Dr. Stephanie Zandee began her scientific training at Radboud University in Nijmegen (The Netherlands), where she earned a Bachelor's degree in Molecular Life Sciences and a Master’s degree in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease. During her Master's research internships, she developed a strong interest in Multiple Sclerosis (MS), which led her to pursue a PhD at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) in the laboratories of Dr. Stephen Anderton and Dr. Anna Williams. Her doctoral research focused on the role of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in MS pathology and was among the first to describe the presence of Tregs in MS brain lesions.

Following her PhD, Dr. Zandee joined the laboratory of Dr. Alexandre Prat at the Centre de recherche du CHUM (CrCHUM) in Montreal, where she continued her research on Tregs, investigating the mechanisms by which these cells traverse the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to enter the central nervous system. She developed an interest in the role of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-37 in regulating the BBB and its implications in MS. She also began applying machine learning techniques to integrate clinical data with flow cytometry data of peripheral blood derived cells from people living with MS, aiming to identify novel biomarkers for disease progression and immune regulation in MS. Over the course of eight years, she also coordinated the Prat lab’s brain bank and autopsy program and received extensive training in MS neuropathology.

As of July 2024, Dr. Zandee has established her independent research group at the Montreal Neurological Institute (The Neuro), McGill University. Read more about the lab’s mission here