Education
PhD – University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
MSc – University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
BSc – University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Mazandaran, Iran
Honors and Awards
2022-2024 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Postdoctoral Fellowship
2022 Children’s Health Research Institute (CHRI) Postdoctoral Award
2019 Canadian Institute of Food Science & Technology Graduate Scholarship Trust
2018 GSA Academic Travel Grant - University of Alberta
2018 FGSR Graduate Travel Award - University of Alberta
2017-2019 Ruminant Animal Digestive and Metabolism Travel Award
2017-2018 SM Blair scholarship and Research Allowance
2017 AFNS Tuition Award - University of Alberta
2017 Ruminant Animal Digestive and Metabolism Graduate Scholarship
2016-2019 John Prentice Graduate Scholarship in Beef Genomics
2016 Harry J Hargrave Memorial Graduate Scholarship in Animal Science
2016 Epigenomic Data Analysis Travel Award - Bioinformatics Canada
2015-2017 Alberta Innovates Technology Futures (AITF) Graduate Student Scholarship
2015 Alberta Innovates Technology Futures (AITF) Bill Bridger Awards of Excellence
2014 AFNS Winter Differential Tuition Award - University of Alberta
2013 AFNS Winter Differential Tuition Award - University of Alberta
2012-2014 Alberta Innovates Technology Futures (AITF) Graduate Student Scholarship
Research Interests
I am a Bioinformatics Research Scientist with research interest in developing bioinformatics pipelines for the analysis of large “omics” datasets to uncover cell type-specific molecular mechanisms of childhood and adult cancers.
Towards this end, my research focuses on:
- Developing bioinformatics workflows for genomic variant discovery, interpretation, and prioritization related to germline cancer predisposition genes.
- Integrative analysis of multiple omics data to uncover mechanisms of cell type-specific gene dysregulation in cancers.
Selected Publications
Bhai P, Turowec J, Santos S, Kerkhof J, Pickard L, Foroutan A, Breadner D, Cecchini M, Levy MA, Stuart A, Welch S, Howlett C, Lin H, Sadikovic B. Molecular profiling of solid tumors by next-generation sequencing: an experience from a clinical laboratory. Front Oncol. 2023 Jul 6;13:1208244. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1208244. PMID: 37483495; PMCID: PMC10359709.
Haghshenas S, Foroutan A, Bhai P, Levy MA, Relator R, Kerkhof J, McConkey H, Skinner CD, Caylor RC, Tedder ML, Stevenson RE, Sadikovic B, Schwartz CE. Identification of a DNA methylation signature for Renpenning syndrome (RENS1), a spliceopathy. Eur J Hum Genet. 2023 Aug;31(8):879-886. doi: 10.1038/s41431-023-01313-z. Epub 2023 Feb 16. PMID: 36797465; PMCID: PMC10400603.
Bhai P, Chin-Yee B, Pope V, Cheong I, Matyashin M, Levy MA, Foroutan A, Stuart A, Hsia CC, Lin H, Sadikovic B, Chin-Yee I. Mutational landscape of patients referred for elevated hemoglobin level. Current Oncology 29(10):7209-7217,, 2022. PMID: 36290845.
Das AC*, Foroutan A*, Qian B, Hosseini Naghavi N, Shabani K, Shooshtari P. Single-cell chromatin accessibility data combined with GWAS improves detection of relevant cell types in 59 complex phenotypes. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23(19):11456, 2022 . PMID: 36232752.
Levy MA. . . Foroutan A, et al. Functional correlation of genome‐wide DNA methylation profiles in genetic neurodevelopmental disorders. Human Mutation 43(11):1609-1628, 2022. PMID: 35904121.
Foroutan A, et al. Clinical utility of a unique genome-wide DNA methylation signature for KMT2A-related syndrome. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23(3):1815k 2022. PMID: 35163737.
Al-Jawahiri R*, Foroutan A*, et al. SOX11 variants cause a neurodevelopmental disorder with variable ocular malformations and hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism. Genetics in Medicine 24(6): 1261-1273, 2022. PMID: 35341651.
Wang J*, Foroutan A*, et al. Clinical findings and a methylation signature in kindreds with alterations in ZNF711. European Journal of Human Genetics 30(4): 420-427, 2022. PMID: 34992252.
Ciolfi A*, Foroutan A*, et al. Childhood-onset dystonia-causing KMT2B mutations result in a unique genomic hypermethylation profile. Clinical Epigenetics 13(1): 157, 2021. PMID: 34380541.
Levy MA . . . Foroutan A, et al. Novel diagnostic DNA methylation episignatures expand and refine the epigenetic landscapes of Mendelian disorders. HGG Advances 3(1):100075, 2021. PMID: 35047860.
Bhai P . . . Foroutan A, et al. Spectrum of myeloid mutations in patients with elevated hemoglobin. Blood 138(Supplement 1): 2577, 2021.
Last update: August 2023