Walia | Pediatrics | Queen's University

Jagdeep Walia MD FRCPC

Position(s)

Director of Research

Professor

Contact Info

medical.genetics@kingstonhsc.ca

Telephone: 613-549-6666 ext. 2647

Fax: 613-548-1348

Dr. Jagdeep Walia is a medical geneticist and full-time professor in the Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Pediatrics. A graduate of the Guru Nanak Dev University School of Medicine, he joined Queen’s University in 2012. In his clinical work, Dr. Walia consults across a broad range of genetic issues that affect children and adults, including cancer, prenatal diagnosis, metabolics and general genetics. He teaches genetics at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Dr. Walia launched a clinical and basic genetics research program soon after joining Queen’s. His lab focuses on developing novel gene therapy approaches for inherited and acquired neurodegenerative disorders. His research has yielded very encouraging results in a mouse model of GM2 gangliosidoses—a group of three related genetic disorders (Tay-Sachs disease, Sandhoff disease and AB variant) that cause progressive deterioration of nerve cells and death—demonstrating an almost three-fold increase in survival. The translational nature of this work is exemplified by the initiation of a phase 1/2 clinical trial for infantile GM2 gangliosidoses at Queen’s University/Kingston Health Sciences Centre using adeno-associated virus vector (AAV) as a tool for gene transfer to the central and peripheral nervous system. Dr. Walia is also working on the development of gene therapies for other genetic conditions. His other research interest encompasses genetic, epigenetic and metabolic changes in autism spectrum disorder.

A list of Dr. Walia's publications is available on Google Scholar.

Team