Ali Abdul-Sater

Faculty & School/Dept.

Faculty of Health - School of Kinesiology & Health Science

Degrees

Ph. D. - 2010
University of California
Merced, CA - USA

M. Sc. - 2005
American University of Beirut
Beirut, Lebanon

B. Sc. - 2003
Haigazian University
Beirut, Lebanon

Postdoctoral Scientist - 2013
Columbia University
New York, NY - USA

Postdoctoral fellow - 2016
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON - Canada

Biography

Dr. Abdul-Sater is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health at York University in Toronto, Canada. His research program is focused on understanding the role of TRAF1 in regulating inflammation and on exploring ways to target this protein to devise new therapies for autoimmune diseases and blood cancers, especially rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Dr. Abdul-Sater has been recognized with several prestigious awards including the “Stars Career Development Award” from the Arthritis Society, a “Research Chair in the Regulatory Mechanisms of Inflammation” from York University, the “Bhagirath Singh Early Career Award in Infection and Immunity” from the Canadian Institute for Health Research and a Discovery Award from the Banting Foundation.

Selected Publications

Full publication list

Copper infused fabric attenuates inflammation in macrophages.

Zangiabadi S, Chamoun KP, Nguyen K, Tang Y, Sweeney G, Abdul-Sater AA. PLoS One. 2023 Sep 15;18(9):e0287741. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0287741

Nod-like receptors in inflammatory arthritis.

Singh Madahar S, Gideon A, Abdul-Sater AA.

Biomed J. 2023 Aug 18:100655. doi: 10.1016/j.bj.2023.100655. Online ahead of print

Moderate exercise induces trained immunity in macrophages.

Murugathasan M, Jafari A, Amandeep A, Hassan SA, Chihata M, Abdul-Sater AA.

Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2023 Aug 1;325(2):C429-C442. doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00130.2023. Epub 2023 Jun 12.

Cutting Edge: Negative Regulation of Inflammasome Activation by TRAF1 Can Limit Gout.

Mirzaesmaeili A, Zangiabadi S, Raspanti J, Akram A, Inman RD, Abdul-Sater AA.

Mitochondrial protein import stress regulates the LC3 lipidation step of mitophagy through NLRX1 and RRBP1.

Killackey SA, Bi Y, Soares F, Hammi I, Winsor NJ, Abdul-Sater AA, Philpott DJ, Arnoult D, Girardin SE.

Mol Cell. 2022 Aug 4;82(15):2815-2831.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2022.06.004. Epub 2022 Jun 24.

Detection of ASC Oligomerization by Western Blotting.

Zangiabadi S, Akram A, Abdul-Sater AA.

Methods Mol Biol. 2022;2459:73-78. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2144-8_7.

Measurement of Inflammasome-Induced Mitochondrial Dysfunction by Flow Cytometry.

Thasan MM, Abdul-Sater AA.

Regulation of the NLRP3 Inflammasome by Posttranslational Modifications.

Zangiabadi S, Abdul-Sater AA.

J Immunol. 2022 Jan 15;208(2):286-292. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2100734.

The PKN1- TRAF1 signaling axis as a potential new target for chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Edilova MI, Law JC, Zangiabadi S, Ting K, Mbanwi AN, Arruda A, Uehling D, Isaac M, Prakesch M, Al-Awar R, Minden MD, Abdul-Sater AA, Watts TH. (Abdul-Sater and Watts are co-senior authors)

Innate immunity drives pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis.

Edilova MI, Akram A, Abdul-Sater AA.

Biomed J. 2021 Apr;44(2):172-182. doi: 10.1016/j.bj.2020.06.010. Epub 2020 Jul 8.

Dicer regulates activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome.

Ojcius DM, Jafari A, Yeruva L, Schindler CW, Abdul-Sater AA.

PLoS One. 2019 Apr 23;14(4):e0215689. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215689. eCollection 2019.

The Evolving Role of TRAFs in Mediating Inflammatory Responses.

Dhillon B, Aleithan F, Abdul-Sater Z, Abdul-Sater AA.

Front Immunol. 2019 Feb 4;10:104. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.00104. eCollection 2019.

Dichotomous Expression of TNF Superfamily Ligands on Antigen-Presenting Cells Controls Post-priming Anti-viral CD4+ T Cell Immunity.

Chang YH, Wang KC, Chu KL, Clouthier DL, Tran AT, Torres Perez MS, Zhou AC, Abdul-Sater AA, Watts TH.

Immunity. 2017 Nov 21;47(5):943-958.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2017.10.014. Epub 2017 Nov 14.

The signaling adaptor TRAF1 negatively regulates Toll-like receptor signaling and this underlies its role in rheumatic disease.

Abdul-Sater AA, Edilova MI, Clouthier DL, Mbanwi A, Kremmer E, Watts TH.

Nat Immunol. 2017 Jan;18(1):26-35. doi: 10.1038/ni.3618. Epub 2016 Nov 28.

Affiliations

Canadian Society for Immunology (CSI)

Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP)

International Society of Exercise and Immunology (ISEI)

The American Association of Immunologists

Awards

Arthritis Society Stars Career Development Award - 2019

Bhagirath Singh Early Career Award in Infection and Immunity - 2019

York Research Leader - 2019

Faculty of Health Dean’s Early Career Research Award - 2019

Banting Research Foundation Discovery Award - 2018

BD-Biosciences Immunology PostDoctoral Award - 2016

York Research Leader - 2021

York Research Chair in the Regulatory Mechanisms of Inflammation - 2021

Supervision

Currently available to supervise graduate students: Yes

Currently taking on work-study students, Graduate Assistants or Volunteers: No

Available to supervise undergraduate thesis projects: Yes

Current Research

Our lab is interested in identifying novel regulators of inflammation and understanding the molecular mechanisms through which these regulators control innate immunity and the inflammatory response. We are currently pursuing several avenues of research, and they include:

1) Specific targeting of TRAF1 to treat Rheumatoid Arthritis and other inflammation-driven diseases. 

2) Investigating the molecular mechanisms through which different exercise regimens regulate the immune response.

3) Assessing the role of individual Type I interferons in bacterial and viral responses.