Carol Schuurmans

PhD
Senior Scientist, Dixon Family Chair in Ophthalmology Research
carol.schuurmans@sunnybrook.ca

Research Assistant:

Cassandra Cheng
Email: cassandra.cheng@sunnybrook.ca

Dr. Carol Schuurmans studies central nervous system development, with an emphasis on the transcriptional control of neurogenesis. This knowledge is being applied to the development of neural regenerative strategies for the brain and retina. In the embryonic neocortex, the Schuurmans’ lab studies the transcriptional control of neurogenesis by proneural transcription factors, and is applying this knowledge to the development of glial conversion therapies in the adult brain. In the retina, the Schuurmans’ lab studies the transcriptional, signaling and metabolic controls that promote Müller glial cell dormancy in mammals, which prevents these cells from regenerating the retina, a latent feature observed in regenerative species such as teleost fish. To develop regenerative therapies, the Schuurmans’ lab uses neurodegenerative disease models, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the brain and Retinitis pigmentosa in the retina. To model disease in human cells, Dr. Schuurmans has established a Stem Cell and Organoid Facility at the Sunnybrook Research Institute for the derivation of cerebral and retinal organoids from human pluripotent stem cells.

Education

  • BSc, 1986, Psychology, University of Alberta
  • BSc Special Certificate, 1987, Microbiology, University of Alberta
  • MSc, 1990, Microbiology, University of Alberta
  • PhD, 1995, Medical Genetics, University of Toronto

Appointments & Affiliations

  • Senior Scientist, Biological Sciences, Hurvitz Brain Sciences Research Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute
  • Dixon Family Chair in Ophthalmology Research, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and University of Toronto
  • Professor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto
  • Professor, Cross-Appointment, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto
  • Professor, Cross-Appointment, Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences, University of Toronto

Research Foci

  • Neurodevelopment of the neocortex and retina
  • Neurogenesis in the neocortex and retina
  • Neuronal Reprogramming in the neocortex and retina
  • Proneural Transcription factors

Affiliated Labs & Programs

Selected Publications

  1. Vasan L*, Chinchalongporn V*, Saleh F, Zinyk D, Ke C, Suresh H, Ghazale H, Belfiore L, Touahri Y, Suresh H, Oproescu AM, Patel S, Rozak M, Amemiya Y, Han S, Moffat A, Black SE, McLaurin J, Near J, Seth A, Goubran M, Reiner O, Gillis J, Wang C, Okawa S, Schuurmans C. 2025. Identification of new target genes of human NEUROG2 in cortical organoids. Development. Dec 16:dev.202703. DOI: 10.1242/dev.202703. PMID: 39680368

  2. Touahri Y, Hanna J, Tachibana N, Okawa S, Liu H, David LA, Olender T, Vasan L, Pak A, Mehta DN, Chinchalongporn V, Balakrishnan A, Cantrup R, Dixit R, Mattar P, Saleh F, Ilnytskyy Y, Murshed M, Mains PE, Kovalchuk I, Lefebvre JL, Leong HS, Cayouette M, Wang C, del Sol A, Brand M, Reese BE, Schuurmans C. 2024. Pten regulates endocytic processing of cell adhesion and Wnt signaling molecules to pattern the retina. Cell Reports. Mar 27;43(4):114005. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114005. PMID: 38551961

  3. Ghazale H, Park E, Vasan L, Mester J, Saleh F, Trevisiol A, Zinyk D, Chinchalongporn V, Liu M, Fleming T, Prokopchuk O, Klenin N, Kurrasch D, Faiz M, Stefanovic B, McLaurin J, Schuurmans C. 2022. Ascl1 phospho-site mutations enhance neuronal conversion of adult cortical astrocytes in vivo. Frontiers in Neuroscience. Special issue in Neuronal Identity from Fate Specification to Function. 2022 Aug 18;16:917071. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022. 917071. eCollection 2022. PMID: 36061596

  4. Han S, Okawa S, Wilkinson G, Gazalah H, Adnani L, Dixit R, Tavares L, Faisal I, Brooks M, Cortay V, Zinyk D, Li S, Malik FU, Angarica VE, Chinchalongporn V, Sivitilli A, Gao J, Oproescu AM, Vasan L, Touahri Y, David LA, Raharjo E, Ilnytskyy Y, Kim J-W, Wu W, Rahmani W, Kovalchuk I, Chan JA, Attisano L, Kurrasch D, Dehay C, Swaroop A, Castro DS, Biernaskie J, del Sol A, Schuurmans C. 2021. Proneural genes define ground state rules to regulate neurogenic patterning and cortical folding. Neuron. Sept. 15;109(18):1-17. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.07.007. PMID: 34407390 Touahri Y, Dixit R, Kofoed RH, Miloska K, Park E, Raeisossadati R, Markham-Coultes K, David LA, Rijal H, Zhao J, Lynch M, Hynynen K, Aubert I, Schuurmans C. 2020. Focused ultrasound as a novel strategy for noninvasive gene delivery to retinal Müller glia. Theranostics. 2020 Feb 10;10(7):2982-2999. doi: 10.7150/thno.42611. eCollection 2020. PMID:32194850

In the News