313.
- Al-Shaibi AA, Abdel-Motal UM, Hubrack SZ, Bullock AN, Al-Marri AA, Agrebi N, Al-Subaiey AA, Ibrahim NA, Charles AK; COLORS in IBD-Qatar Study Group, Elawad M, Uhlig HH, Lo B*. Human AGR2 Deficiency Causes Mucus Barrier Dysfunction and Infantile Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2021;12(5):1809-1830. doi: 10.1016/j.jcmgh.2021.07.001.
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