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IRCM Researchers

Creating new
knowledge

Exploring new avenues to develop tomorrow’s medical knowledge through an approach that integrates basic and clinical research

Our research units are led by principal investigators who collaborate in a spirit of collegiality and with the vision of bridging the gap between research and patients. They train the next generation of scientists and are independent and creative minds who work tirelessly to improve health.

 

May
Faraj

Director, Nutrition, Lipoproteins and Cardiometabolic Diseases Research Unit

Current research

"We aim to uncover which omega-3 fatty acid best reduces risk factors for type 2 diabetes in people with high plasma apoB"

May Faraj, research director

Current research

About 1 in 9 Canadians were living with diabetes in 2024, mostly type 2 diabetes (T2D) and an additional 3 in 10 were undiagnosed or were at high-risk for developing diabetes. Diabetes confers an equal risk to ageing 15 years and is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide.

Fortunately, type 2 diabetes is preventable. 

Elevated blood apoB, measuring high number of particles that carry “bad cholesterol” called LDL, increases the risk of cardiovascular disease especially in people with obesity. Our work over the past 18 years, confirmed by large population studies, show that high blood apoB may also promote the development of T2D by inducing the inflammation and dysfunction of fat tissue in humans.  

Our findings also show that combined marine omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, improve risk factors for T2D particularly in people with high blood apoB. However, EPA and DHA do not appear to provide similar benefits. 

Thus, our current focus is to uncover which type of omega-3, EPA or DHA, best treat T2D risk factors in people with high blood apoB. EPA or DHA can then be used as an accessible and tailored therapy to help prevent T2D in this high-risk population. 

To do so, we initiated in Oct 2026 a phase II randomized controlled trial (RCT) to compare for the first time the effects of EPA versus DHA on T2D risk factors in adults with overweight or obesity and high blood apoB. Using a unique combination of clinical and fundamental testing, we will evaluate the change in metabolic and inflammatory anomalies in our research participants in response to 12-week supplementation with EPA, DHA or placebo (corn oil). About 50% of Canadians have the blood apoB level targeted in this study. 

This clinical trial received funding from Diabetes Canada and was approved by Health Canada. It is registered online at: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07575438.

Available positions Clinical studies

Team
  • Janel Lacey Étudiante maitrise Master's Student Janel.Lacey@ircm.qc.ca
  • Justine Fricher Étudiante au doctorat PhD Student Justine.Fricher@ircm.qc.ca
  • Rianne Mahiout Étudiante au doctorat PhD Student Rianne.Mahiout@ircm.qc.ca
  • Vijaya Madhoo Adjointe administrative Administrative Assistant Vijaya.Madhoo@ircm.qc.ca
Affiliations
  • Director, Nutrition, Lipoproteins and Cardiometabolic Disease Research Unit, IRCM
  • Full Professor, Department of Nutrition, Université de Montréal 
  • Adjunct professor, Department of Molecular Biology, Université de Montréal
  • Adjunct professor, Graduate Program in Clinical and Translational Research, McGill University

 

Other affiliations

  • Member, Ordre des diététistes-nutritionnistes du Québec (ODNQ)
  • Principal investigator, Montreal Diabetes Research Center (MDRC)
  • Membre, Cardiometabolic Health, Diabetes, Obesity Research Network 
Degrees and experience
  • Postdoctoral training, Nutrition, Université de Montréal, QC
  • PhD, Experimental Medicine (Dean’s Honour List), McGill University, QC
  • MSc, Dietetics and Human Nutrition, McGill University, QC
  • BSc, Dietetics and Human Nutrition, American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Publications

Bedside-to-bench translational research in cardiometabolic disease

Our expertise in clinical and fundamental techniques in cardiometabolic disease allows us to dissect a problem observed in humans by studying it on a tissue, cell, and molecular level. To date, we have focused on a novel hypothesis initiated in our lab in 2009 linking apoB-lipoproteins, mostly LDL, to the promotion of type 2 diabetes in humans. To do so, we completed two clinical trials with fundamental studies examining the cross-talk between the intestine, liver, muscle, pancreas, white adipose tissue and circulation, which are major sites controlling metabolism in humans.

Important Discoveries

Tools

 
Press review
Press review
Grants

01/2026- 12/2028 - Diabetes Canada - « End Diabetes Award »

Amount: $450,000

Title: Role of EPA and DHA as tailored therapy for people living with obesity and high-risk for Type 2 Diabetes (END-T2D): a randomized-controlled trial (NCT07575438)

Co-investigators: Rémi Rabasa-Lhoret (IRCM), Jean-Claude Tardif (Montréal Heart Institute), Marie-Claude Guertin (Montréal Heart Institute- Seriant)

 

06/2025 – 05/2029- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)- Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) Phase III: Research Teams

Amount: $1,058,080

Title: Effects of GLP1 agonist-induced weight loss on cerebral and blood markers of neurodegeneration in individuals with obesity and genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

Principle investigator: Alain Dagher (McGill University)

Co-investigators: May Faraj (Université de Montréal/ IRCM); Claudine Gauthier (Concordia University); Xiao Wen Hu (McGill University); Filip Morys (McGill University); Ian Patton (Obesity Canada); Maria Rajah (Toronto Metropolitan University); Dana Small (McGill University); Christine Tardif (McGill University); Sylvia Villeneuve (Douglas Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale); Yashar Zeighami (Douglas Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale)

 

04/2025 - 03/2030- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) - Operating grant

Amount: $1,346,400

Title: Effects of GLP1-agonist induced weight loss on brain, metabolic, and cerebrovascular health measures.

Principle investigator: Alain Dagher (McGill University)

Co-investigators: May Faraj (Université de Montréal/ IRCM); Bratislav Misic (McGill University); Christine Tardif (McGill University); Claudine Gauthier (Concordia University); Dana Small (McGill University); Filip Morys (McGill University); Ian Patton (Obesity Canada); Michael Tsoukas (McGill University); Stephanie Fulton (Université de Montréal); Xiao Wen Hu (McGill University); Yashar Zeighami (Douglas Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale)

 

06/2024 - 05/2025 - Département de nutrition, Université de Montréal

Amount: $ 30,000

Title : Nouveau rôle de l'EPA et du DHA dans la régulation de la signalisation de TREM2 dans le tissu adipeux humain

 

02/2020 - Fondation J.A. DeSève

Amount: $ 125,000

Title: LDL receptors and the risk for type 2 diabetes

 

4/2019 -03/2025 Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Amount: $ 738,225 

Title: White adipose tissue LDL receptors and omega-3 as modulators of the risk for type 2 diabetes (NCT04485871)

Co-investigator: Maya Saleh (McGill University)

Recognitions and honors
  • 2024, La science au féminin, Université de Montréal
  • 2023 - to present,  Nominated member, Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society
  • 2015 Excellence Teaching Award for Graduate Studies, Université de Montréal 
  • 2011 Arabic Women in Health in Québec Trophy, Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration 
  • 2010 Young Researcher Award, American Heart Association- Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology

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514 987-5655
may.faraj@ircm.qc.ca

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